Full Show Podcast: 22 December 2024

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks dB. The only place for the big names,
the big issues, the big controversies, and the big conversations.
It's all on Weekend Sport with Jason Vine on your
home of Sport News Talks edb.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hell like Jotna. Good afternoon and welcome and till Weekend
Sport on News Talks. It'd be Sunday, December twenty two,
Happy birthday, Casper Roud. Three days talk Christmas. I'm Jason
Pine Show producers Andy McDonald. Again, we extend the invitation
to you to talk some sport with us for the
next three hours or so as you negotiate traffic, crowded

(00:54):
shopping malls, long to do lists. We hope that you
can be helped by us in some way. We hope
we can help you escape some of the Christmas madness,
even if it's just for a short time. Look, even
if we help you from mall to maul in the car,
We're happy. We're going to keep the lines open all

(01:15):
afternoon on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. In fact,
what we've decided is really there's no agenda this afternoon
as far as sporting topics are concerned. I've got a
couple of ideas, of course I have, but we don't
normally do this, but we're just going to leave the
lines open all afternoon. So if something is on your mind,
and it might not even be necessarily sport related as such, well,

(01:37):
I mean we probably should stick in general terms to sport,
but if something's on your mind, just yeah, let us
help pass the time. Here are some of the things
we've got coming up this afternoon. Auckland FC our first
ever A league defeat a shell lacking who saw this
coming four nil. They got beat by Western United at

(01:57):
home yesterday. We're going to break that down for you.
Tyson Fury and Alexander Usak have met or are meeting currently,
as you heard in our Sports in their Unified World
title rematch in Reartsaudi Arabia. Once that is all done
and dust at our combat sports expert at the New
Zealand Herald, Chris Reeve, will pop in to review that
for us. Other matters around today, White ferns Seemer Molly

(02:21):
penfolders with us her best ever international bowling yesterday four
for forty two against Australia and the second Rose Bowl
one day at the Basin, unfortunately not enough to prevent
defeat on the DLS method. Rain set in sort of
midway through New Zealand's innings. So a loss to New
Zealand yesterday to Australia that means they can't win the

(02:42):
Rose Bowl. Only one game to go that's tomorrow, also
at the Basin. Even if they were to win that
in square the series, Ozzie have their Rose Bowl, so
they'd keep it. But Molly penfold on that the domestic
super smash nearly upon us as well, getting towards that
time of the year when our six provinces get into
T twenty mode. We'll hear from a couple of our
provincial captains this afternoon. The Tihe Basketball Old Dedaa Final

(03:06):
this afternoon from three o'clock in totong The Todonga Phi
in their first ever final, hosting the Toakumana with Queens
who are in their third straight decider. Basketball commentator Justin
Nelson and to poppin and preview that for US, James
mcconey in his usual slot around one forty five this
afternoon with his regular sporting musings. We know you're busy

(03:28):
as I say, but our lines of communication are well
and truly open. We invite you to call eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty. That gets you through on the
phone nine two ninety two for text messages emails into
Jason at Newstalk SEDB dot co dot Nz. Just on
ten and a half past midday.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Breaking down the hail Mary's and the AMPI fails Weekend
Sport with Jason him News Talk zeb So.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Auckland FC, after their brilliant start to life as an
A league football team, have come crashing down to earth somewhat,
offering their first ever defeat. Till Bentley and Surgat again
gets the bounce of the ball. Najerie. There's a few
green shirts ahead.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Here's Grimaudy, Matthew Grimaudi.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
That is a cherry on top for Western United and
it is applied by Matthew Grimaudy, the twenty one year
old hot hurry past.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Alex Paulson into the far corner.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
And there's a Christmas cracker for Western United.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Bleed Auckland FC by four.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Goals to nil. Yeah, that's how it finished at Mount
smart Go Media Stadium yesterday afternoon. Western United for Auckland FC.
Nil quite the scoreline. Former Wellington Phoenix and All Whites
goalkeeper and Sky Sport analyst Jacob Spoonley is with us, Jake,
did you see this coming?

Speaker 6 (05:05):
No should answer, Piney.

Speaker 7 (05:07):
I don't think many people have seen this coming, apart
from John al Owisi, who was the architect of Auckland's
first downfall at home yesterday.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
But Western was so fast and aggressive, and they started early.

Speaker 7 (05:20):
I think it was ninety seconds we saw the first
chance flash Flairelence Paulson's posts and they went ahead after
twelve and from there they really got out of site
very quickly.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
What led to this score line was it Auckland FC
off a bit, were Western United just really on a
combination of those things.

Speaker 7 (05:41):
I think that's about right, Piney. It was a confluence
of different factors. I do think Steph Criker did not
see his side show up. He mentioned in the post
game that they didn't do the work, they weren't prepared
for the physical battle. In combination with that, I think
we're starting to see this Western United side mature. John Elowisi,

(06:02):
and let's also mention Andrew Durante and Camelo Impimbato. They've
got a very proficient football department in Western They have
been given a mandate to back these young players. We're
seeing the best come out of them now. We saw
Abell Wallaty yesterday. He showed up in the first half.
Reeese Posanowski had a great ninety minutes and there was

(06:24):
an impact from the bench as well.

Speaker 6 (06:25):
Matt Grimoldi added the fourth goal after Noel Bot. It's
still only twenty two.

Speaker 7 (06:29):
They had put the third one in by about thirty
minutes into the game, so I think to your point, yes,
it was an off day for Auckland, and I think
the lesson was sharper and harder because they're still learning
collectively at this point, so when they do come undone,
it does tend to happen quite dramatically. But let's also
give props to Western United, who are now firmly entrenched
in the top six.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Their third goal had a bit of controversy about it.
A pass from one Auckland player to another didn't find
its mark because Jake Brimmer, the intended recipient, came together
with referee Casey Rightbelt. There was a little bit of
chat afterwards about whether play should have been called back.
What did you make of that incident.

Speaker 7 (07:11):
Yeah, it's a really good point Piney, and I think
you can say the culpability was shared for me. Casey
Raibelt found herself in the middle of the traffic and
perhaps didn't manage the moment well enough. So on reflection,
as the players do, I think the referee will get
together and say, hey, what can we do differently there,
because you don't want to have the referee literally physically
inhibiting play pining equally.

Speaker 6 (07:32):
There wasn't a response from Auckland f C.

Speaker 7 (07:34):
They were shocked, this was the third goal and they
were really on their heels. There was no reaction from
the defenders and Western we're able to spring forward fairly quickly.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
So I think Steve Courrick is going to.

Speaker 7 (07:47):
Have a couple of shark words for his defenders in
that situation. From a technical point of view, just to
explain it for the audience, because the ball actually didn't
touch the referee, there was no official ability to stop play.
Although I can seem unfair in that situation, the rules
are very clear.

Speaker 6 (08:02):
If the ball touches the.

Speaker 7 (08:04):
Referee, then it is returned and by way of a
drop ball, I think to the team that was in
position at the time because it was Jake Rimmer that
came into contact with Casey Rye Belt, there was no
official reason to actually delay things or to bring proceedings
to a halt. So that's just a little bit of
an understanding and that was explained to me after the
game by the referees.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, I really don't think it would have mattered, and
John and Lewisi, the coach of Western United, said as
much afterwards. He said, Look, I can understand why they're
a bit annoyed by it, but if we didn't score there,
we were probably going to score another way. And by
that stage they were already to ni up and well
in control of the game. How do you assess Auckland
FC's ability to quickly bounce back from this.

Speaker 7 (08:47):
Well, we're in that time of the year, there's a
lot of football and I think they'll be looking to
really kind of settle things internally, and then they've obviously
got a game in a couple of days time at
the back end of Christmas. They'll be traveling to Gosford.
And this isn't a Marinas team, that's the side that
we saw last year. There's actually some chat around Mark
Jackson eventually replacing Patrick's norber in the Melbourne victory.

Speaker 8 (09:10):
Job.

Speaker 7 (09:11):
But Auckland FC, they've had a wonderful start. We knew
it was going to come to an end at some point.
What we do know is that Steve Kroriker has built
this side on resilience. We've seen that and the way
they've looked to defend games this year. We've also seen
it in the way that they go deep into matches.
So I think although as we said, it was a
dramatic dismantling of Auckland by Western United at home, this

(09:36):
is the side that I reckon has Taylor made to
bounce back really quickly.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
In terms of the players they're missing through injury. We
saw Louisvius Strata come back yesterday, which was a boost
of the team, although he I'm sure would have enjoyed
it or not enjoyed his time and that would have
preferred a much much happier time of things. But Dan
Hall at center back has been very good for this
team in the first half a dozen games. He's out
for two or three months. How big a blow is that?

Speaker 7 (10:03):
Honestly, Pinney, I thought it wasn't going to be as
impactful and influential as it was, it turns out as
a player that perhaps we haven't been valuing because Lauchlan
did look a bit rattled. Yes, you can say Weston
took the game to them, but they were able to
move the very experienced Hirocki Sakay, their captain, into the
center bat role. They talked about de pointing him there

(10:24):
if they needed to throughout the course of the season.

Speaker 6 (10:27):
Callan Elliott, the all White came in and sold at
right back.

Speaker 7 (10:30):
So you've still got a very experienced side there. That said, though,
there were a couple of changes further up the field,
and I think the calibration was slightly up.

Speaker 6 (10:40):
The combinations that we've seen developed very quickly were a
bit unsettled.

Speaker 7 (10:46):
So Leam Gillian was moved down the right hand side,
and maybe that was a combination that wasn't quite settled
and perhaps too much in experience, because Wilson did attack
primarily down the left hand side.

Speaker 6 (10:56):
I think it was something like sixty five for seem
to Bear.

Speaker 7 (10:59):
Attacks came down the left in the first half, finding
wonderful work from our Sky's FOURT team, and we did
see changes down the right halftime, So the message.

Speaker 6 (11:07):
Was pretty clear.

Speaker 7 (11:08):
The dissection that occurred indicated that it wasn't an individual issue.
Although Dan Hall's absence was very notable, it was more
a collective piece. They clearly wasn't happy with the way
in which Auckland were not only looking after the ball
but once Western were springing forward, the way in which
they were defended.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
So that's Auckland FC. They lick their wounds and get ready,
as you say, for a trip to Gosford next weekend.
Wellington Phoenix meantime looking to do some bouncing back of
their own. They were beaten to one at home by
MacArthur last weekend Western Sydney Wanderers tonight over in Western
Sydney at CommBank. What about their chances? How the USS

(11:48):
Wellington's chances of bouncing back from defeat at home?

Speaker 7 (11:53):
We had seen going to Western Sydney up against the
WONDERUS side that contains brilliante Milanovitch, Krayers, Barrello and one
Hue matter would be a very daunty prospect. But we
just haven't seen what we thought we were going to
get from Allen Stadgett's team.

Speaker 6 (12:12):
I hadn't done what it said it's going to do
on the ten pinting.

Speaker 7 (12:15):
There's been a lot of criticism coming statutes of wait,
he hasn't really started by master anywhere near as much
as we were hoping to see the standard the World.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
Cup winner in the A League.

Speaker 7 (12:26):
And then you look at what Gean Carlo Ataliano is
starting to able his starting to be able to create
in the Costco combination mate Marco rojasen Costa barbarusis. They've
only played for around about one hundred and ten minutes
pinting and already they've come.

Speaker 6 (12:42):
Up with two goals.

Speaker 7 (12:43):
That said, he hasn't been happy with his defensive efforts,
so that's going to need to tighten up this weekend.
And look, it's a very high bar. Wellington, by Mike
count had the second best defensive record in the competition.
They're only being vetted by Melbourne victory and their level
with Auckland f C after yesterday's four nil result. But
they do run things on a very solid base and

(13:06):
there has been criticism and post match regularly from Chief
Eet that in the big moments he hasn't seen what
he accepts from his defenders.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
When we look forward to seeing a bit more from
his defenders and his attackers tonight just before you go.
I know you keep an eye on Kiwi footballers all
around the world. Chris Wood has been turning heads and
got a message room this morning to let me know.
And I think I had already picked up on this
that Nottingham Forest Chris Woods side are up to third
in the Premier League, the Dizzy Heights of third.

Speaker 6 (13:39):
Oh what's going on? We had Auckland's putting out a
beach yesterday.

Speaker 7 (13:46):
They were making there was a wonderful occasion at Mount
Smart So I really do recommend you to get along
there on New Year's Day when they do play Melvin Victory.
We've got the Wellington Phoenix disappointed at being sits at
the moment, and then we're talking about Champions League football
from a very own Chris Wood, the man that is
in I think he's still third in the Golden Boot race.
It's incredible you've got a Norwegian, Egyptian and a Kiwi

(14:09):
that are running things in the Premier League at the moment.
He didn't get on the score sheet this morning, but
he had a very big hand and not them for
us opener and by and large is responsible for them.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
Being third.

Speaker 9 (14:22):
It is.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
It's draumatic. It's remarkable.

Speaker 7 (14:25):
I mean, dip into your Santa sack, playing any objective
you want.

Speaker 6 (14:29):
It's fitting. It's act for Chris Wood at the moment.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, it absolutely is. He's having the time of his
life in the Premier League. Meantime, the A League continues
on the side of the world as always, Jacob, thank
you for your analysis this afternoon. Have a great Christmas
with the family and we'll catch up. I guess next
weekend when the Phoenix are home to Newcastle. The games
don't stop. They come thick and fast. But thanks for
your time this afternoon.

Speaker 6 (14:51):
Thank you very much. Plenty notch.

Speaker 7 (14:53):
Just a quick shout out to Blair Dainty, who unfortunately
is in hospital at the moment.

Speaker 6 (14:57):
He is our wonderful director.

Speaker 7 (14:58):
At Sky Sports, so we just hope that he recovers
and bounds his back quickly so we see him in
the truck and supporting us.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
Very Christmas mate.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
And to you too, Jakie, and I share your you know,
I share your concern and your good wishes to blow
out one of our wonderful producers directors at Sky could
missed yesterday's game, couldn't be there but I wonder whether
some Auckland f C fans might have been happy enough
to miss it as well. There seems to be a

(15:25):
bit of joy in your voice, says this text regarding
Auckland f C both today and yesterday on commentary. Look,
I'm no I take no joy from this. I don't.
I'm honestly hand on, I take no joy from Auckland
f C losing yesterday. If there was joy in my

(15:46):
voice during commentary, was I guess really aimed at Western United?
I thought they were terrific. I thought they were really
really good. And look, Auckland nessy will bounced back. It's
one game, you know, one game in a twenty seven
game season. I think it just because it came off
the back of an un precedented start, those unbeaten games

(16:10):
that they'd had, and the fact that they had hardly
conceded goals either. They conceded three goals in the first
thirty five minutes yesterday. That's the same number that they
had conceded in the previous seven games combined. So it
was that ten and a half hours. They can see
the three goals in ten and a half hours and

(16:32):
then three goals in thirty minutes yesterday. Hello, Bob, what's
on your mind?

