Highlights Package

Such an array of sporting events this week….

Fight for Lonergan Life

We’ve just witnessed the latest instalment of Dean Lonergan’s annual boxing extravaganza to raise some money for charity and some money for Dean Lonergan.

This was surely Shane Cameron’s swansong as a sort of top level boxer. Brian Minto is nothing more than a 38 year old journeyman with a ‘championship’ belt of some sort or another. But against Cameron he looked like a world-beater. Minto was ferocious in his assault from the outset and Cameron looked almost as ineffective as he did against David Tua in 2009. Cameron delivered his fair share of blows to Minto’s skull, but they never appeared to cause any trouble or concern. And when Cameron was on the receiving end he stopped moving away and simply put his head down and guard up and tried to absorb the punishment, which is not a good idea in the heavyweight ranks.

Unfortunately he doesn’t quite fit into either the cruiserweight or heavyweight divisions. If he slims down to sub-90kg he lacks the power to be effective. If he bulks up again to 99kg+ he has more power but, with the exception of some outstanding knockouts like his victory over Monte Barrett, not enough to trouble many decent bigger fighters. I don’t think it would be a smart move by his entourage to pick a fight with Joseph Parker. Cameron has had a career better than that of most pugilists. Time to move on to something else before some real damage is done.

In terms of the celeb bouts, next time how about Gerry Brownlee vs. Kim Dotcom, John Key vs. Winston Peters, Brendon McCullum vs. Michael Clarke and, for the main event, Jason Pine vs. Hamish McKay. Someone give Deano a call.

Phoenix Wings Clipped

Ernie Merrick is at a loss to explain why things aren’t clicking on the field. I was at the Stadium on Saturday to absorb a dose of vitamin D and watch the ‘Nix take on the table-topping Brisbane Roar. I actually thought the Nix were excellent in patches and dominated large portions of the game without reward. Here’s my player-by-player assessment.

Glen Moss has the occasional positional lapse but there’s no question he’s the best keeper in NZ.

Louis Fenton is slowly learning when it’s ok to attack and when he needs to fulfil his defensive responsibilities. He’s certainly worth persevering with as he’s quick, fearless and possesses good distribution skills.

Ben Sigmund has a worrying lack of pace, but he makes up for that with his courage and determination. As long as he keeps that in check and doesn’t become reckless, his partnership with Captain Fantastic Andrew Durante is excellent.

Merrick needs to find or develop a new left back. That’s no disrespect to Manny Muscat; in fact quite the opposite. He is so good at this level that playing him at left back is a waste of his talent. He needs to be controlling midfield instead and would of far greater value to the Nix in the middle of the park.

Which Vince Lia doesn’t really do. I think the midfield has to be an area Merrick targets when the transfer window opens, although I thought Riera looked much improved this weekend.

Kenny Cunningham and Stein Huysegems are all-action players who cover an awful lot of ground in the course of a match. Cunningham looks dangerous every time he has the ball and is looking better every week. Huysegems often resembles a headless chook as he runs and runs, often in circles but you cannot fault his work ethic and his endeavour frequently creates opportunities for his team mates and himself.

Carlos Hernandez arrived in the Capital with a big reputation. But he has in general failed to deliver thus far. He may not be 100% fit, but it would be great to see him kick on and produce some of the magic we were promised.

Lack of goals is the single biggest problem for the team. Jeremy Brockie creates very little and scores even less. If he worked as hard as Huysegems, the team would be a lot better off. If the workrate is not at a Huysegems level and if the accuracy doesn’t improve immediately (that point-blank miss vs. the Roar was just awful), Merrick’s patience will be wearing thin very shortly.

Finally, I’m a big fan of Paul Ifill. But the current version is not the A-League superstar of seasons gone by. The pace has gone; that’s understandable. But worst of all, he seems to have lost confidence. On Saturday he was through on goal but chose to take three touches rather than just back himself and shoot. I really hope Ifill rediscovers the old magic this season as he’s joy to watch when he’s in form.

Breakers Broken

Every sporting dynasty comes to an end eventually. But the Breakers’ demise in the NBL has been dramatic. Another loss this weekend and they now have a 4 win 9 loss record and are struggling to put anything together on the court. There have been the publicised changed refereeing approach, changes in personnel and the lack of form of several key players. But fans have under-estimated the impact of the retirement of Dillon Boucher. He wasn’t the flashiest of players, nor the quickest, nor the tallest. But what he did do was lead the team superbly as well as do an awful lot of the work that only astute basketball connoisseurs notice. Cedric Jackson was undoubtedly the Breakers’ best player last season and his loss was massive. But the loss of Boucher was not that far behind. 

No Longer Ready to Rumble

Sonny Bill Williams has been stripped of two boxing title belts that are about as well-known and as highly regarded as Brian Minto’s. Yeah, I don’t care either.

Not So Super Anymore

Rumours surfaced this weekend that a sixth South African team will be introduced into Super Rugby in 2016. As Liam Napier wrote in stuff.co.nz, African teams have ‘won’ the wooden spoon in 13 of the 16 Super Rugby seasons. They seem unable to produce five competitive teams. So why bring in another? Easy answer - money. The South African broadcast deal is far and away the largest slice of the income pie. Super Rugby has become stale and, well, boring. I’d love to see it spiced up with the inclusion of a Pacific team or perhaps Japan, but not another pointless team in what is rapidly becoming an uninspiring competition. My son is 8 and as far as he is aware spectators have always been able to stroll up to the gate 5 minutes before kickoff, buy a ticket and not miss the start of the game. He has no idea that there were once waiting lists for Hurricanes season tickets and that many games, not just All Black tests, were sold out well in advance. How many more years of half empty stadiums will it take to kick-start the NZRU into finding an equilibrium between rugby and money?

Maybe He Does Know What He’s Doing After All

The Liverpool Express that is Luis Suarez and ten able assistants chugged onwards this morning. Winning 5-0 at White Hart Lane has put all sorts of Christmas pressure on Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas, who must surely only be one or two more performances like this away from losing the faith of his bosses altogether.

But from a Liverpool fan’s perspective, this is fantastic to watch. Suarez must be pushing Messi and Ronaldo for the title of best player on the globe currently and he, as the commentator said this morning, is as close to unstoppable as a player can be. And Brendon Rogers move to give him the captain’s armband in Steven Gerrard’s injury-enforced absence looks to be a master-stroke. For all his doubters (including me) prior to this season, maybe he actually does have a plan after all.

We Don’t Like Cricket….We Love It

Most cricket fans born after 1988 would be unaware that the Black Caps (or Young Guns as they were once known, or even further back when they were called the New Zealand Cricket Team) have actually won a couple of tests in the past. Any test win is rare but a win inside three days is almost unimaginable. Never mind that this is one of more average West Indies sides in recent memory or that they really don’t look like they want to be here at all. Trent Boult was excellent and the once mighty Windies batsmen were generally unable to cope with him. I’m looking forward to seeing the return of Jesse Ryder and in some capacity Daniel Vettori to mentor the promising spinner Ish Sodhi.

A win is a win, and this was a good one. We’ll take it.

Till Next Time,

SG