Speaker 10 (16:38):
Tony trying to resolve the food shortage problem around Usland
that for the people who don't have the resources. I
have an idea that I believe would work, and it's
all around entertainment and it's all around sporting textures. I

(17:01):
believe that we can set it up where everybody who
buys a ticket to a major event, whether it be
a music festival or a concert or whatever, and a
major rugby match or football match, whatever, When they buy

(17:21):
a ticket and they get enter the gates, they have
to bring a donation, which could be a can of beans,
a pack of spaghetti or whatever, and that can gather
a face and accumulate, and it can be run by
the people who run these food supply banks around New Zealand.

(17:47):
You'll have rugby matches and festivals in all different parts
of New Zealand and everybody can spare a dollar, fifty
or two dollars to donate a little contribution for the
people who need it, particularly at this time of the year.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Bob, I love it. I love it, and I know
that it happens regularly, one on a one off sort
of a basis I think while you're talking about is
all the time, which obviously would be amazing. I know,
if we're talking football at the moment, I know the
Wellington Phoenix supporters Yellow Fever teamed up with the Wellington
City Mission yesterday for the women's game and last weekend

(18:27):
for the men's game and did exactly what you're proposing.
They said, if you can bring along a you know,
a grocery item or make a donation, if you can.
Look at you there seems to be a lot of
people going along to sporting events and concerts if they
were able to donate, as in a food or something similar.
If they were able to then yeah, look, I think
it's a it's a top idea, but I know that

(18:48):
it is being done on a semi regular basis around
the place.

Speaker 10 (18:53):
Yeah, it could be done at every event. Like I said,
these food supply people are all around New Zealan, and
they would have the people who could the volunteer to
be at the games at the gate and have a
system where they could collect it and take it away

(19:13):
at the end of it whatever, and that would take
care of them an awful lot of people.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, Bob, you're right, maybe it becomes part of our
match day routine. You know, when you leave the house
to go to the to go to the football or
rugby whatever, you get your beanie, your scarf, your jacket,
your wallet, your phone and it's in a food Yeah. Look,
people far smarter than I, I'm sure would would have the

(19:41):
ability to make this happen logistically, Bob, I appreciate your call.

Speaker 9 (19:45):
Mate.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is our number.
Just on the football yesterday, be keen to hear from
anybody who was there or if you watched. There was
a very controversial incident in the game and I asked
Jacob about it and he explained it pretty well. If
you haven't seen this. Auckland FC had the ball in
their own half and one of their players passed to
another of their players and in the way of that

(20:09):
pass or it was Filippe Geygos passing to Jake Brimmer
and as Guy Goos played the pass, Brimmer went to
collect the ball and ran into the referee, who just
happened to be there in that space. It prevented Jake
Brimmer from getting the ball. Instead, Western United sent it
back to mocky Am. I seized upon this opportunity, got

(20:32):
the ball, strode forward, played a pass just outside the
penalty area into the penalty area where Hiroshi Ibusuki scored
a goal to make it three nil. Now a lot
of fans saw this. I've watched it back. I missed
it live. I was following the ball, but you could
hear booze and I just wondered whether they were booing
because Western United had scored a third goal. Jacobs, Spoonley

(20:55):
and co. Commentary picked up on it and said, here's
what's happened, and on the replay that is what happened.
Both coaches were asked about it afterwards. John Ella Westy,
coach of Western United, actually gave a really good answer.
And you know, more often than not, and one of
our sports dunos, Ben Francis, pointed this out to me
yesterday when I sent the audio three said a lot
of times coaches said si, I didn't see it. I

(21:18):
didn't see it. John Elwisi, I mean to be fair,
it is in pretty pretty good mood that just won
for nil. Said Look, I can understand why Auckland are
a little bit annoyed by that, but the rule is,
as Jacob pointed out, if the ball hits the referee,
then play stops and there's a drop ball and we
get on with it. But there's no rule around a
player running into a referee like that because very arbitrary, right,

(21:40):
I mean Jake Brimmer might not have got the ball anyway.
So that was the major controversy around yesterday. Derek. Actually,
while I know you've called to talk football and a
bit of boxing, but what did you make of that incident?
Did you see it yesterday?

Speaker 9 (21:56):
I was right behind John Lawisi in the stand.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh brilliant. Yeah, well you should have come and said.
You should have come up and said hello, Derek.

Speaker 9 (22:05):
Look, I probably probably wasn't in the mood by then,
but I saw the incident.

Speaker 11 (22:12):
And every single time I've seen that incident, Jacob, whatever game,
the referee always blows the whistle. Every time I've seen that,
they just blow the whistle and the old the old rule.
Of course, the reference is part of the game, so
after if you took a shot and it came off
the referee and went into the goal, there would be
a goal. And I always thought that rule was good.
I don't know why they decided to get involved, but
every time a referee. Every time I've seen them, whether

(22:33):
the ball hits them or whether a player runs into
them who's about to get the ball, they always blow
the whistle just you know, and it seems to be
good for both sides, it seems. But look the Aalklands,
I didn't going to say the phoenix there. Aukland didn't
didn't lose the game because.

Speaker 9 (22:48):
Of the referee.

Speaker 11 (22:49):
They lost because they went three goals down pretty early
and they didn't seem to recognize the fact that he
had a Western Sydney team full of energy who were
applying a high press, and even they were doing that,
they still decided to try and play the ball around
and Paulson got caught a couple of times with some
silly passes out from the back and previous times Auckland
seems to have gone over the top, and.

Speaker 9 (23:09):
They didn't seem to want to do that.

Speaker 11 (23:11):
They seem to be determined to outplay the high press
and get the ball through by somehow passing around them,
and we'ret the Sydney were happy to do that. And most,
I mean most goals that are scored in the game
of football, they usually the result of somebody there or
some kind of pressure being applied somewhere around the field.
But you know, at the end of the day, they
just didn't seem to realize that. They just didn't seem
to want to go lot. They didn't seem to want

(23:32):
to go along. And after that third goal win and
I looked around the field at the time, and I've
got the feeling that a lot of a lot of
the Auckland players and the Auckland bench were under the
impression that every refereeing.

Speaker 9 (23:44):
Decision was going to go games.

Speaker 11 (23:45):
I saw Drulia May a few times control the ball brilliantly,
bring it down, then got bundled off the ball with
pushes and kicks and all sorts of stuff, and the
referee just turned to blind eye, just didn't seem to
think that he could control the ball, and every time
he went past the player was brought down. She just
didn't want to give him a free kick or whatever reason.
And I think they got into their heads that everything

(24:05):
was gone against them. They came out in the second
half they did pretty well, but I think also Steve
Corrigan has to take some blame because I don't think
he had the midfield makeup correct. I think he had
too many attacking players on the field at the same time.
If you've got to play Moraine, now you have to
drop Rolinson. You can't play them both. But he had
like four players, and I thought they seem to think
that there's Belgian number six.

Speaker 9 (24:28):
I can't remember it.

Speaker 11 (24:31):
Yeah, they seem to think that he can shout out
any attackle by himself.

Speaker 9 (24:34):
But he was surrounded by three players at times, and I.

Speaker 11 (24:36):
Think he did more more midfield support. I think he
just got the makeup of the midfield wrongly. Having said that,
let me say something controversial and if you don't go on, if.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
You don't go on, I understand completely.

Speaker 11 (24:51):
But I looked at the makeup of the referering team
and I saw three guys there and one woman. And
I've seen that right Beck before when she's done the
Phoenix games. And you have to be at the game
to notice this. She doesn't give up with play, and
she might know the rules, she doesn't know the game.

Speaker 9 (25:07):
And I have a.

Speaker 11 (25:08):
Major problem with a woman taken over a top and
the A League is a top quality league. It's a
class league, I.

Speaker 9 (25:13):
Believe it is.

Speaker 11 (25:14):
And I have a major problem with a woman taken
over this game, especially when there's now a woman's league
that she can now she can now go to and
referee in that, I think they've made a major mistake.
And every time I've seen that she's had a poor
game in the A League, and there seems to be
this col shell where she is above criticism because she's
a woman. And I'm not saying for one moment that

(25:36):
Auckland lost that game because of her. I'm not saying that.
But she's a poor referee and I don't think especially
when you start losing the game. You can see it
with the Auckland faces. I don't think the players have
got confidence in her. And once again, I think she
knows the rules of the game, but she doesn't understand
the game. And that Jake Brimmer incident I think highlighted that,

(25:56):
and I think, look, if you don't want to talk
about that, I have no.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Problem with it.

Speaker 9 (25:59):
I would like referees in men's games.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, I would like to talk about it if we
first of all talk about the end of them where
Jake Brummer ran into Casey Rybelt. Are you, first of all,
I just want to clarify this. Are you saying that
a male referee wouldn't have got on the way or
would have called playback.

Speaker 11 (26:15):
I think a male referee would have blant hiss whistles
straight away.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
You see, that's not the rule though.

Speaker 11 (26:21):
Yeah, I know that's not the rule, but that's the
way they've been, that's the way it's been refereeing, because
you would have had any controversy. And I think you've
got to know that. Yet, you've got to know the rules. Yes,
to get your referees badge, everyone knows that, but you've
got to know.

Speaker 8 (26:32):
The game right.

Speaker 11 (26:33):
And women don't play men's football. They never have done
and they never will do, because it's like if you
watch men's football and one's football, they're like two different games.
They really are, and you can't argue with that. The
fact of the matter is, this is a politically correct
decision to put a woman in charge of an A
League game. And it's not just the A League.

Speaker 9 (26:51):
You've seeing that.

Speaker 11 (26:52):
They're trying to bring it in the in the Premier
League as well. And no matter what actually happens within
the game, no matter what controversy is in the game,
I notice, and I'm sounding a lot like Joey Barton
right now, but the fact of the matter is they
seem to be above criticism. And I think her first half,
and okay, I'm an Auckland supporter and I obviously bitter

(27:12):
about the result, but her first half of that game yesterday,
and I played fifty eight dollars to go and watch
that game, so I am one of the fansy on,
one of the customers. Her first half was atrocious. She
missed so many things and you wouldn't have noticed that
unless you're actually pitch stile like I was. And look,
it's fine for Wistern United to sit back and say
everything went great and we're happy with everything, but eventually

(27:33):
the same thing's going to happen to them.

Speaker 9 (27:34):
And I have a major problem with this.

Speaker 11 (27:36):
And people might say this is a misogic point of
view and all the rest of it. I just don't
hear any criticism of this sort of referee. Every referee
gets criticism, and sometimes the worst referee who is consistent
is better than no referee at all. But in this case, here,
I just get the feeling that you've got a woman
referring a game a man's game that she doesn't understand,
and the reasons she does understand, she has me brought

(27:56):
up with a men's game. She's never played the men's games,
and that's where I have a major problem here. Once again,
I'm not saying all to loss because of that, but
I'm just.

Speaker 9 (28:04):
Saying this is a point of you that really annoys me.

Speaker 8 (28:07):
As a playing customer.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
All right, Well, I don't think she's enough criticism, not
yours anyway, Derek. And look, it's a it's a valid
enough opinion to have. I tend to have a different opinion.
I watched that game obviously yesterday as well. I thought
Casey ry Belt let a lot go for both sides.
Actually I thought Auckland got away with a couple too,
So clearly she was of the mind of letting the

(28:31):
game go rather than just whistling every fowl. I don't
think she is above criticism. There will always be a
point of view that you've raised, Derek, that a woman
official can never understand intrinsically what happens in a men's game.
I guess you'd offer the counterpoint, why then do we
have male referees in women's games. Always good to chat

(28:56):
to you, mate, Oh eight hundred eighty ten twenty four
away from one. We're back after this on News talks
hedb the Voice of Sport.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
On your Home of Sport Weekend Sport with Jason GJ Gunnos,
New Zealand's most trusted oh Builder News Dogs'd be.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Twenty one away from one line is open up eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty. Harry says that third goal
was questionable, but Auckland FC weren't up to it, to
be honest, missed a lot of chances. Yea, Harry, thanks
for your call mate, I'm or your text. The stats
were really telling Auckland this Sea had way more of
the ball but just weren't able to create any opportunities.

(29:32):
Western United had far fewer periods of possession or far
they had far less possession percentage wise. I think at
one stage it was about two thirds to a third,
and yet they were creating a lot of chances. Hope
you talk about the Knicks seas Hamish They've got a
game today as well, Yes, and d Hamish. Yeah. We

(29:52):
touched on it with Jacob and from who is this from?
From George? Why didn't you work the Wellington Phoenix game yesterday? Piney?
Are you an Auckland supporter?

Speaker 9 (30:01):
Now?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I don't I get assigned to these games. I don't
choose the ones that I get to do. Anyway, moving on,
says George, It's going to be interesting to see how
Auckland respond to their first loss. They're away to Central
Coast next weekend. Normally that would be a hard game,
but they're not the team they were four seasons ago
either with all the players that I've lost, So Auckland
should come away with the three points. Merry Christmas is

(30:22):
George and Liverpool to beat Spurs five mil tomorrow? Goodness me,
well that would certainly be a nice Christmas present, wouldn't it. Steven?

Speaker 12 (30:31):
Hello, Yeah, good afternoon, Jason and Meer Christmas to you
and your family and also to your wonderful listeners out there.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Stephen, have you
got God? So what have you got planned for the
next few days?

Speaker 13 (30:45):
Well?

Speaker 12 (30:46):
I just want to lead, you know, firs. Can I
believe see you share my highlight of the year? Firstly, yes,
I just want to share my highlight. My personal highlight
is really my personal highlight, and I'm now in the
fifty club and thanks to that, Dom and JJ are
going to be taking me over to our way to USA.

(31:07):
To watch an NBA game over in America and I'm
leaving in Dunedin on January to twenty first, and the
NBA game game I'm going to is going to be
happening as the Lakers playing the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Ah, what a game, Stephen, what a game it is.

Speaker 12 (31:23):
It is a game, and that's the game of a
tribble lifetime and everything, because I was hoping to go
to that game because Jeff what Jason, I'm trying. I'm
going to try and meeting Green and Kingham, Sauth Lebron
James and everything. So that is going to be mine
and that's my highlight on mess. I'm in the fifty
time now and thanks to everyone who's supported I give
a little piece.

Speaker 14 (31:41):
That JJ setups. And then so dim andd JJ are
going to be taking ome over and January to USA
to watch an NBA game and also I'm going to
Disney there predating it as well.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Amazing, Stephen, you almost didn't get that out. You almost
didn't get all of that out. Look, I think it'll
be an amazing trip for you, mate. I hope you
have a tremendous time. Take lots of photos, create lots
of memories. It's been good tending to. Now before you go,
how do you predict the Highlanders will go next year?

Speaker 12 (32:09):
Well, I just think that Jamie Joseph will get them
all stepped up once again for another gum year ahead.
And I'm just thinking that hopefully they will qualify for
the playoffs this year and everything instead of this next year.
And hopefully it's going to be a good year in
twenty twenty five for the Islanders and of course the Nuggets,
of course, because we're the Nuggets.

Speaker 14 (32:28):
Also looking for our new coach as well.

Speaker 12 (32:30):
I say as well, Jason, but can I please always,
can I please always in on a Christmas cow that
I always.

Speaker 14 (32:36):
Like to sing to everybody?

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Go on, then, Stephen, go on, and this.

Speaker 14 (32:41):
Is going to you as well, Jason, into your family
as well.

Speaker 13 (32:44):
Were we were sure merry Christmas, we were sure a
merry Christmas. We were sure merry Christmas and a happy
New Year.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
You're an absolute diamond, Stephen, an absolute diamond, my friend.
You have a great Christmas too, ever, superb trip Overseas,
good to chat DM mat, great to hear your voice
seventeen away from one. Just back to the football briefly,
here's Steve Coricker after the game yesterday. He's the Auckland
FC coach on well, first of all, his initial thoughts
on the game obviously disappointing.

Speaker 15 (33:16):
Wasn't what we expected.

Speaker 16 (33:18):
The first half was well, it was terrible. Let's face it,
boys didn't turn up for the first half and you
can't allow a good team by that.

Speaker 15 (33:32):
Moments in games.

Speaker 17 (33:33):
And we didn't compete, We didn't win the.

Speaker 16 (33:35):
Second ball and that's what got us in trouble in
the first place, as a long way back from three
nil down at half time.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
So what did Steve Coricker think? They were so flat,
so off in the first half.

Speaker 16 (33:46):
Maybe a little bit of complacency settled in there. They
think they don't have to do the basic work that
we expect from him. And yeah, if you're going to
do that, I guess the good team you know they're
going to punish it. Last week, I don't think we
were great in the first half either, and it was
only nil at the time, so we had opportunities to

(34:08):
come back into the game and three nil you don't
get opportunities to come into the game, even though we
created a lot of chances in the second half.

Speaker 15 (34:16):
You know, we were just off.

Speaker 16 (34:18):
You know, you can see it was one or two
players off was.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Basically nineteen Steve Caracap, coach of Auckland FC, sixteen away
from one. The Fury Usik fight is done, all done.
Chris Reeve, our combat sports expert from NZ Herald dot co,
dot MZ and the New Zealand Herald newspaper, is going
to join us with a rap of that very shortly
on Weekend Sport The.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Big Issues on and after Fields Call oh eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty Weekends Forward with Jason Fine and GJ.
Gunner Homes New Zealand's most trusted home builder News Talk Baby.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Twelve forty seven. Alexander Ussik has defeated Tyson Fury by
unanimous decision in the home of Boxing, Saudi Arabia to
remain the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The
judges all scored the contest one sixteen one to twelve
in favor of the Ukrainian multi talented multi media journalist
with the New Zealand Herald, Christopher Reeve was live blogging

(35:13):
the fight. He joins us, now do you agree with
the judges?

Speaker 18 (35:17):
I do to the fact that. I also scored it
one sixteen, one twelve to Usak, So that's always a
good confidence booster when your score in a fight that
the judges had it as well.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Who was favorite? Was Usik favorite going in?

Speaker 9 (35:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 18 (35:30):
Usik was the favorite going in. I think largely because
of the fact he beat Fury last time and had
him in trouble at times. A lot of people kind
of saw that, you know, he's a very very good
fighter and could give Fury a lot of troubles. So
I think there were a lot of backers for Usak
to win.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
This on so it went, it went, the distance, went
the twelve rounds. Did it ever look as though Tyson
Fury was ahead in the fight, or conversely that he
might knock Usik out.

Speaker 18 (36:00):
I don't think Usk was ever in trouble of being
knocked out. Fury wasn't really stringing enough combinations together. He
was sort of looking for one shot at a time.
He did a lot of work with his jab early,
but then as Usik found his way into the fight,
Fury fought a lot on the back foot, which is
not ideal for the guy who's coming bigger. He's got
the longer reach, you'd kind of expect him to try

(36:23):
and I guess muscle his way into the fight, but
Usk did well to keep him at bay. I had
Fury up quite early on, but kind of from the
fourth round, Usk started to take over and then the
middle rounds started doing what they did last time, Usik
just finding the target kind of at well. Fury did
come back quite strong, but yeah, Usk just overwhelmed him

(36:44):
in the end. Did Usik ever look like knocking Fury out?
Not quite as much as in the last fight. There
were some times where he was landing some really good
shots and looked like he might have had Fury a
little bit wobbled or a little bit stunned, but he
never really went chasing in those moments. He kind of
just took his time, picked his shots, and yeah, never

(37:06):
really applied the pressure to I guess capitalize on some
of those moments, all.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Right, So put this into context for us Chris for
those who don't necessarily understand the alphabet soup that is
that is world boxing titles. So what does this mean
for each of these two?

Speaker 17 (37:21):
Now?

Speaker 18 (37:22):
So that just means Usk is now the unif well
still the unified heavyweight champion, not undisputed because he did
have to give up the IBF title to take this
fight against Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury now again no belts
to his name. It'll be interesting to see what he
does next, whether he decides to call it a day

(37:44):
or whether he stays around.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
What motivation would he have to stay around?

Speaker 18 (37:48):
Yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. Money's a big one.
Usak's got all but one of the titles, and that
title looks like it's going to be locked up for
a little while. Danny Dubois holds it at the moment,
He's meant to be fighting Joseph Parker early next year.
The winner of that fight probably fights Usak next. Yeah,
I'm really not sure where Tyson Fury goes from here.

(38:09):
So is that Joseph Parker fight not confirmed? I'm not
one hundred percent sure. The way Daniel Dubois was talking
about it in the ring, he's gone into the ring
and asked Alexander Usik for a fight. To my understanding,
it's confirmed. Okay, who knows in boxing? No, that's really
thinks to happen, that's right. I mean, we'd like to

(38:30):
see Joe back out there. What's his what what do
you predict for him? And you know in the remainder
of his boxing career, Well, Joseph's still quite young, so
it's quite exciting to see just how he's managed to
build his way back into this position he's at now.
He's bought, He's fought two really tough opponents in his
last ones. Daniel Dubois is another kind of heavy puncher

(38:53):
that is gonna test Joe's chin at times. And yeah,
I think Joe's still got plenty in the tank and
I'm really looking forward to that fight against Daniel Duboire.
It should be a really really interesting one. And just Usik,
he's he's kind of a good fighter, isn't. He's got
a good record, He's up there with the best twenty
three and Ozero as a pro. Now he's an Olympic

(39:14):
gold medalist, undisputed cruiserweight champion, undisputed heavyweight champion. I mean,
he's really one of the greats. Thanks for stopping in
and giving us the analysis, Chris. I know you've been
busy blogging away.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
You've probably got analysis to right now, so thanks for
fitting us into your busy Sunday afternoon schedule.

Speaker 18 (39:31):
Mate, anytime, mate, anytime.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Christopher Reeve read him at inzed Herald dot co dot zed.
A combat sports expert, also an expert on a number
of things, sailing, cricket, rugby, you name it, but you
can read his latest analysis of this fight at Inziedherld
dot co dot zed. Just to recap that for you.
Alexander Usik has beaten Tyson Fury by unanimous decision to

(39:54):
remain the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The
judges all scored the contest one sixteen, one twelve in
his favor. Both fighters traded blows throughout the fight, but
neither was able to drop the other. That went the
distance and USA the winner by unanimous decision seven and
a half to one. U s Talks EP.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Analyzing every view from every angle in the Sporting World
Weekend Sport with Jason five call eight and eighty eight
US Talks.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
MB four to one. Just been reminded not to forget
the Phoenix women who yesterday achieved a win over Sydney
FC two nil, four games unbeaten. That is a club record,
a club record fourth unbeaten game for Paul Temple's team.
It was a strange old game out at Pottido, mainly
because they had a forty five minute break because of

(40:40):
lightning strikes or the threat of them. It was a
thunderstorm in Wellington sort of mid to late afternoon yesterday
and so when they went off a half time they
ended up they ended up being offered about forty five minutes.
Paul Temple, the coach, said, we just watched the first
half back just to see what we were doing right
and what we weren't doing right. Well, obviously work They
got back out there a bit later than scheduled and

(41:02):
won the match to nil. Grace Jarlay with her first
goal of the season and Zoe mcmeekon with her first
A league goal laid in the piece. So two nil
to the Wellington Phoenix women who've moved themselves up into
the top six off the back of a good string
of results. Well done to them. After one o'clock, we're
in the White Fans Camp seen bowl of Molly Penfoult

(41:23):
leads us off.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
True the only place to discuss the biggest sports issues
on and after fields.

Speaker 15 (41:30):
It's all on Weekend.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Sport with Jason Vane on your home of Sport.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
New York one o seven. Hello, this is Weekend sport
On News Talks. Heb for the final time before Christmas.
We are carrying on though. Weekend Sport will continue right
through the Christmas New Year holiday festive period. Plenty of
sport On will continue to talk it with you every
Saturday and Sunday between midday and three. It's the time
of year when every day feels like a Saturday and

(41:58):
a Sunday. Rarely, but on the actual Saturdays and Sundays.
Over the next little while, we'll continue to talk sport
with you. Gary says Piney. Highlight of the year. Your
last caller, Stephen, What a legend, so much passion and enthusiasm,
so good to hear. Yeah, it was great to have
Steven on probably the last time this year singing us

(42:20):
at Christmas Carol to go out with our lines remain
open right across the afternoon on our eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty. Anything that catches your ear, anything you
want to comment on. We've got some basketball coming up
this hour, the Toweyha Basketball Old Tootoa Final three o'clock
this afternoon Todonga. It's the home side, the todong A
FI in their first final up against the Toquamana were queens.

(42:43):
They're in their third straight final and the competition's only
been going for three years, so they've won. They've got
their way through to the final every year. They won
it in twenty twenty two and lost last year back
in a third final. Justin Nilson is a driving force
behind this league and one of these Skysport commentary team.
He's going to preview the final for us and talk

(43:04):
of it about the growth and development of this league.
James mccony this hour as well handing out some awards
by the sounds of things, So we look forward to
James mcconey in his regular slot at around about one
one forty five or so. But we start this hour
with cricket. The White Ferns have lost a rain hit
second Rose Bowl One Day Cricket International against Australia at

(43:27):
the Basin Reserve under the DLS method, chasing two hundred
and ninety two for victory in Wellington yesterday, New Zealand
one twenty two for five in the thirty first over
when the rain set in. The star though for New
Zealand was seen bowl of Molly Penfold, her best ever
One Day International figures of four for forty two. Penfold
jobs at shot taken.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Kurt takes the cats big wicket unlessa helly couldn't resist.

Speaker 7 (43:53):
She had a swing, it never really got to her.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
And gets her and is the pace and bounced that.
Molly Penfold offers.

Speaker 11 (44:05):
Excellent comeback delivery boundary the fool before and then we're
ripping off the link.

Speaker 15 (44:10):
Takes the gloves of Elise Parry and.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
It is a long walk back for her father. Molly
Penfold has four Salia mccragos four for forty two for
Molly Penfold, who joins us. Now you've given it the
overnight test, I guess, Molly, in general terms, before we
talk about your bowling specifically, how do you reflect on
the eighty odd overs that played out yesterday?

Speaker 19 (44:35):
Yeah, I mean, first, it was nice, nice to actually
get a game and or start and saying that, so,
it was nice to get on the field with the girls.
Always nice to you know, take the field with the great,
great bunch of girls there, so you know, who have
a huge amount of talent. And yeah, when you were
coming up, you know, against the world's best, so we

(44:55):
knew we had to put out a good performance. Unfortunately,
we couldn't get across the line. But yeah, let's just
cricket sometimes. And we've done our review this morning, so
we know what we need to do and then say
that we know the skills there and the knowledge is there,
it's just about how we execute the day.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
What were the main things that today's review threw up.

Speaker 19 (45:15):
From a bowling point of view, We were more talking
about how we can just execute for longer really, you know,
in the one day format. You know, we've had a
lot of T twenty crickets are going into the one
day stuff. It's just about doing those good things for longer.
And for me personally, it's just having a clear plan
and just simplicity around. You know, what I want to
do when I want to execute, and yeah, it's just

(45:37):
trying to execute on the day.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Well, you executed yesterday pretty well four for forty two
in general terms. How happy were you with the way
you bowled yesterday?

Speaker 13 (45:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 19 (45:48):
I was was very happy with how I went esterday.
Probably didn't start the best, but managed to bring it
back in the middle phase of the game there. So yeah,
it was nice to get a few work ats under
the belt, that's for sure. And you know, I'm always
pushing to make the playing eleven for the one day
side as well, because consistency and the in the game

(46:10):
time is you know key for bowlers, you know, trying
to find the rhythm and stuff, and yeah, pushing, pushing
hard for that. So it was mass to get on
the field and take a few wickets.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
Yeah, Well you got three of the top four as well,
and some pretty good players Alyssa Heay, Elise Perry, Beth Mooney.
You'd be pretty happy with scalps like that, wouldn't you.

Speaker 19 (46:29):
Yeah, definitely, definitely. You know, they're they're the best in
the world for a reason and their they're world class players.
So to get the wickets of them was yeah, amazing.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
But the real what if you worked on most with
your bowling over the last I don't know, eighteen months
or so.

Speaker 19 (46:46):
I worked a lot with being around a lot of
technique stuff, you know, with my run up and my
load up at the crease as well, and for me,
it's just trying to nail those more than anything. Yeah,
with my rest position and everything. Maybe trying to get
a bit of swing, but I guess I have that
natural anger and to the better for my Yeah, from

(47:09):
my run up.

Speaker 14 (47:10):
So yeah, it's just for me.

Speaker 19 (47:12):
It's just keeping it real simple with my technique stuff
and not trying to overcomplicate it too much. So you know,
Ben's really been very helpful with that over the past,
you know, twelve to eighteen months.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Just back to yesterday in the dismissal of Elise Perry,
it felt as though looked as though you've got a
bit of extra pace and bounce which she couldn't quite
deal with. She ised it through to as he gazed
behind the stumps. Was that a particularly satisfying piece of
bowling for you?

Speaker 19 (47:39):
Yeah, definitely something honest I probably I wanted it to go.
You know, I was painting a bouncer, so it probably
didn't get up as much as I of life. You know,
it's just cricket sometimes and sometimes those kind.

Speaker 8 (47:50):
Of bulls get you wickets.

Speaker 15 (47:52):
So no, I was happy to.

Speaker 8 (47:53):
Get the wicket for her.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Of course, you mentioned before about pushing for a regular
place in the side. I guess your opportunities with the
white Ferns have been a bit limited since your debuted
in twenty twenty one. Lot of competition, of course. Do
you feel like you're in a place now where you
can stake acclaim for regular regular game time in both
T twenty and fifty over stuff.

Speaker 19 (48:12):
Yeah, Locke, I've always you know, pushed to make that
playing eleven and you know, I get a lot of
reassurance and confidence from from being in that sense. And
you know, when people go down with injuries and stuff,
it does you know, it's a bit bittersweet because it's
unfortunate for them, but at the same time it's a
great opportunity for myself to come in and you know

(48:34):
prove a point almost in a way, and you know,
I just try and play my best cricket and kind
of try and cement my place in the team. So yeah, definitely,
and I'm still pushing for it in the T twenty
side as well of course, but yeah, still a work
in progress.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Well, you're in pretty good wicket taking form in the
in the HBJ the hellly bit and johnsin Shield eleven
wickets in five games for Auckland. Did that give you
confidence coming into the international arena off the back of
you know, getting some good wicket taking innings in the HBJ.

Speaker 19 (49:06):
Yeah, definitely. It's definitely helped having you know, six games
of HBJ leading leading into the series. Like I said before,
we'd had a lot of far from India, Wood had
a lot of T twenty cricket obviously leading off from
the World Cup as well, so it was nice to
have around six games of fifty over and the domestic

(49:26):
setup leading in here. And yeah, like you said, it
does it does, you know, boost my confidence a bit
with the works start of things as well. And it's
just as a fast bowler, it's making sure that you
find your rhythm. Sometimes it takes an over or two
to get into it, but no, it's definitely helped leading
into the series and.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
The standout on the scoreboard batting wise yesterday was Annabelle Sutherland.
Of course, an unbeaten century one o five off eighty
one balls. Was was she basically the difference between the
two sides yesterday.

Speaker 19 (49:58):
Yeah, Look, she's she's a world class player. You know,
she can take the game away from you in in
a matter of a few overs. So she played her
class and credit to her for that. But from a
bowling point of view, we probably you know, gave her
a few too many chances as well. She got put
down a couple of times. So we've reflected on that

(50:19):
and known that you know she's dropped on sixty odd
and then goes on to make a century and that
can be the difference sometimes. So yeah, that's probably what
we were missing in the batting side of things from
our point of view too, you know, just someone to
go ahead and make that fiftare one hundred or that
big partnership out in the middle. But yeah, credit to her,
she played an amazing innings.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Well, hope that you get a better day tomorrow. The
forecast is a lot better. You've got no game on Thursday,
sort of half the game yesterday, hopefully get a full
game and tomorrow just before you go. Your sister Josie
of course on the Auckland side with you. And how
much of an influence has she been on your cricket, Oh,
massive influence.

Speaker 19 (50:57):
She's she's awesome to play with the past few years.
You know, she's she's a she's a class player too
and still wanting to develop her game and one day
make the White Ferns squad too. So I'm doing what
I can to help her in that sense as well.
And yeah, we help each other in that way. It's
good that we have similar skill set too, so we
can help each other out on that too. But yeah,

(51:20):
now she's awesome to play with. Yeah, I'm glad I'm
not playing against her or facing her bowling. So now
it's real, real cool to have her on the side
and looking forward to the Super Smash season.

Speaker 8 (51:33):
Ahead with her.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Absolutely, that's not too far away. First point of business though,
the third odo against Australia tomorrow. I hope it goes
as well as yesterday as far as your bowling is concerned, Molly,
thanks for taking the time for a chat this afternoon.

Speaker 19 (51:44):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Thanks for having me, No, thanks for joining us. Molly
appreciate it very much. Molly Penfold there out of the
White Ferns her best ever international bowling figures yesterday, four
for forty two. If you saw the game, they've got
some thoughts on it. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten
eighty we can talk about a cricket game. Three is tomorrow.
Just on the forecast that I mentioned to Molly. There

(52:05):
the forecast for tomorrow for Wellington cloudy period's the chance
of a morning shower becoming fine though in the afternoon.
Northerly's easing in the afternoon. So I can't see any
real reason why they wouldn't get a full game, and
tomorrow eleven o'clock starts. Hopefully the morning shower comes early
in the morning, clears away and we get a fine
day for ODI number three from eleven tomorrow at the

(52:28):
Basin Reserve. Text here, which is an interesting one on
the women's cricket Because the first game was rained out?
Why didn't they play a catch up game today? So
it's a proper three match series. Why our administrators so
keen to not be a bit innovative and promote the
game better? Even if TV couldn't be organized in time?

(52:49):
Who cares? All the players are just sitting around Wellington
doing nothing, so why not play? It is a very
good point, a very good point. There were three games
scheduled at the same venue in the space of five
days Thursday, Saturday Monday. Thursday was completely rained off. It's
a really good point. They could have played today. They're

(53:11):
all there. I know they might say we need a
gap in between games, but do you really didn't play
on Thursday at all? And even yesterday's game was truncated
by the weather. It's a nice day in Wellington today.
They could be playing cricket if they wanted to. So
when you've got three games in the space of five days,
which is pretty much unprecedented anyway. Normally, at least you
know when a team comes and plays a three match
series that might go Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday or something like that.

(53:34):
Three games in five days is quite unusual. So, yeah,
three with three games and four days have really been
any that we would be three and three? Wouldn't it Saturday, Sunday, Monday?
They could have, couldn't they. It's a nice piece of innovation.
You might have some thoughts on that. Oh, eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty is the number. If you do
twenty past one, we're going to take a break. As

(53:57):
well as your calls, we'll also drill down into some
top level of women's basketball after this is the Towihi
al Podo Final this afternoon around three o'clock in Totonga.
We'll have a bit of a preview of that when
we come back to on Weekend.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Sport One Grudge Hold Engage Weekend Sport with Jason Pain
and GJ. Gunderhomes, New Zealand's first trusted Homilder News talks
to Bailey.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
A comeback of ginormous proportions tonight in christ Church and
the Takemono with Queens are headed to the twenty twenty
four Toeyhe Grand Final. With an amazing final quarter comeback
quite incredible, they get home by five.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
What have we just witnessed? That's the voice of Justin Nelson.
The toy He Basketball Altour final this afternoon from three
in Totonga. The todonger Pi in their first final, hosting
the Takamana with Queens, who as you just heard it
at the hard Way in their semi final last weekend.
They're into their third straight final. They won it in
twenty twenty two and went down to the Northern Kahu

(55:02):
in last year's decider. This afternoon also happens to be
the one hundredth game in the competition's history since its
inception in twenty twenty two. Justin Nelson has to call
this afternoon as well and joins us. Now, thanks for
taking the time, Justin. Have we got the best two
teams in the final?

Speaker 20 (55:20):
Ay, piney afternoon to you?

Speaker 11 (55:22):
Well?

Speaker 9 (55:23):
The fact that they're both through to.

Speaker 20 (55:24):
The grand final says yes. I mean semi finals can
go anyway and this competition has been super tight and
super close right throughout the season, and as it was,
the two away teams, the two lowest seeded teams third
and fourth have made it through to the Big Dance.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Tell us about that semi final that we just heard
a snippet of commentary from the Tokamata were Queens. From
what I can see, they were. They were quite away
behind with not a heck of a lot of time left.

Speaker 20 (55:49):
Yeah, amazing, sixteen down with eight minutes to play, and look,
eight minutes is a long time in basketball, but sixteen
points as a fair lead as well, and they ended
up winning by five, so it was a twenty one
point turnaround from that eight minute mark. Amazingly, When these
two teams met on this same court down in Crime
Church earlier in the season, the Queens led by plenty

(56:11):
about nineteen points with twelve minutes to play and the
Poarchive got up over the top of the Queen. So
it was a return serve, no question. And this time
the stakes were a lot higher and the Queens are through,
as you said, to their third successive Grand Final. It's
quite an amazing feat in just the third season.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
And so so they'll face the Todung of five, who
will host. As you say, the bottom two qualifiers in
terms of the semi finals both went through Totong five
will host by virtue of having finished third in the
regular season. Can you tell us a bit about their season?
You know, twelve games six one six losses and then
they win the semi final. That speaks of a little

(56:48):
bit of inconsistency. Tell us a bit about our hosts
this afternoon.

Speaker 20 (56:52):
Yeah, a tale of two halves through the regular season.
Enormous fire power in this team. They can really light
it up. They were sitting one in five on the
season of the half way mark, and then they made
a change to their starting lineup. McKenna Daleyk shooting guard
who's an exceptionally talented player, came into the starting lineup
and since that point they have gone six and one,

(57:14):
including that semi final victory over the car Who last week.
So a real definitive moment in their season at the
midway and they've turned it right around. They were bottom
of the ladder at that stage and now find themselves
hosting a grand final. Quite remarkable.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
So if we drill down a bit into each of
these two sides, which players are going to be particularly
important for their respective teams this afternoon.

Speaker 9 (57:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 20 (57:37):
Look, three WNBA players in this game today in the
Grand Final. Two are current WNBA players in Jordan Horston,
who's a seventy seven game player with the Seattle Storm,
one of their key players in that rotation. She's only
twenty three years of age, so that already have seventy
seven WNBA games under your belt at just turned twenty
three is quite remarkable. Look out for her. Jordan Horston,

(58:01):
leading scorer in the competition through the regular season. And
the other big name sits with the Fire a shooting
guard by the name of Ashley Jones who is a
two year veteran already of Saints. Strang's saying veteran, but
two years already in the WNBA, has played with three teams,
in fact, played with three teams in the space of
one season. She is a walking bucket. I mean she

(58:22):
can absolutely light it up and score. She's the second
top scorer through the regular season. So we've got the
top two point getters playing this afternoon in the Grand Final,
and they are the two to watch, Jordan Horston for
the Queens and Ashley Jones for the Five.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
So and you look at points scorers but often you're
here and I've even heard you say this to me
a number of times that you know that you win
basketball by your defense. By your defense, if we use
the way that basketball tend to tend to pronounce it.
Who are the bit of defensive team?

Speaker 9 (58:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 20 (58:54):
I think the Queens are and that showed up last
week in that semi final comeback over the Poulachi. They've
got the defensive player of the year star keiwe tall
Ferninstella Beck. She's the captain of the Queens and she's
just a monumental player when it comes to doing the
big things that quite often don't show up on the
stat sheet, but they are certainly remarkable performances and those

(59:17):
one percent of staler Beck just continually comes up with
those plays. So look out for staler Beck today. As
I said, defensive player of the year. And Lou Brown,
the twenty nine year old out of Melbourne in Victoria.
She's the leading rebounder both offensively and defensively, the Queen's
power forward. She came up with a huge offensive rebound

(59:38):
to help the Queens get up last week over the Poarquai.
In that game, sixteen rebounds, twelve off the offensive glass,
which is a league record. So when it comes down
to defense today, definitely the Queens the team to watch before.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
You zoom matter. But justin how do you assess the
growth and the ongoing health of Toehi.

Speaker 20 (59:58):
Yeah, I've got to pinch myself, you know. Look, it's
no secret of been a part of it from day one,
and today is just one hundredth game sells. NBL season
had one hundred and fifteen games in twenty twenty four,
so you know, by any measurement TOIHI is just an
absolute baby chalking up that milestone today. But if you
look at what it's achieved in such a short amount

(01:00:20):
of time, attendances are up fifty percent year on year
this year, viewership has been really strong. Moving the season
to this window has just garnered so much more media attention.
And of course it's a competition that started with pay parody,
as you know, Piney and the player's got a bumping
pay this year, so they're now paid more than the men.
And look, you know, I searched the world over as

(01:00:42):
much as I possibly can. I just don't know another
game or competition like it in the world where the
women are being paid more than the men, and I
think it's something we should all be really proud of,
and they put on a great show. One hundred games.
It's only a short amount of time, but if you
look at what's been achieved in that time, it is
quite remarkable.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
They play rapid League as well. Yeah, they do.

Speaker 20 (01:01:02):
In fact, they started it. So rapid League, as you know,
is a world first, and it was TOIHI that were
the first in the world to play it. They started
in twenty twenty three, whereas the men in the sales
en Bil they started in twenty twenty four. So they've
got a few accolades.

Speaker 9 (01:01:16):
These women.

Speaker 20 (01:01:16):
They're very good players, but they're also right up there
when it comes to doing things differently and innovating, and yeah,
they were the first in the world to play rapid League.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
I don't know, you're only focused on this afternoon, but
if we look ahead, what do you predict for the
next few years of this league.

Speaker 20 (01:01:35):
Well, I think the crowds are just going to continue
to go from strength to strength. We know the power
of this game amongst the youth, especially the under twenty fives.
The fact that the kids and the families can come
straight down on the court after a game and meet
the players. You know, those things help build an audience
and build fandom. And just the fact that attendances have
gone up so much this year, I think that's going

(01:01:55):
to continue. And look, I think the other thing is
we're going to see more global and Kiwi stars emerged
from this competition. Today's Grand Final has three seventeen year
old Kiwi and they're all exceptionally talented players. Those sorts
of things are going to continue to come. A lot
of Kiwi's in college basketball in the States. They're going
to come home and have professional leagues to play in.

(01:02:17):
So the growth has already been there, but I think
there's some big times ahead for basketball in this country,
and especially in the women's game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
All Right, you got to pick for us this afternoon.
It's hard.

Speaker 20 (01:02:29):
I mean, you've got a team going back to their
third straight Grand Final. You've got the fire power of
this Totonga Fire team. I think experience counts for a lot.
So the Queens are going to be right there. But
you it's a fairy tale, isn't it. This Fire team
at one and five, all of a sudden they're hosting
a Grand Final. I think they might get up in
a thriller.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
All right, well, I'll drop Tanya Tupu, the coach of
the Queen's a quick message to let her know if
she needs any more motivation. Like I know, you're straight
down in the middle when it comes to your commentary. Justin,
congrats on another great Toehi season, look forward to an
exciting final this afternoon and thanks for taking time for
a chat to us.

Speaker 20 (01:03:05):
Appreciate it made as always all the best.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Justin chairs Justin Nelson, there driving force behind the TOIHI
and its growth over the last three years. As you say,
we're only up to game number one hundred in its
history and in a league that is going from strength
to strength. The final this afternoon tips off at three
o'clock in Totong of the Pai up against the Takumana Queens,

(01:03:29):
twenty eight away from two. Just wanted to circle back
to yesterday where we spoke of it about Liam Lawson.
We had a great chat with Eric Thompson and heaps
good calls about what Liam's future with Red Bull Racing
looks like next year, what success will look like, all
that sort of thing. We had the chance during the
week to hear from the man himself and I wanted
to play a couple of his comments for you, just

(01:03:52):
to give you a demonstration of how well adjusted this
young man is. And he is still a young man,
but going into one of the highest profile positions in
motors board a full time drive in Formula One, only
twenty of them those are available, twenty seats every year,
and Liam Lawson has one of them. So what gives

(01:04:13):
him the confidence that he can get into a Formula
One seat and succeed pretty much straight away?

Speaker 21 (01:04:19):
I think I just look at it like any other
like any other seasonal or you know, role going into it.
I think at any point in any professional athlete, whether
you're a boxer or a driver, or a tennis player
or whatever you are, if you're going into a match
or a game or whatever and you're thinking that somebody
might be better than you, or that somebody might have

(01:04:41):
the upper hand, or that you're not good enough, then
you might as well not really turn up. So it's
something that I think us as racing drivers, we have
to sort of have that mindset. I'm lucky that I've
had it since I was a kid and it's stuck.

Speaker 15 (01:04:54):
With me all the way through.

Speaker 21 (01:04:55):
And although I'm not expecting to not expected to go
in there and beat him, But you know, I obviously
have a level of confidence and sort of my ability
what's got me to this point. And for me, it's
more just exciting for the for the opportunity.

Speaker 8 (01:05:11):
I think.

Speaker 15 (01:05:12):
It's not I'm not really thinking so much about whether
I can do the job.

Speaker 21 (01:05:14):
It's more I'm excited to be in this position, to
have an opportunity to work with the best team in
Formula one, against the best guy and learn from all
of that and become, you know, the best basically driver
that I can become.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
Yeah, the best guy being Max for stepan full time
defending Formula one world champion who will be Liam Lawson's
teammate and the top Red Bull team. So what is
Liam's mindset on driving alongside Max for Stepping.

Speaker 15 (01:05:41):
Yeah, I mean it's.

Speaker 21 (01:05:43):
I'm definitely not working against them, so it's obviously an
opportunity to be working alongside. The biggest opportunity for me
is the fact that he's won the last four championships.

Speaker 15 (01:05:55):
He's the best in the world right now. He's been
in this team for.

Speaker 8 (01:06:01):
A long time.

Speaker 21 (01:06:02):
I don't know how long now, maybe it's close to
ten years and so he knows you know everything about
the car, he knows everything about the team, and he'll
always be pushing basically the absolute limits. And for me
to be able to work alongside that, I get a
lot more learning. I get probably the most learning I
could possibly get out of it. So for me it's

(01:06:22):
an opportunity to basically become a bit of driver and
then obviously work with the best team in Formula One
and have an opportunity to fight at the front.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
So when Liam Lawson looks ahead to twenty twenty five
and the Grand Prix races he will be competing in,
are there any in particular that he has circled in
particular anticipation for twenty twenty five?

Speaker 15 (01:06:49):
Melbourne is a big one.

Speaker 21 (01:06:50):
Honestly, there's a lot, like you know, from when I
was a kid. There's a lot of tracks that are
on the calendar stool that I raced as that I
raced on and Melbourne's one that's close to home. Obviously,
one day I'd love to get New Zealand Grand Prix
in there, but to have and it's it's very very close,
and I know the support there from home and from Australia.

Speaker 15 (01:07:11):
Will be very cool.

Speaker 21 (01:07:13):
Other than that, there's there's obviously Monaco, even some of
the ones I've really done us in Singapore, tracks like
that are super exciting. So yeah, there's it's a it's
a very full full calendar with a lot of tracks
that that's I'm looking forward.

Speaker 15 (01:07:30):
To driving on.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
And who does Liam Lawson take his advice from? Who
are those who he chats to who give him particularly
valuable advice and guidance.

Speaker 15 (01:07:41):
I would say.

Speaker 21 (01:07:44):
I think over the years I've learned, especially getting closer
to to Formula one and stepping into Formula one is
although there's many amazing people that have you know, I've
met and and got to got to know over the years,
and a lot more people will sort of come into
your sort of circle or to your group of almost

(01:08:06):
want to I think for me, it's it's speaking to
people that have always been there for me. And obviously
that starts from my family, so talking to my dad.
He's been somebody that I've taken a lot of advice
from since I was a kid. And it's yeah, people
that are very close to me, not necessarily just in
from drivers in the sport, but but yeah, people that

(01:08:26):
are that I've met over the years who I can
who I can trust coming into it into a moment
like this, and also within you know, within Rebel, there's
people in the team that obviously have experienced these kind
of moments in the past. And then there's you know,
Christian and Helmets and and obviously the other guys who
are trusting me with a role like this, So speaking

(01:08:48):
to them and and you know, knowing that they trust
me to do this, that people, that's that, Yeah, I
would I would definitely take advice from for for for this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
And finally from Liam Lawson. Does he feel fully prepared
for what comes with being a Formula one driver, both
in the car and off the track.

Speaker 15 (01:09:08):
It's I think it's part of part of being a
Formula one, right.

Speaker 21 (01:09:11):
I think obviously you're never going to have everybody like
you and and you know, I think for me, I've
obviously had had experience of of coming into Formula one
and the attention that comes with it, and you know,
for me, I'm focused on on my on my job
and on that side of it. I think everyone can

(01:09:32):
have their own opinion and and that's you know, free
free to them. So it's not something that really bothers me,
but obviously it's something that's I sort of had a
taste of and I'm definitely gonna gonna probably experience coming
into into my first full season.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
That is Liam Lawson with his assorted thoughts on what
is a very exciting year ahead for him as he
moves into a full time seat in Formula One alongside
Max for Step and we will keep very very close
eyes on Liam Lawson in twenty twenty five. Set to
be a huge highlight of the next sport year his
performances in his first full time year in Formula One.

(01:10:10):
Twenty one and a half away from two, We're going
to take a break, come back with James mcconey, who
I believe has some end of year awards to hand out.
We're with James mcconey right after this on Weekend Sport.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Would you be the TMO have your say on eight
hundred and eighty eighty Weekend Sport with Jason Pine and GJ. Guvnerholmes,
New Zealand's most trusted home.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
Builder News Talks eighteen away from two at this time
every Sunday afternoon right across twenty twenty four, We've had
the pleasure of the company of James mcconey. So for
the last time in twenty twenty four, it's a very
warm welcome to the show mate. How are you.

Speaker 8 (01:10:47):
I'm okay, thanks Piney. I'm still reeling a bit from
Auckland their ce's loss yesterday, but fortunately we don't really
have to talk about that because I've come up with
some awards known as the Pineys.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
That's that's excellent, all right. Well, look I'm going to
and over to you to hand out these pioneer awards.
What have you got first up?

Speaker 8 (01:11:11):
Well, first up as the Putting New Zealand on the
Map Award, and the wather is Chris Wood. Yes, that's
the third on the goal scoring table in the English
Premier League. I mean that's huge anyway, and recently this

(01:11:32):
award has gone with Stephen Adams and Israel to sayn you,
but Wood has been doing it at the highest level
now for a long time and he's just been absolutely exceptional. Pony.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Yeah. I was talking to someone about Chris Wood during
the week and just this hasn't happened quickly. It hasn't
been a straight line, has it from from Hamilton to
the heights of the Premier League. There have been a
lot of stops along the way for Chris Ward and
just to see him now, you know, getting the fruits
of all of that toil and labor, and to win
a Pioneer award as well. I think this is tremendous

(01:12:05):
for him off.

Speaker 8 (01:12:06):
To have a really great year. He'll be stoked. I'll
accept it on his behalf. The next award is the
who the hell is that award? Drum roll?

Speaker 9 (01:12:16):
Please, lu Luson.

Speaker 8 (01:12:25):
Unbelievable. We're out of nowhere. Ak Aka Tiano the Chinese,
Croatian Swiss KIWI made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and we
all started to watch Wimbledon again.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
Well I do, yeah, and I did too, And it's
one of those, as you say, before Wimbledon started, how
many of us really would have known who Lulusen Sun was.

Speaker 8 (01:12:48):
Is just incredible from here and now we've got, you know,
tennis players coming out areas. I thought losing Cam Norrie
was bad enough, but the women's game, we've got some stars,
so that's great. The next award, Piney the KIWI Sporting
Family of the Year. Drum roll, the hop thems.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
Yes, the Hothams, Yeah, well normally.

Speaker 8 (01:13:16):
The Barretts win this and I think the trophy is
actually in their garden that's been there that long. But
you know, we had Jasmine Felix Hope of winning gold
in Paris and the rugby sevens No Hope of making
his All Black stable who his brother Legend winning silver
at the World Touch Champs, and their father Nigel Hope
and was coach of the Hamelon Boys Fair fifteen, left

(01:13:36):
the job to watch as children compete around the world,
and that team Hamelon Boys went on to win the
top four. Not that they can really claim it, but hey,
high achieving sporting family.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Imagine Christmas Day at their place, once they've had their
Christmas lunch and that, and then they get out out
in the back and get a bit competitive with you know,
some Christmas Day games.

Speaker 8 (01:13:56):
Imagine that yeat a few Frisbees to the head. I'd
say just because of the athleticism, not because of any malice,
A very loving family, no, but yeah, it's just they're
so good at everything. But yeah, I know badminton will
be off the chart. So next up KIWI Sportsperson of
the Year Dame Lisa Carrington. It's kind of hard to

(01:14:26):
argue about one pointy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
It really is. Yeah, although I must say, and I
know she's won this award here, which is probably more
prestigious than the Hallberg's, but I feel like she's got
some fairly stiff competition in that Sportswoman of the Year
category from Lydia Coe.

Speaker 8 (01:14:43):
Don't you think absolutely? Lydia Co has been amazing this
whole year, but just the three Golds and winning the
IOC award as well, the International Olympic Committee said you're
the greatest Olympian living Olympian. I think it's sort of
probably for previous efforts because it's nine three Golds in

(01:15:03):
Paris and ninth Olympic medal overall, eight golden, one bronze.
So yeah, Lydia a tough runner up, but hey, who knows.
I mean, women's golf is massive, It's a big sport.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
Do you reckon, Lisa? Do you reckon? Dame Lisa will
go round again?

Speaker 8 (01:15:21):
It sounds like she wants to. I mean, I mean
she doesn't have to, but yeah, sounds like she just
won't stop. I mean, obviously I was gunned about Amy
Fisher not winning a medal in that race. That was
probably one of the toughest things to watch was her
coming forth, because I think that rivalry pushed Lisa to
another year and I really thought that she deserves something

(01:15:43):
out of that campaign.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Amy Fisher, Yeah, and good to see Amy Fisher will
go round again. She's confirmed that in the last little
while that she will go for another Olympic cycle. So
that is great news. So we wait to see with
Dame Lisa any more awards or if that is, I've.

Speaker 8 (01:15:58):
Got three more rush.

Speaker 9 (01:15:59):
Streets, we'll go.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
No, no, you don't have to rush.

Speaker 8 (01:16:02):
Okay, the New Heights Award, Here you go. Hamish Kerr. Oh, yes,
let doing new hike a gold medal of high jump.
We've never done it before obviously Evatt Williams in the
long jump on Olympic gold back in Helsinkire fifty two.
But I mean just the way he insisted on a

(01:16:26):
jump off to find a clear winner as well, going
we're going to we're going to sort this out and
uh and they did and he came out on top,
which was incredible stuff. So I think we we we
sort of knew he was a he was an amazing talent,
but just doing that in a clutch moment in Paris,
I thought was exceptional.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
Yep, love it.

Speaker 8 (01:16:47):
Okay, next up International Sportsperson of the Year. There can
be only one Reagan. Yeah, the whales have come off.
This is the awards. Unfortunately everyone's going, Oh Maconie's keeping

(01:17:11):
it pretty straight. But yeah, look she came, she saw,
she rides on the ground. She showed that standing out
is as big as being outstanding. And with her lawyers
threatening to sue the creator of Reagan the Musical in Australia,
she continues to be in the news. Name another Olympic
athlete who is.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
Well, I can't, I can't. So Reagan seems like an
appropriate winner here she.

Speaker 8 (01:17:36):
Wins the Piney Poney fair enough. Finally the Missed Opportunity Award.
This goes to the headline Riders of the World. Yeah,
after French Paul Walter Anthony Amavati knocked the bar off

(01:17:59):
with his genitals, there was only one good headline around
the world Poney, which was he lost the battle with
his bulge. It's quite good, you know. And then meanwhile
the Daily Mail said Olympic dream shattered by his own penis.
I mean, that's just put some effort into it. Where

(01:18:21):
is the subtlety?

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
It was the pun, where's the where's the where's the cleverness,
where's the where's the the ingenuousness? If there is such
a word.

Speaker 8 (01:18:32):
So here's some suggestions what they could have done. Maybe
I used to write headlines back in the day for
the Sunday Papers. How about failed pole vault? Was his
pole's fault? What a flop shuang jump was the one
that I came up with? And also one eyed trouser mistake.

Speaker 2 (01:18:54):
See those are all magnificent.

Speaker 9 (01:18:57):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
Yeah, I feel like, yeah, I feel like you're right.
I mean, the Missed Opportunity Award should go to the
headline riders of the world, but surely you should. You
should accept on their behalf due to your excellence in
this area.

Speaker 8 (01:19:11):
I can't give myself a poney. Yeah it's tough. I
mean I wish I could, but yeah, we'll have to
bail those out, all the headline riders everywhere. But yeah,
that's and I know that we're people wondering, Hey, James,
what are your predictions for twenty twenty five? Everyone's thinking it.
But I don't have to wait for another couple of weeks.

(01:19:33):
I think you're doing the best I've shown. Next week
not that I want to spoil the surprise, So in
a couple of weeks I'll be back with some predictions.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
Wonderful stuff, great work all year and in particular today
with your awards. James, do you have a good sort
of festive season Christmas New Year type period? But yeah,
we'll get you back on the tools in a couple
of weeks if that's okay.

Speaker 8 (01:19:52):
Cheers Pony, Yeah, Merry Christmas to everyone.

Speaker 9 (01:19:53):
I hope you have a great holiday.

Speaker 8 (01:19:55):
Stay safe, have fun and enjoy yourselves out there. Play
some play some frisbee like the Hope ofs Why not?

Speaker 9 (01:20:02):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
Indeed, James mcconey a huge part of our Sundays here
on weekends. We love having him join us every Sunday afternoon.
Around about this time he's handed out his awards. Congratulations
to Chris Wood, Lulusun, the Hotham Family, Dame Luca Carrington,
Hamish kur Raygun and the headline writers of the World
picking up James mcconie's Pioneer Awards for twenty twenty four

(01:20:25):
eight Away from two News Talks Eboo.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
From the Track Fields and the Court on your HomeOS
Lord Weekends for It with Jason Vine News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
MB five to two after the two o'clock News. In
case you missed it, which is one of the more
popular features of our show, we bring you up to
date with some of the stuff you might have missed
over the last twenty four hours or so. Luke Littler
is in there. It took him a long time, didn't
it to get onto the ockey at the World Darts Champs.
They see him be going for about a week and
he finally got out there. Love the darts, absolutely love it. Yeah,

(01:20:57):
Luke Litler's part of that. Also after two o'clock some
Super Smash Cricket Our domestic T twenty cricket competition. The
Still a Dream eleven Super Smash Presumeters starts on Boxing Day.
Men's and women's double headers starts with Northern Districts and
Auckland meeting in Hamilton on Thursday, which is Boxing Day

(01:21:18):
the women followed by the men and then goes all
the way through. There are games in Alexandra on Friday
and again on Sunday, then doubleheaders pretty much every day
from New Year's Eve through the month of January. Finals
weekend is in Wellington on February first and second I
think the way they do it is the top the
top team after the round robin goes straight into the

(01:21:39):
final and two v three for the right to play them.
So those semis, if you want to call them, that
are on the Saturday, February the first, and then the
finals on the Sunday, February second. I mentioned before about
the possibility of playing a game today as part of
the Rose Bowl series. A few people have pointed out, actually,
three P fifty over matches and three consecutive days is

(01:22:01):
that's tough, YAKA, they could add a T twenty game today.
They couldn't they? I don't know anyway. And what we'll
also do after two o'clock, given that it is our
final show before Christmas is James alluded to next Sunday
is our year in review. That's when we review the
whole year. But we do have a couple of our
favorite interviews that we would like to replay for you,

(01:22:21):
just as a bit of a Christmas makes it really
more than anything. We'll do that after two o'clock as well.

Speaker 1 (01:22:27):
The only place for the big names, the big issues,
the big controversies, and the big conversations, it's all on
weekend Sport with Jason Vime on your home of Sport
News Talks had been.

Speaker 2 (01:22:43):
Two oh seven, Hello, this is Weekend Sport for another hour,
and then Tim Beverage in with the Weekend Collective Sunday edition.
Last one before Christmas. Seems like a lot of the
stuff we do at the moment is the last one
before Christmas. If you're out and about shopping, hope it's
going well. Hope parks are magically opening up for you
when you enter shopping malls. Let's do it a couple

(01:23:05):
of days, haven't you? What if anybody has not yet begun?
I'm sure there are people who have not yet begun.
You always go out on the day a couple of
days before Christmas, aren't you? When you see often men
just with that look of desperation on their face running
into jewelry stores with their credit card already out, just
just wanting something anything. Not me, I was sort of

(01:23:28):
ages ago. That's the only non strategy for Christmas shopping fining.
I think, yes, Well, does it surprise me that you're
in that cannident credit card and hand just running around
saying take my money.

Speaker 9 (01:23:39):
Will you?

Speaker 2 (01:23:39):
And then suddenly it's decline everywhere, but that's done by
the bye. Indeed, we digress anyway, Thanks for spending some
time with us. Maybe as you're driving around, we're going
to drill down into this year's domestic super smash shortly
couple of domestic captains Luke Georgison out of Otago, Nick
Kelly from Wellington in case you missed it. Coming up
before the end of the hour too, we're going to

(01:24:00):
update you on the World Darts Championship. It's kind of well,
they've been going for a bit, they get a bit
of a break at Christmas, then back for the new year.
Luke Littler has featured for the first time today. Luke Humphries,
the reigning world champion, has already threw safely. He he
was involved quite early on in the piece. Ben Francis
is going to join us, host of the Kiwi Darts

(01:24:22):
podcast and one of our colleagues here at News Talks
head Beat, just to give us some of the things
to talk out for over the World Darts champs as
we get beyond the first round and into the business
end of that, and as I say, your causing correspondents
continue to be welcomed if you'd like eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty is our phone number nine two nine
two if you would prefer to correspond with us via text.

(01:24:43):
But as we approach nine past two, as we always
do it about this time on weekend sport, it's time
to catch you up well some of the stuff that's
been happening outside of your consciousness. Perhaps this is a
lot going on at this time of the year. It's
called in case you missed it, and we start in
the Premier League. Arsenal piling on the goals against Crystal Palace.

Speaker 22 (01:25:05):
Right beautiful, That's that's the seal. All an impressive evenings
were declin brikes. Makes it five with a precise finish
into the bar light hand corner.

Speaker 2 (01:25:18):
Yeah, five to one, Arsenal over Crystal Palace, away easton
Villamine time continued. Manchester City's Missouri, it's Bichinnie, it's Roches, Roches.

Speaker 17 (01:25:30):
What's it gold?

Speaker 10 (01:25:32):
What wagel?

Speaker 7 (01:25:34):
Fur's that?

Speaker 3 (01:25:34):
Celebrations number a score again Chester.

Speaker 2 (01:25:39):
City hitting you are more of.

Speaker 4 (01:25:42):
The foundations from the Empire of the Pelas purch trimbling.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
Yes, so Manchester City down to sixth. Now Eston Villa
jump over the top of them into fifth place with
that two one win to Crickets Big Bash, A thriller
in the Sydney Derby.

Speaker 22 (01:25:58):
Wonder when Dorsus wakes the green, it's short, he pushes
the signal and they're gonna get home.

Speaker 15 (01:26:04):
Far too easy, the Sixers winning off the final ball.

Speaker 22 (01:26:08):
Benny Dorsis twenty bright steers the Sixers home and this
team I've never ever.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
Ever Beaten has mentioned. Luke Littler has appeared for the
first time at the World Dance Championships, runner up last year.

Speaker 7 (01:26:22):
Of course that's a ten data and another eleven to
winships were for.

Speaker 15 (01:26:28):
The most starship sis You'll never.

Speaker 3 (01:26:31):
See one hundred and forty one set bridge for the
Loop Fleckler and back to football to finish or win
for the Wellington Phoenix Women, propelling them into the top
four of the A League.

Speaker 2 (01:26:45):
They continue to commit numbers forward.

Speaker 23 (01:26:49):
Wellington and mcneakin doubles the league. It was a powerful hitter,
it had been coming through out the second half and
the number two rises in.

Speaker 2 (01:27:02):
Heads home win.

Speaker 1 (01:27:03):
It's down to the line. You made a call on
Wait You're eighty Weekend Sport with Jason Hine, News Talk.

Speaker 2 (01:27:10):
Zmb Bang on eleven Pass to our domestic TA Twity
cricket competition starts on Boxing Day, Men's and women's double headers,
starting with Northern against Auckland and Hamilton on Thursday, which
is Boxing Day, Otago v. Canterbury and Alexandra on Friday,
Otago v Auckland and Alexandra on Sunday, and then double
aheaders pretty much every day from New Year's Eve through

(01:27:32):
the month of January. Finals weekend February one and two
in Wellington. Recently, the competition had an official lorn ship
during which I spoke to a couple of captains. First
of all Otago Men's captain Luke Georgison, I asked them
how they were placed heading into the Super Smash season.
Really good, thank you.

Speaker 24 (01:27:50):
We've sort of had a reasonable start to the season
with some positive signs. We had a new coach on
board in Ashnofky this year and he's not reinventing the world,
but he's got some good ideas for us, so we're
really looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:00):
The way the season structured, it's the same for everybody.
You play some red ball, you play some for trophy.
Is that a challenge to then switch to to T
twenty mode just after Christmas, No, I don't think so.

Speaker 24 (01:28:09):
I think like the fundamental stay consystem along it. But
it's always a bit of fun come around Christmas time
for the teacherny stuff. I think the guys do look
forward to it, the slog of the playing at Shield
at the start of the year and you sort of
have the fun stuff over Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
So the move to Otago from Wellington, can you talk
us through how that came about?

Speaker 24 (01:28:24):
First of all, Yeah, it was just an opportunity thing. Obviously,
spent a bit of time playing for Wellington, loved my
tie out there, but there was a good opportunity down
in Otago to play a different role and give it
a crack down there.

Speaker 12 (01:28:34):
So it's been awesome.

Speaker 24 (01:28:35):
Obviously, really enjoyed my time playing for Wellington, but the
timing was right to go down and give it a
crack down there.

Speaker 2 (01:28:40):
So I guess hindsight's always twenty twenty. But it has
worked out well for you. You're happy with the way
things are working out for you down there.

Speaker 24 (01:28:45):
Yeah, it's been awesome. Like I said, the opportunity to
play a different role has been quite cool. Obviously a
bit more responsibily with the ball and then now I
see captaining, so it's been cool to take that on
and we've got a really good group of young guys,
so really enjoying it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:57):
What is your captaincy experience coming up through the age grades.
Is this something that's familiar to you.

Speaker 24 (01:29:03):
I've done a little bit. We had a quite a
lot of club cricket and so over here and Wellington
and did a.

Speaker 2 (01:29:07):
Bit of the a stuff.

Speaker 24 (01:29:08):
But it was a bit of a surprise when I
got asked, obviously in a second year to do it
down there, and it's obviously a different kettle of fish
doing it at a domestic level.

Speaker 15 (01:29:14):
But it's been cool.

Speaker 24 (01:29:15):
The game doesn't change much, but yes, probably a bit
more on it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
So I've always wondered with captain two bowl, how do
you work out Winter Bowl. I was actually lucky.

Speaker 24 (01:29:23):
I was ended at the start of the season, so
just plan as a bad so that was probably a
blessing in disguise. Obviously talk a lot with the coach
about plans and stuff like that, but I have a
reasonable role to play with the ball on the side,
so it's always pretty easy. But I do find myself
bawling into the wind a bit, so no excuse is there,
but and in T.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
Twenty cricket, things can change in the matter of a
few deliveries, right, how sharp you know, do you perceive
you'll need to be as a T twenty captain?

Speaker 9 (01:29:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:29:48):
Obviously very sharp.

Speaker 24 (01:29:49):
I haven't played a heck of a lot of T
twenty crickets, so that'll be that'll be interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
But yeah, you've got to be on the ball the
whole time.

Speaker 24 (01:29:54):
Obviously there's overrate pressure as well, so everything has to
happen quite quickly. That's sort of the exciting part about
it is it's so action packed and so helter skelter.

Speaker 15 (01:30:01):
So yeah, but I think you do definitely need to
be on the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
So and you seem to say some of your best
performances four games against Wellington last summer. Can you can
you tell us why that was? Was it simply or
this is old team, I'm gonna lift my game, or
was it just it just seemed to happen that way
on those days? Yeah, I do think it seemed to
happen that way. It is a good laugh.

Speaker 24 (01:30:17):
I ever good laugh at the boys about it, but yeah,
it was. It was good to get a few over
them to start with. And we've had a good couple sorry,
a good couple of battles since so but no, nothing
change has been to play against Ennisoid.

Speaker 2 (01:30:27):
So yeah, all right, and just to finish just on
the T twenty competition as a whole, it feels very
even and I think T twenty that's the nature of it, right,
Any team can be another team on any day. Do
you go out there just wanting to win every game
to win the whole thing? I think that's the plan.

Speaker 24 (01:30:39):
I think a few of the black Cats boys are
going to be available as well throughout, so I think
the standard is going to be really good and that's
what the people want to see, I think so. But
yeah again you've just got to try one as many
games as you can and get yourself into the finals
somehow and who knows.

Speaker 15 (01:30:50):
What can happen from there.

Speaker 2 (01:30:51):
So yeah, all the best, good chat cheers, Piney, thank you.
That is Luke Georgeison, captain of the Otago men's side.
So they open against Canterbury and Alexandra Muler New Park,
beautiful beautiful crack around Friday, and then back up against
Auckland same ground on Sunday to Wellington and the captain
of them inside, Nick Kelly who was. I spoke to
it the recent T twenty launch shard to get a

(01:31:13):
gauge on how the Firebirds are placed ahead of the
competition getting underway.

Speaker 6 (01:31:17):
Yeah, really exciting.

Speaker 25 (01:31:18):
Obviously, we had a pretty good year last year, made
the Semis, which was nice. But yeah, the squad's looking
pretty settled. I think we've got a few black Caps
coming back in between there. They're busy summer, which will
be nice little injection there. But yeah, the squad's shaping
up nicely and it's going to be a jam pack
January for us.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Firebirds are always there or thereabouts in white ball cricket.
What do you think it'll take you to really be
there at the business end?

Speaker 25 (01:31:41):
Yeah, I think we just find June a few things
that maybe went wrong last year. Obviously, like I said,
it was a reasonably successful campaign for us. But yeah,
I guess just looking back over last season and just
seeing where we can improve a few areas. And then
obviously a little bit of luck has evolved as well.

Speaker 2 (01:31:56):
Yeah, how much of it is not good fortune necessarily,
but reaccepting the moments when they come along.

Speaker 25 (01:32:03):
Yeah, I think it's one of those formats where you
can turn up and if one person has a day
out that the whole game can change. Obviously, it's a
little bit different to the four day game, where across
the four days it's usually the best eleven players who perform,
you know, we'll get the results. So T twenty at
times can be very fickle, which is I guess why
we love it so much. You can come out and
you know, like we saw Tim Robinson do in the
first game of the Super Smash last year, he took

(01:32:25):
that game away and won it pretty much single handedly
for us. So it's an exciting format and it's going
to be a great campaign.

Speaker 2 (01:32:30):
Again, you're a three format batsman and you've obviously got
a bunch of runs already in the Planket Shield, so
I think it's obviously going well for you. How big
an adjustment is it going from blanket shield you've played
for trophy to the T twenty stuff.

Speaker 9 (01:32:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 25 (01:32:43):
I think as you get older, you're trying to sort
of fine tune it a little bit into not being
too much of a change. I think when I was younger,
I tried to have three different types of way that
I like to bat. But I think it and now
at the stage of my career. It's just trying to
keep it really simple between the three so when you
do transition, it's not a bigger jump. Sometimes easier said

(01:33:06):
and done, but yeah, it's always a work on and
a great challenge. I guess going from this year, it's
going to be going from four a credit straight into
T twenty, which I guess is the biggest contrast. So
it'll be interesting to see how guys, yeah adjust their.

Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
Games yet in the ball right they mate what's going
so well, Well, it was a lean start.

Speaker 9 (01:33:22):
You know.

Speaker 25 (01:33:23):
I've spoken to a few of the other boys, and
you know, I've said to them that no one notices
your lean patches more than yourself. So you know, I
missed out five or six times in the fort Trophy
to start to start the year, and then missed out
in the first play a Shield game. But it's been
nice to come good with a couple of hundreds obviously,
and then a few runs in the last game. So
we're up to Eton Park in the next fixture, so

(01:33:44):
hopefully you can continue the form.

Speaker 2 (01:33:46):
Talked about those black Caps coming back into the side
and they'll integrate, I guess game by game or it
won't be a whole block of games. So how do
you go about managing a side of fifteen sixteen guys
When those guys are coming back in, they're probably going
to play. How do you manage that as a playing group.

Speaker 25 (01:33:59):
Yeah, it's a tough one because you know, you've got
guys in the squad who, you know, who might be
fringe fib that's players who just itching to get into
the team, and when they do play, it's, you know,
for someone that it's the biggest game of their career
so far. And then you get guys who have you know,
been in the black Caps environment and they come back
down and for them it's you know, it's almost a
little bit of ah and just relax a little bit.
So you know, that's that's why team sports are so amazing.

(01:34:23):
You you've got to live in different guys in the
chaining room going through a different emotions and different.

Speaker 2 (01:34:26):
Stages of their career.

Speaker 25 (01:34:27):
So yeah, I guess, I guess as captain, it's probably
managing the guys who are who are newer into the environment.
You know, they're not too sure what their role is
or you know, it might be feeling a little bit
nervous and anxious, and I think it's just when the
black Caps coming back, just making sure they're nice and
clear and really enjoying their time off the part because
we love having them.

Speaker 2 (01:34:45):
And the captaincy of T twenty cricket in the field
is always fascinating me because as I said before, things
can change pretty quickly. How sharp and flexible do you
need to be as a fielding captain and T twenty cricket.

Speaker 25 (01:34:56):
Yeah, it's a It's a great format because you always
go into it with a lot of plans and I
think there's a great saying and boxing where everyone's got
a game plan until they get punched in the face
and then it all goes out the window. So yeah,
it's an interesting one.

Speaker 2 (01:35:11):
Luck.

Speaker 25 (01:35:12):
Yeah, the difference between four day cricket you can make
a decision as a captain and you might not see
you know, a flow and effect for it for you know,
it might be a day or so. But in teach
twenty cricket, if you have the wrong field for one
ball or you choose to bowling over at the wrong end,
it can result in the match going either way. So
it's a very exciting format. Can be nervier times as captain,

(01:35:35):
but that's why I love it.

Speaker 6 (01:35:37):
Well the best make good to chat chess, Thanks Monny.

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
That's Nick Kelly, captain of the Wellington Firebirds. So they've
got to wait till New Year's Day before they play
there for Super Smash game. There used to be a
traditional Christmas Eve game at the Basin Reserve, but I
think the fact that the Rose Bowl Series is being
played here and Wellington has put paid to that anyway.
Wellington will play Northern in their first match on New
Year's Day at Seddon Park, and Hamilton looked forward to

(01:36:00):
another exciting season of domestic T twenty cricket played over
the back end of December through January, with the finals
in the first weekend of February two twenty. Here at
News TALKSB where we come back, I'm going to play
for you one of our favorite interviews of the year
quite recent actually only a month or so ago, and
we found a giveaway which relates to the interview as well.

(01:36:21):
So I know you could hardly wait to hear the details.
I'll give them to you in about three minutes from now.
It's more than just a game.

Speaker 1 (01:36:30):
Weekends for it with Jason Pine and GJ. Garnomes, New
Zealand's most trusted home builder News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
MB two twenty three. So as we approach Christmas, we
just wanted to play one of our favorite interviews of
the last little while, and it's the interview we did
with Neil Wagner, who got his book out in time
for Christmas. It's called All Out, and we chatted to
Neil Wagner about the book and it was I enjoyed
the chat. Hopefully you did it too. We're going to
play it back for you shortly. But I realized that

(01:36:58):
in advance of the interview, they sent us a copy
of the book, which is fairly standard practice. You read
the book before you talk to the person about the book.
I've read the book, so I don't really have any
more use for the book. I've read it now, so
I wondered whether you might like it. I can't say
it's brand new because I've read it. I've been thumbing
through it. I haven't made any notes in it. I
haven't defaced it in any way. It's not signed, so

(01:37:22):
if you would like it, just text I don't know
wags to nine two nine two. So while this interview
is playing, we'll we'll take texts on nine two, nine two,
then we'll select a winner and send it out to you.
I can almost guarantee it will not get to you
by Christmas, knowing the way that New Zealand posts get

(01:37:42):
very busy at this time of the year, So don't
expect it to be there before Christmas. Don't think here's
an opportunity to give somebody a Christmas present, because it
probably won't be there by then, but it will be
with you as quickly as we possibly can get it
to you. So if you want a copy of Neil
Wagner's book All Out Wags Wags, just text that to
nine two niney two. So here is the interview we

(01:38:04):
did with Neil Wagner to talk about his book All
Out Weekend Sort. Neil Wagner had one of the great
New Zealand Test cricket careers.

Speaker 1 (01:38:16):
The side.

Speaker 6 (01:38:18):
Test game.

Speaker 13 (01:38:24):
New Zealand one.

Speaker 2 (01:38:28):
Stelling Test Match Yeah, one of the most famous Test
matches and Neil Wagner front and center for it. He
played sixty four Test matches for New Zealand, took two
hundred and sixty wickets, the fifth most by any New
Zealand bowler at an average of twenty seven point five
to seven and an exceptional strike rate of a wicket

(01:38:50):
every fifty two deliveries. Of the New Zealand bowlers who
have taken more than one hundred Test wickets, he is
second only to Sir Richard Hadley in terms of the
number of balls bowled per wicket taken. But it was
his approach to the game, his life hearted attitude, has
never say die mentality, and his willingness to run and

(01:39:11):
ball after ball, over after over, regardless of the conditions
or the match situation, and never give an opposition batter
a second's rest, which endeared him to New Zealand cricket fans.
His autobiography is out, It's all out and your wager
is in studio. Great to see you mate. How did

(01:39:31):
you find the process of writing the book.

Speaker 26 (01:39:37):
Yeah, I've got a lot of more respeaks for people
who write a book now. Number one, Number twos sort
of felt like counseling in a way a little bit.

Speaker 17 (01:39:45):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 26 (01:39:47):
It wasn't easy to obviously get a lot of stuff
out that a lot of things that my family member's
close friends, a lot of people wouldn't have known about me.
You sort of had to give them a heads up
before the book. Obviously came out to say hey, so
that they don't read it in there for the first time,
but to open up and sort of put everything out.
It's not easy. You know, everyone's going to know everything

(01:40:09):
about you. But personally wanted to make an impact and
tell a pretty cool story that you know, my career
has sort of been through and what I've went through.
So so yeah, hopefully can make an impact in one
person's life, will be pretty satisfied.

Speaker 2 (01:40:25):
Sometimes cricket auto biographies in particular can become a bit
of a list of games that you played and the
runs you scored that will get you took, that sort
of thing. But this book is so much more than that,
as you've just alluded to there. How keen were you
for it to be a true account of the many
ups and downs in your life?

Speaker 26 (01:40:44):
Yeah, I think there was the reason why I wanted
to write a book at first. You know, I got
hounded by James Roader, the writer to write this book,
and I kept saying, nah, nah, I don't want to
do it.

Speaker 17 (01:40:54):
I don't want to do it.

Speaker 9 (01:40:56):
You know.

Speaker 26 (01:40:56):
I hate making anything sort of about me or something
like that. So I was a little bit against it,
and yeah, after you know, retirement and sitting down reflecting,
and you know, a couple of a couple of whiskeys
one night with my wife sitting down and I rang
them up and said, let's write this book and put
it on paper because I'll change my mind tomorrow. And
then I thought, you know, I'm going to have to

(01:41:17):
go all out yet, I'm going to have to try
and try and explain and give a real in depth
I guess sort of background, and I guess tell the
whole story and people might understand a little bit more
and see why, you know, my veins popped every time
I guess celebrated wicket and got extremely animated. I think
this will give a lot of people a lot of

(01:41:38):
insight and reasons behind the scenes and will know a
lot more.

Speaker 9 (01:41:43):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:41:43):
It certainly did for me. It's a terrific read. Neil,
congratulations on it. I know many people will find it
hard to correlate the confidence with which you played your cricket.
You know that, as you say that, how pumped up
you were, how outwardly exuberant you always were with the
off field challenges you talk about in the book. At
its worst, the self doubt that you talk about in

(01:42:05):
the book at its worst, How bad was that?

Speaker 9 (01:42:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 26 (01:42:09):
Extremely bad at times when when you're on the fringe
and you don't know if you're going to play or not.
You know, you find out the morning of the tease
if you're going to be twelve and or playing the
night before, not being able to sleep, you know, worrying
about if you're going to play or not, the uncontrollable
things of you. You're sort of just you know, playing
around your head and then finding out you're not playing.

(01:42:31):
Was disappointed. But then when you do play, you're excited.
But then the nurse straight away kick. Then the anxiety,
I guess, the fear of failure, those sort of things.
You know, when you've done one in your career but
you don't get a chance in white ball, cricket or
and other things, you sort of doubt yourself, you know,
like are you just you know, having a bit of
luck or you know, are you actually good enough? Why

(01:42:52):
you're not seen to I guess, get you know, go
to another step further or do better or do more.
You know, there's there's a lot of anxiety around that.
And then when you did well and performed was to
keep performing and keep doing well, and then we had
extremely good crop of fast ballers around, bringing down your
neck the whole time.

Speaker 17 (01:43:12):
Seeing you had to be at the top of your game.

Speaker 26 (01:43:14):
Any anytime you sort of slip up, someone else is
going to take that opportunity and that could be a
career over. So yeah, that came with a lot of
challenges on and off the field. Came a lot of
things that you had to try and put aside because
I was tiring, and it was draining mentally, it was
definitely fatiguing. So for me, it was quite nice that

(01:43:36):
I could channel that I guess stuff and to bowling bounces.

Speaker 6 (01:43:40):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:43:41):
Indeed, I want to talk about some of the highs.
But but first of all, when do you reckon you
were bowling at your absolute best? Is there a sweet
spot in your career?

Speaker 26 (01:43:52):
Yeah, I definitely fill two and sixteen, probably two, you know,
I think a year before I retired it was probably
the best.

Speaker 17 (01:44:02):
I think.

Speaker 26 (01:44:03):
You know, as situations sort of went on aas you
grew and confidence as you had, I guess you could
put away that fear and anxiety in that streets when
your place got a little bit more cemented and you
knew we're going to play, and you can park those
things up and you had a good night's sleep beforehand,
and you can just worry about the job and you
need to do. But once you had a bit more
experience it wasn't new and you had a couple of

(01:44:25):
games behind your belt, it became easier. And then it
was sort of just get stuck into your work sort
of thing, you know, and the rhythm was sort of there,
and things sort of felt like it was easier to
kind of deal with the other challenges. Was tough with
your body when you had to you know, the aches
and pains and you know, the soreness. You had to
try and go through that and buite through it. There

(01:44:48):
was a challenge with it itself as well, where you know,
there's times you felt like maybe you should sit this
one out. But then I was just thinking deep and
it was amazing to see what you could then do,
what you could achieve, you know, how high you could
actually push your body, and where I thought I couldn't
play that tests, all of a sudden you played a
whole series and you played three te S matches and
got through it. It was amazing to see and that
gave yourself again that confidence to be able to know

(01:45:09):
how far you can push your body.

Speaker 2 (01:45:11):
I want to ask you about a couple of specific
test matches which fall towards the back end of your career.
The World Test Championship Final win over India twenty twenty one.
I love your account of it in the book, and
I love Trent Bolt saying, as Kan and Ross Taylor
out there, Look, if you have to go and you
could get ted runs, you could get ted runs. I

(01:45:31):
could get five runs. We're going to get there. I mean,
that's a great memory. But what are your most vivid
memories of the World Test Championship win.

Speaker 26 (01:45:38):
That was probably the longest test of my whole career,
not just because we had six days with the extra day.

Speaker 17 (01:45:44):
It was because we stayed at.

Speaker 26 (01:45:45):
The ground and your room staring looking at the ground,
waking up six o'clock in the morning and you can
hear the covers coming off and the lawnmow starting up
and working and stuff like that. It was pretty surreal
because we normally don't stay at the ground. You sort
of drive in with a bus and you sort of
far away, but it just felt like you were constantly
in this game and the ground and never a way,

(01:46:08):
so that was extremely draining afterwards. But yeah, it was
an amazing test to be a part of, just the
ebb and flover, you know, sitting around waiting with whether
so many things have happened in it, but it was
just an amazing game of cricket to be involved in
and definitely obviously for me the pinnacle of the game.
And to be able to beat an India team equality

(01:46:28):
team in a final like that was was high quality
and there we've gone the steam and back that up
and beat them three all in India over the past
month is an amazing achievement and there will be the
pinnacle of I guess a lot of those guys career
as one of the best achievements they would have ever had.

Speaker 2 (01:46:45):
The one run win over England at the basin after
following on, take us inside your head as you line
up to bowlder Jimmy Anderson, England and nine down they
need to to win again.

Speaker 26 (01:46:56):
The ebbs and flows of that game where you feel
like in control, you feel like you know we've done
hard work. We've gone through two innings after being made
follow on, know that the man of work those battest
put on to get us in a good position, and
all of a sudden a couple of wickets full.

Speaker 17 (01:47:11):
You feel like you're going to you know, this is it,
We're going to win this game.

Speaker 26 (01:47:14):
Then a partnership between Stokes and Roots sort of brings
that back down again and put you under pressure and
finally get their wickets and you feel like, okay, this
is it.

Speaker 17 (01:47:22):
This is the moment too.

Speaker 26 (01:47:23):
You know, we've got a sniff here, and then James
Anderson pulls me through Cane's legs out of nowhere for
four and I thought, Jesus is it.

Speaker 17 (01:47:30):
You know, it's not meant to be.

Speaker 26 (01:47:32):
You've got to get back to your top of your
mark and you know, put that behind you and find
a way of doing something believing that we can win
this and thank goodness, will a little tickle down legs side,
But yeah, it was. It was definitely, you know, the
highlight of a career, something that you know you look
back on fondly and always remember. And the moments afterwards
in the change room of your your mates, you know,

(01:47:53):
drinking a couple of nice cold beers, those are the
moments you can remember, the smile on everyone's faces, and
that's the thing you miss the most.

Speaker 2 (01:48:01):
The next teast after that trianchor in christ at the
end of that summer, you've got torn hamstring and a
bulging disk in your back, chasing two eighty five to win.
Matt Henry gets out five to win. You go out
there to join Kine with one run to win. You
sprint twenty meters dive fall length with a torn hamstring
and a bulging disk in your back to run the

(01:48:22):
buy that wins the game on your thirty seventh birthday.
I mean, come on, that's up there.

Speaker 17 (01:48:28):
Yeah, I had to do something.

Speaker 26 (01:48:31):
I was bloody frustrated that I got injured and you know,
not playing a part of the game and sitting there watching,
you know, you feel helpless.

Speaker 6 (01:48:37):
It was.

Speaker 26 (01:48:38):
It's one of the worst things as sports when you're
they're injured in the side and you watch your mates,
you know, grinding away, and I just felt like I
want to do something. I wanted to contribute somewhere, you know,
you want to get amongst it. And it's an amazing
thing and drilling and a couple of painkillers what it
can do. Jogged out there and sort of tested the
hamstring out and thought, yeah, I can do this. Until
I started running their run, I felt like I was

(01:49:00):
pulling an eighteen year old truck, but eventually got there.
But yeah, it was It was just nice to be
out there in a moment where Caine played such an
amazing innings instead of us home. You know, he's done
it so many times, but to be there, I guess
again in the midst of it and.

Speaker 17 (01:49:17):
A part of it, it was a.

Speaker 26 (01:49:18):
Huge, a huge privilege and a huge honor, you know,
to to represent his zeland, but to be there in
a winning a moment like that.

Speaker 17 (01:49:25):
As yeah, as pretty special.

Speaker 2 (01:49:27):
Now, can you talk us through the conversations that led
to your international retirement.

Speaker 17 (01:49:32):
Yeah, it was tough.

Speaker 26 (01:49:34):
There was one of the hardest things I think I've
ever had to go through as a sportsman, as a player.
You know, when you feel like you still have something
to offer and you're there, you know, Yeah, age is
for me personally, just a number. I'm still playing cricket
the moment domestically and still feel like, you know, you
can get a job done. But you know, I kind
of feel like, yeah, when when you're not doing as

(01:49:56):
well or you know you're going through a bit of
a tough patch.

Speaker 17 (01:49:58):
Sometimes it's part a parcel of this.

Speaker 26 (01:50:00):
Sport and the nature of it, and you know you
only want get him away from from that swinging round
and you know what you can and do with the
experience you've you've gone through throughout the years and and
sort of felt like, you know, I still had a
bit to offer to to get pulled up aside. And
you know, I guess the oh the words where you know,
gets told you your your career is over and we

(01:50:21):
think you should retires.

Speaker 17 (01:50:23):
It's tough, you know, you know, it took a while
to to sink in.

Speaker 26 (01:50:28):
It took a while to to realize that, you know,
for the team and for the best thing forward, that
it might be the right decision and it's something that
I'm going to have to do, and you know, you
think about the team first, I guess in that moment.

Speaker 17 (01:50:41):
But yeah, it wasn't easy. It's it's a tough thing.

Speaker 26 (01:50:44):
And like I said, when you when you treasure something
so much and it's been such a big part of
you for so long and you want to be out
there to to create more memories, to know that it
just stops an instant like that. Yeah, it wasn't easy,
but Hey, it's part of life and part of a
sportsman's journey, I guess in a way. And again that's

(01:51:04):
what I wanted to try and get across in this
book because the learnings of that is that I'm probably
not the only guy to go through this. I probably
won't be the only guy to go through this, and
other people will go through it as well. The mental
stuff with that afterwards again was brutal, you know, the
lows you feel with that and having to pick yourself
up again and go again, it's pretty tough. And that's

(01:51:26):
what I wanted to try and achieve out of this book,
is to hopefully have an impact in someone's life, because
I know about a couple of people doing it pretty
tough out there at the moment.

Speaker 17 (01:51:34):
They're not alone. There's a lot of people go through
these sort of things.

Speaker 2 (01:51:37):
Of course, the two guys who you had the conversation with,
or two of them were Gary Stead and Tim Soudy,
coach and captain at the time. How's your relationship with
those two guys?

Speaker 26 (01:51:46):
Now, I've got a very good relationship with Tim, you know,
I've you know, sent him a text last night again
congratulating him with this, you know, he is a good mate.
We've we've shared the change him, you know, and some
real highs and lows together and a and a huge
friendship and we'll be friends of life, you know. It's
one thing of this whole black cap set up. It's

(01:52:06):
been pretty amazing in that sense. And with Gary, you know,
I don't think it could have been easy for him.
I haven't really spoken to him after that, but I know,
you know, as a coach, it can't be it can't
be easy thing to do, and it's part of your job,
I guess in nature. But yeah, haven't really really spoken

(01:52:26):
to him afterwards. But yeah, somewhere somewhere down the line,
will probably sit down every on somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:52:32):
What drove you to give absolutely everything you did when
you had not just the silver fern on your chest
but any cricket shirt on. What where did that drive
come from?

Speaker 9 (01:52:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 26 (01:52:47):
The once in will to you know, I guess, achieve
your dream and your goal that you wanted to do
number one, but number two, having felt throughout your whole
life that you're not really getting back to or people
don't really.

Speaker 17 (01:52:58):
See what you feel or believe that you can do.

Speaker 26 (01:53:03):
You know, you don't really get the backing or you
don't really feel like people believe that you can do
I guess the job as good as other people can.
And so for me, it was ultimately, you know, you
sort of always felt like you beck a little bit
against the wall and you've got to go out and
prove yourself over and over again. And I just had
to find this way of trying to prove people wrong

(01:53:23):
and show them and say, hey, I can do this job,
and I'll do it all day long. And that drove
me to, you know, stand up the whole time. The
amount of times they had to fall down and get
back up again was sort of something that.

Speaker 17 (01:53:36):
Told you a lot.

Speaker 26 (01:53:37):
And I guess my wife was a huge driver beyond
the scenes with a lot of things, the stuff she
had to go through as well, and the support she
had to give me for my family and stuff like that.
You know, I knew it's a little bit more than
just playing for myself.

Speaker 17 (01:53:52):
You're representing them.

Speaker 26 (01:53:53):
You're playing for them as well, and to give them
a better life and put a roof over your head.
You know, there's a lot of stuff writing on this,
so you had to try and find a way. And
there's all their passions sort of came in and try
to deliver, you know, had they fund on my chest.

Speaker 2 (01:54:09):
Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you
hadn't accepted the offer to come to Otaga.

Speaker 17 (01:54:13):
Gosh, I'll probably still live my parents. I don't know. Gosh,
I've been trying to find some sort of job somewhere. Yeah,
I don't know.

Speaker 26 (01:54:24):
It would have been a tough one. There's so many
ways we could look at it. I don't know what happened.
If I sign a county contract, you know for two years,
it would have been a considerate more amount of money.
You know, if I would have just finished as a
county cricket player or just you know, it might have
gone a different route and not play cricket as long
as I have or achieve what I have. But yeah,

(01:54:46):
no way, do I ever had any thoughts of looking back,
going what for what?

Speaker 9 (01:54:52):
How?

Speaker 26 (01:54:52):
It's just jumped at the opportunity, jumped on that plane,
and I sort of never looked back ever since.

Speaker 2 (01:54:58):
We recently did a poll on the air. We put
together a list of New Zealand sports people who should
never ever have to buy a beer again. You got votes, man,
Do people buy you beers. They surely do.

Speaker 26 (01:55:10):
Maybe there's been a couple and I really appreciate it.
It's been pretty kind and pretty generous. There's been a
couple of times where people have rocked up of a
beer and it's been you know, you sort of feel
a little bit embarrassed, but it has been very awesome
to see how people have got around it and done
that by no means expected at all. I'd love to
actually just buy them a beer back, to be honest,

(01:55:31):
but yeah, it just shows you the nature and the
generosity and the kindness of Kiwis and how they get
amongst things and support sport and people.

Speaker 17 (01:55:39):
And it's body awesome to see.

Speaker 2 (01:55:42):
You gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure
kneel across your career where delighted you accepted the offer
to come to Otago then obviously qualified to play for
New Zealand and did it for so long with such
humility but such exuberance, such success and a part of
a huge, hugely successful era in New Zealand cricket. The
book is cracking, mate, It's a really good read. I'd
recommend it to anybody. Congratulations on this and on your

(01:56:05):
career for taking the time for a chat.

Speaker 17 (01:56:07):
Thank you so much, appreciate this.

Speaker 2 (01:56:08):
Thanks Matte, thank you Neil, thanks for stopping in. Mate,
Neil Wagner.

Speaker 7 (01:56:13):
All Out.

Speaker 2 (01:56:14):
The name of the book it is. It's a beauty.
I read a lot of sporting autobiographies and as I
said to Wags at the start of that chat, you know,
often they can just be, oh, we played this team
and here's what happened. But there's a lot more to
this one, a lot more to it. I would recommend
it all Out. It's called weekends for there you go.
That was me chaut into Neil Wagner beginning of November.

(01:56:37):
So yeah, as I say, I've got the book, I've
read it, and we've been taking texts to win this copy,
the once for read copy of All Out. Andy will
pick a win up and get back to you to
let you know that you've won it and get your
details and we'll get it sent out to you. Sixteen
and a half away from three. Reminder that next Sunday

(01:57:00):
is our year in review, show a lot of our
best bits from twenty twenty four. When we come back though,
a look at the World Championships. Where are we and
are one of the Luks going to win this or
is there a dark horse in our midst darts? After this?

Speaker 1 (01:57:15):
The tough questions off the turf Weekend Sport with Jason
Hine and GJ. Gardnerholmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder,
News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:57:23):
B thirteen to three. I just got a text from
Craig Cumming, who was instrumental in getting Neil Wagner to
New Zealand and captained him for a long time. As
Otago Skipper said that he didn't ask Neil about the
time I sent him off the field against Northern Distrunks.
I took the ball off him mid over and gave
him the red card. G you're a braver man than me, Craig,
a braver man than me taking the red ball off

(01:57:44):
Neil Wagner mad over. The World Darts Champs have been
going for a week. All the first round matches complete,
as well as the number of the second round matches.
One more day of pre Christmas action then back on
the twenty seventh of December. The final is set down
for January third. Let's bring in Ben Francis, multimedia journalist
when News Talks, he'db and the New Zealand Herald host
of the KIW Darts podcast, Ben, thanks for popping in. Look,

(01:58:07):
the biggest name in darts? Is he the favorite?

Speaker 23 (01:58:10):
Honestly pioneer, I'm actually not. I actually think it's going
to be Luke Humphrey's is probably going to be the
favorite to take it all out defender's title. But those
two are definitely on a collision course to meet in
the semi finals, which is going to be disappointing not
getting the same final we had last year. But those
two are definitely going to be neck and neck in
the side of the drawers. But at the way things
have gone so far, I would probably say Luke Humphreys.

(01:58:32):
And part of that is just because I felt even
though Luke Letler played sensationally averaged one hundred and forty,
which is just ridiculous in the final set. In his
match today, it was the first time I could say
I probably saw a bit of nerves from him up.

Speaker 2 (01:58:46):
On the stage, which is very rare for him.

Speaker 23 (01:58:49):
You know, he's only seventeen years old, but he's got
the composure of someone who's been doing it for a
very long time. But there were a little bit of
nerves up there. And it was almost lesslight that finally
all that pressure, all that everything that's happened to him
the last year finally just kind of hit him a
little bit. But that's I still think he's going to
go reach the semi final, but I do predict Luke
Humfries will probably get the better of him. But there's

(01:59:09):
still so much more darts to play.

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
Yeah, that's so interesting about Luke Littler though, because you're right,
I mean, he he has just monstered the sport in
a way that you know, very few others before him have.

Speaker 9 (01:59:20):
Look.

Speaker 2 (01:59:20):
I was looking at the even you look at the
a couple of the websites which showed the schedule, and
Luke Littler's name is there in bold, It's in red.
It's like you must be looking for when Luke Littler's playing.
It's like he's bigger than the sport in some ways.

Speaker 23 (01:59:34):
Yeah, so of course you'll remember it's been about five
years ago when Fallon Sherrick became the first woman to
win at the World Champs. And you know even that
for the sport then was you know, that was amazing,
that did so much coverage and the whole Luke Letler
effect that's just been next level. Mayby fallon COVID kind
of halted at some of that progress. But the kind
of coverage of the sports got even from you know,

(01:59:55):
people around the world talking about darts that would never
talk about darts. It's just been insane. And you even
see some of the celebrities there in the stands. You know,
there was a great photo of Ed Sharing chugging down
beer there yesterday, which was quite quite cool to see.

Speaker 2 (02:00:09):
Indeed, Yeah, they all love the darts, all right, So
Luke Littler, Luke Humphreys, if it's not going to be
one of the Lukes, then who.

Speaker 23 (02:00:16):
Well, if I'm to pick a winner right now, I
would be picking Luke Humphreyes to take it out. I
would say, you're probably going to be looking at a
Michael van guh when really coming out from the other
side of the draw, it's been quite a few years
since he did win the title. He looks hungry, he
looks motivated. But as I say, there's still so many
more darts to play, and there's always going to be upsets,
especially when we get down to the nitty gritty. We've

(02:00:38):
seen lots of the some of the names the big names.
Michael Smith been the big one, losing in his first
matchal tournament, which was in the second round, just how
the format's done. And you know that was a big upset,
but the guy who beat him was that kind of
his final, winning a match like that. So but if
I'm to pick a final right here, right now today,
even though some of the guys I have still not

(02:00:58):
seen play yet, I would be picking Michael van Gullin
against Luke Humphries.

Speaker 2 (02:01:02):
What about Gary Anderson? Is he still in this conversation?

Speaker 23 (02:01:04):
Yeah, well Gary Anderson hasn't played yet. I think he's
playing tomorrow from memory. And look, he's definitely got the
form to do it. He's definitely he's been playing great.
He of course, being a two time world champion, he's
got plenty to offer and he will definitely have something
to say. But it's going to be one of those
things where look, when it comes down to the netty
gritty of the back end of the tournament, how he

(02:01:26):
hasn't played in too many finals of late, how's he
gonnawithstand playing for that for that long amount of time?
And it also depends on who he plays as well,
because lots of the controversy in the darts at the
moment has been a bit around the crowd. If he's
playing an Englishman, for example, the crowd are going to
get on his back. But if he is playing a
Michael van Gelin, for example, then may be that the
crowd will be for him.

Speaker 2 (02:01:46):
All right, great analysis. Hey, thanks Ben. We'll probably get
you on again over the next couple of weeks to
give us some further analysis. But appreciate you taking the
time to wrap some wrap some inside around it for us.
I appreciate you popping into the studio. Cheers, planning good man.
Ben Francis their host of the Kiwi Darts podcast and
the Colleague of Ours here in news Talks, He'd be
and the New Zealand Herald eight and a half away.

Speaker 1 (02:02:05):
From three analyzing every view from every angle in the
Sporting World. Weekend Sport with Jason Vine Call eight hundred
and eighty eighty News Talk ZENB five to three.

Speaker 2 (02:02:17):
Well, Weekend Sport has come to a close for today
and for the pre Christmas time. I feel like I
don't really need to say farewell because we're back next Saturday.
Well I am anyway, I don't know what Andy's doing.
I think he's going away for a bit, but yeah,
weekend sport will continue through the Christmas New Year period
next weekend, as mentioned next Sunday will be our year

(02:02:37):
in review, but we'll continue to cover off all the
sport that is happening across this Christmas New Year period. However,
as this is our last show before Christmas and Andy's
last show, it would be remiss of me not to
wish you Andy, are very merry Christmas. Thank you for
your incredible heavy lifting during the year making the show
come together. I hope you have a great break made
and come back refreshed in twenty twenty five. I know

(02:02:59):
that you will thank you for listening in as well
across the across the year. As I say, we're back
next weekend anyway with with another show. But we do
appreciate at this very busy time of the year you
spending any of your time with us, and it just
remains for us to come up with an exit song
and well, in keeping with the Christmas theme, yesterday, Andy

(02:03:21):
came up with an alimentop Christmas song. I've done no
such thing. I've gone with something a lot more traditional.
It's always been one of my favorite Christmas songs, and
I can't really put my finger on why. It's Bob
Seeker and his version of the Little drummer Boy that's
taking us out today. Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas
with those who mean the most of you. We will

(02:03:42):
see you next weekend on Weekend Sport Life.

Speaker 9 (02:03:44):
Now, he's smile and all the.

Speaker 15 (02:03:54):
Mean in my room, in my drum.

Speaker 11 (02:04:08):
Man.

Speaker 1 (02:04:16):
For more from Weekends Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks at B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio