Full Show Podcast: 23 November 2024

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason vine
from News Talks ed B. 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 Vain
on your home of Sport News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hello you on a good afternoon. Welcome in to the
Saturday edition of Weekend Sport on News Talks EDB. November
twenty third, Happy birthday, Bruce Edgar, Happy Birthday, Martin Snedden.
Happy birthday Merv Hughes. Joel Evanderry also born on this
date in nineteen seventy three. He passed away far too
young in twenty twenty two. I'm Jason Pine Show producer

(00:54):
is Andy McDonald. We are here until three after two
o'clock today. Really looking forward to chatting with star Australian
all rounder Glenn Maxwell. They call him the Big Show.
He's with us after two, that choking gesture he famously
gave the Key Week crowd at Eden Park in twenty fifteen,
the absolutely astonishing two hundred and one not out he

(01:16):
scored at the Cricket World Cup last year, and much
more when Glenn Maxwell joins us after two letting us off. Today.
New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson on a range of issues.
How does he rate the All Blacks year, Is there
anything in these rumors about a breakaway global rugby franchise competition?
And what sort of French team is coming down here

(01:37):
next year? Mark Robinson's standing might to chat to us.
The All Blacks, of course play Italy tomorrow morning, their
fourteenth and final test of the year. Will preview that
this hour as well with former All Blacks fullback and
former Italy coach Karen Crowley. Other matters around today. Secondary
school basketball numbers are through the roof across the country.

(01:58):
On current numbers, basketball will become the top sport in
our high schools within the next year or so. Participation
up an incredible sixty one percent since two thousand. Basketball
New Zealand CEO Dylan Boucher on the explosion in numbers
after one and also the challenges it presents to the

(02:18):
sport Here and the twenty twenty five sal GP season
kicks off and do buy this weekend looking forward to
the series setting Auckland in mid January. Black Foyle's co
CEO and driver Peter Burling and new flight controller Leo
Takahashi on the show after two, and Adam Peacock updates
us on a very busy time in Australian sport, including
a crazy start to the five match Australia in India

(02:42):
Test cricket series in Perth, seventeen wickets falling on the
first day yesterday. And you'll be pleased to know the
ASB Tennis Classic is returning to Aukland this summer. You
probably already knew that, but this weekend, though we are
serving up tickets, I didn't write that We're going to
play Guest the Grunter this afternoon and again tomorrow. We

(03:04):
played Guest the Grunter last year. It was so popular
that they've brought it back. All you have to do
is identify the Grunting Tennis Star and you could be
court site at the ASB Classic in January. Your first
chance is coming up later in the hour Live Sport
while we're on the air today, Final round matches and
the men's and women's National League Football competitions before the
Grand Finals next Sunday at North Harbor Stadium, and whole

(03:27):
stack of NBA games to keep an eye on as well.
You can jump into the conversation if you would like to.
We'd love it if you did. Oh, eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty. Get you through on the phones nine
two nine two for text messages and emails into Jason
at newstalksb dot co dot z ed. Coming up ten
and a half past midday when.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's down to the line.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
You made a call on eight ten eighty Weekend Sport
with Jason Hine US talks v.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
Jordan has to take the tackle, he's hold up with
the teck. Let's put me it need to get the nasty.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Ground, will right swallow them up, get up the it.

Speaker 5 (04:04):
Ye're both out for France.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Beyond no doubt the time.

Speaker 6 (04:13):
In France.

Speaker 7 (04:13):
Do it again over the All Blacks by one point
thirty twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Man, it was a week ago. For the last time
in twenty twenty four. It's time to catch up with
New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson, who joins us out
of Italy ahead of tomorrow morning's season ending test. Mark,
thanks for joining us. As always, let's start with the
All Blacks. I went over to Italy tomorrow morning, which
I think we all expect will happen would give the
All Blacks a ten win four loss record for twenty

(04:44):
twenty four. How would you rate the All Blacks first
year under Scott Robertson.

Speaker 8 (04:49):
Oh, thanks, BIANI great to be on and hide all
the listeners out there. Look, we are overall, you know,
really positive with the general direction of the team. I
would say up front, you know, we we know Italy
will be a tough test match. They've obviously a sort
of warming into their work and the November series we
saw them be very competitive in the sixth Nations, so

(05:11):
we know that it'll be a tough game. But yeah,
you know, flipping back to reflecting on the whole year,
if we if we think about the fact we've had
a you know, significant amount of new players into the group,
a totally new coaching and management team, an incredibly tough schedule.
I think it's all been acknowledged by many. You know,

(05:32):
this is one of the toughest schedules we've seen and
longest for some time. That generally we're really really positive about,
you know, where we're heading. It's always frustrating and disappointing
Piney to drop a test you know, for any of
our teams in Black, So we recognize that, you know
that that's disappointing.

Speaker 9 (05:51):
The team have expressed that too.

Speaker 8 (05:54):
But I think when you think of the unearthing of
the new talent, the you know, the cohesiveness building and
the group, the familiarity they're developing, in the shape of
the game they're developing, I think most people would point
to that being really positive overall.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Apart from wins and losses. What are the other metrics
or measures that you use when you sit down to
review the All Black season.

Speaker 8 (06:17):
Well, really it's about the It's about the trajectory of
the performance environment, I think pinally, so we certainly get
a lot of feedback, certainly the players, the wider management,
the coaching team will all report back through a process
we traditionally run.

Speaker 9 (06:36):
We collate all of that information.

Speaker 8 (06:39):
And then have a really productive session, largely with the
coaching group and manage a portion of the management group
earlier next year, and that will be reflected through the
board at that time. And that covers, you know, a
really wide range of things about you know, on field
and off field issues, technical technical work.

Speaker 9 (07:04):
It might look at the week, it might look at the.

Speaker 8 (07:06):
Sticks and travel, you know, it was really comprehensive in
terms of our entire environment as it relates to you know,
what you've referenced in the with the losses there. You know,
I'd be looking at key trends we're seeing in the
game and in our team in terms of, you know,
things like how we're responding to pressure or certain situations.
So it will uncover and and go through a range

(07:28):
of different things with with that survey data, you know,
really top of mind and available to everyone to look at,
so you know, they're always and that happens in all
our environments, be at SEVENS teams, all the Black Ferns.

Speaker 9 (07:43):
It's it's a very similar process.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
We're just on the Black Ferns. They've got a World
Cup to defend next year. Of course, how do you
think their place to do that?

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well?

Speaker 8 (07:51):
I think when you look at w x V and
the game just before that in Twickenham, we saw a
really mixed bag, didn't we.

Speaker 9 (07:58):
You know, we we saw I thought some really good improvements.

Speaker 8 (08:00):
I was at the game and twicking them, and for
long periods of that game we played very well, especially
the opening quarter you know, twenty to thirty minutes, and
then the closing sort of quarter as well. Clearly, you know,
we were disappointed with the upcome against Ireland and that
sort of just showed, you know, it's probably still a
little bit of inconsistency in the group, and I know

(08:21):
Allen and some of the senior players pointed to the
frustration around that as well. But then again we saw
a really strong finness against France, who are certainly, you know,
traditionally a top two or three team themselves. So look,
with sort of eight or nine months ago now or
a little bit more full season of opicking in front
of us, a really good review to go through, still

(08:42):
a lot of time left, you know, to.

Speaker 9 (08:46):
Work with the team.

Speaker 8 (08:47):
We've still remained positive and we've got a bit of
work to do in terms of how some of the
fifteens and sevens overlap might work and what we look
to draw on that environment as well, and that's sitting
with Alan and his team at the moment, but we'll
be supporting any consideration in that space that we have
over the next sort of while. So you know, we
know this work to do, but we think we can

(09:09):
certainly create a lot of improvement and a short amount
of time within this group, as we've seen, you know
happen over the last few years.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Just before we move on from our elite teams. When
we spoke last time, you were seeking some clarity from
the French rugby Union about the strength of the side
that they might send down here next year. There's talk
of a second string and even third string team coming
down for those test matches next year. Have you got
any clarity on that.

Speaker 8 (09:32):
Look, I've seen a bit of the French recently. They
were in Dublin obviously around the world rugby elections, and
then I had a half a day with him on
Friday before the Test match. Look, you know, things haven't
changed significantly from where they've been at. It will really
depend on how their club season finishes as to the
team that they send, so you know it'll be largely

(09:56):
contingent on the finals of the Top fourteen before we
know much more there. You know, they're certainly reassuring us
that outside of that consider will be absolutely the best
team they can send. And when you look at the
depth they have through under twenties in the last few years,
and you know, even on the weekend they like us,

(10:16):
they were without some first choice.

Speaker 9 (10:19):
Players and still got extraordinary depth. So we're expecting a
strong team and we'll just keep communicating with them.

Speaker 8 (10:26):
I think it'll be helpful Piney if they you know,
just remain talking to us rather than necessarily talk more
widely across public forums about things when it's not quite
established what's happening. So we're working on from that relationships.
Even though we have some differences in our approach, there's
some really good common sort of alignment that I found.

Speaker 9 (10:47):
We had, you know, on Friday when we sat down.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
All right, let's hope for some positive news when the
new year rolls around, other rugby issues around. We had
new World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson, doctor Brett Robinson on
the show last weekend. He was the man of course
that New Zealand Rugby backed for the position. What will
he bring to the leadership of World Rugby?

Speaker 8 (11:07):
Well, I think, you know, we obviously spoke about this
in the lead up to the election. We think he's
a really positive mix of you know, a fresh approach
with a relatively modern outlook, which has relevance in the
fact that he has you know, a medical background as

(11:28):
it relates to player wealth areas teenage sons that play
the game. So he understands the challenges there for participation,
and he's sort of also close to an Australian market
with an incredible amount of.

Speaker 9 (11:41):
Pressure that comes from rival codes in that space.

Speaker 8 (11:43):
So need knows the you know, knows the need for
the sport to evolve and be looking to change as
it relates to a range of different things for our
competitions and our fans, and the overall sort of evolution
of the game into emerging markets as well, such as
North America and Japan. So he's very aligned with a
lot of the things that we're seeing in terms of

(12:04):
the need for change in the sport, but yet still
brings some good continuity from his previous time on the
Border World Rugby and his overall understanding of the game
from being involved at all levels, from playing at an
international level through to having involvement at community level and
having kids in the game. As I say, so, we
think he's a great blend of experiences and insights that

(12:25):
can bring a lot to the role. And frankly is
also a top quality leader. You know, he's had really
good experience and governance and senior executive leadership with large
and complex organizations.

Speaker 9 (12:35):
So all told, we think that's a great package to
bring into the role.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
When we've spoken on the show across the yir mark,
you've talked often about the things which are important to
New Zealand rugby, like the fly of the game, less
TMO interference, the twenty minute red card and getting that
through enhancing the entertainment spectacle of rugby, things like that.
How much does having a Southern Hemisphere chair help in
the progress that you're hoping to make around those things

(13:01):
compared to you know, if there was a Northern Hemisphere.

Speaker 8 (13:03):
Chah oh, Look, I think it'd be fair to say
start point as it relates to alignment on those issues
is far stronger. But to bring about any material change
across the game requires you a high degree of consensus
right across the world Rugby Council and especially the key

(13:24):
leading unions who are participating in these in these competitions.
So so yes, yes it's a positive. But I think
the key role for Bread and all of us actually
after the election is to be able to bring the
game together quite quickly, create the forums with you high
degrees of representation across you know a range of different
stakeholders in the game and arrange of different participating unions

(13:46):
and really spend the.

Speaker 9 (13:47):
Time getting aligned on what we want the game to
look like, and.

Speaker 8 (13:52):
Aligned on on how we work the culture of how
we work together, how we communicate the right forums are
for seeking change that that's going to be I think
the real challenge and opportunity for Brett as he leads
off over the first six to nine months, and certainly
I think most countries are wanting to be really supportive
of that. Any leadership change like that as it relates

(14:12):
to the chair of an organization provides an opportunity to
do that, and I think, you know, everyone has a
really high vested interest to make sure that happens, because
there's so much upside opportunity for the game if we
can do that.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Do you feel as though you're making good progress on
some of the things that I just referenced, I do
you know?

Speaker 8 (14:31):
There's always there's always elements of frustration, aren't they.

Speaker 9 (14:35):
I mean, you know, we saw the game on the weekend.

Speaker 8 (14:39):
We've seen other games through the year for us where
things like TMO and Intervention where we certainly have frustrations
and we are respectful of the appropriate avenues to explore
trying to understand and resolve those matters. We we do
get frustrated that in some regards we seem to not

(14:59):
be always making the progress that we'd like. I think
if you think of the game generally, the fact that
we've got global trials now of twenty minute red card
and I think a real positive intention that that'll be
finalized as coming into full law sometime next year, that's
definitely positive.

Speaker 9 (15:17):
Mass duration times have come down.

Speaker 8 (15:19):
I think if you look at you know, club and
even international level, we're seeing that, so that signals is
overall less intervention, even though we see occasional games that
we're close to that have have have those things happen,
which is frustrating. I think overall, the trend is really positive, Piney,
And if you look at our domestic rugby this year,
you know, I think, you know, the NPC and Super

(15:41):
Rugby both show you know, the benefits of those changes.
I think universally the quality of rugby we've seen in
those competitions has been recognized as fantastic and a real
you know, taking a real world leading approach and providing
a real example around the world to what the game
could look like.

Speaker 9 (15:59):
You know, if we're able to.

Speaker 8 (16:00):
Get more consistency about managing the issues you've asked me about.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
A couple of other issues. I wanted to get your
view on reports of surfaced over the last week or
so of a breakaway global rugby franchise competition, big money
reportedly set to be offered to the world's top players.
Are concerned? Are you about this?

Speaker 6 (16:20):
Well?

Speaker 8 (16:20):
Look, to be honest point, there's not a lot of
information about at the moment. There's a lot of speculation.
As we've seen a few times in you and I
have talked about different topics this year. There's been lots
of speculation, but not necessarily a lot of substance.

Speaker 9 (16:32):
So we've just got more.

Speaker 8 (16:33):
Work to do to try and understand what might be happening.
It's good to be up here at the moment. These
these things tend to happen when the games come together
with a lot of teams being in the European continent.
So you know, we'll continue to see, you know, what
might be happened, but at the moment, there's not a
lot of there's not a lot of detail around it

(16:53):
as we speak.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
All right, Well, again, keep keep tabs on that news
this week of a tour by the New Zealand under
eighty five kilogram side off to Sri Lanka next year.
Can you tell us a bit more about this.

Speaker 8 (17:06):
Yeah, I mean we're super excited about this. I think
we've been really positive about the development of our under
eighty five club competition that we've run the last three
or four years now, I think, and every year we've
seen increased participation in that always culminates in a great
final which is a curtain raiser to an All Blacks
Test match, which is a fantastic opportunity for the for

(17:28):
not only those players but in families, but the community
game overall. And the next evolution is that we've been
sort of you know, approached by people in New Zealand
to help support it, and then yeah, the Sri Lankan
government and Rugby Union have become really interested in this
as a as an opportunity to take.

Speaker 9 (17:50):
Take that level of the game to the next level
with an international component.

Speaker 8 (17:53):
So look, it's a huge credit to people like Steve
Lancaster and like Hester within our organization that have done
a huge amount of work on this and the provinces
that have gotten behind it to support the clubs becoming involved,
and we would like to think it's got you know,
real real legs for the future about having more international
teams participating. We don't want it to become a massive,

(18:15):
you know, high performance area piney, but if it's if
it's something that engages with players across a range of
different countries, and it feels like the Asia Pacific region,
you know, Southeast Asia, Japan, there's thaire Land, there's a
whole lot of in Sri Lanka, obviously, a whole lot
of countries where rugby has more of a footing than
we give them credit for. And if this is an

(18:36):
avenue by which we can inspire people to get more
involved and compete with the likes of New Zealand and
Australia and other more established unions that might want to
become involved in this, we think it could be a
really cool initiative for the future.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
All right, And just to bring it back to our grassroots,
I guess the rugby fan to finish some encouraging numbers
released in the last few weeks around community rugby participation,
also attendance and viewership for Super Rugby and NPC. As
we move into a new Yeah, are you optimistic about
Rugby's ongoing place at the top of our sporting landscape.

Speaker 8 (19:12):
Oh absolutely, Piney, you know, I know it's been a
challenging few years at times, but when you think of
the journey we've worked through and the fact that now
we're seeing sort of culmination of a lot of hard
work that's gone on at at all levels of the game.
You know, if you look at the where you know,
the Woman's Game is placed now both at a community

(19:33):
and a semi professional professional area, you know, it's an
amazing trajectory that's on. If you look at the community
game to see year on year and increase of participation
of teenage boys, as you know, we've not seen that
in many, many, many years. So and overall numbers back
in that space back to about almost pre COVID, given

(19:55):
how many players we lost during that time, that's a
fantastic result.

Speaker 9 (19:59):
The viewership and engagement at.

Speaker 8 (20:02):
NPC and Superlevers is never, you know, never been high,
certainly in recent times around n PC, there's some fantastic
performances in terms of the quality of the competition and
the uncertainty of it coming through and and look, we
we're really encouraged with where our teams and Black are heading.
You know, we know we're more work to do in
the with the Black Ferns leading into a Pinnacle event
next year. We've talked about the All Blacks. Our sevens

(20:26):
teams continue to really perform well consistently on the on
the global stage with World seven.

Speaker 9 (20:30):
So you know, across the ball, we're a board. Sorry,
we're really really heartened with where.

Speaker 8 (20:37):
Where we're tracking with the game, and we see it,
I guess as sort of something that validates us being
continue to be bold in a range of areas. You know,
we will continue to lead the conversation on the global
stage around the shape of the game. We will continue
to innovate at the community level around new laws, safety,
you know, new formats for community participants. You know, we

(21:01):
will continue to lot to be innovative around the way
we engage with people that are coaching the game in
our part of the world, with the learning platforms we're
developing there and all the safety platforms that we've developed
where we're acknowledged as being world leading as well. So yeah, look,
we remain really positive. We know there's always more work
to do Piney, and we're reminded of that on a
daily basis. That's the beauty of working in my role.

(21:23):
That's a huge amount of passion and care for the game.
But I hope at the moment there's also some recognition
there's a lot of things that are really positive in
the game and a tracking on an upward curve at
the moment, and we're looking forward to having a break
when the summertime allows, and then getting stuck back into
it in the new year.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
All right, well, I know you've got places to be
in the next little while. This will probably be the
last time we get the opportunity to chat on weekend
sport across the year mark, so I appreciate your time
and your accessibility on at least half a dozen occasions
for our audience this year. I hope you get a
decent summer break and we look forward to reconnecting in
twenty twenty five. For the meantime, though, stay warm. I

(22:03):
know you're in Chidren for this deskmatch tomorrow morning, where
it's apparently going to be about zero degrees at kickoffs,
or wrap up and enjoy the rugby. Thanks again for
your time.

Speaker 9 (22:12):
Yeah, thanks Pining.

Speaker 8 (22:12):
You're right, it's a blue sky out there at the moment,
but it's getting pretty cold and evenings especially, but thanks
for all your opportunities to engage. And it's always great
to be talking directly through the fans and the supporters
through yourself too, so I appreciate your time.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Thanks no, thank you, Mark, Mark Robinson, there CEO of
New Zealand Rugby, your chance to react to anything you
heard there. Eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. Are we
going to save our All Blacks report card? If you
can call it that. We're going to call it that
until tomorrow after the Italy Test. It's almost certainly going
to be ten wins, four losses for the All Blacks

(22:46):
and twenty twenty four. I can't see a scenario under
which this team loses to Italy tomorrow morning. But we'll
unpack the first year of Razors Rain tomorrow. We're on
the air shortly after the final whistle and churin around
eleven fifteen tomorrow morning, so we've got a bit of
extra time to unpack the All Blacks year. I mentioned

(23:07):
some numbers at the end there to Mark. I just
wanted to expand on those and give you some specifics
community Rugby in New Zealand. Numbers are the highest they've
been since pre COVID in twenty nineteen, more than one
hundred and fifty five thousand players. At community level, there's
a record number of women and girls playing, a fifteen

(23:27):
percent increase this year thirty three seven hundred and fifty
seven women and girls and an increase and this surprised me.
An increase in teenage boys and senior men. Six percent
rise in teenage boys playing and three percent for senior men.
I was just under the impression that that number was
going the other way. Super Rugby broadcast viewership on Sky

(23:53):
increased by twelve percent, attendance up nine percent, and the
NPC fan attendance up fourteen percent over one hundred and
ninety thousand fans turning up to watch the regular season.
So some numbers there that show positive science. I'd be
very keen to know how connected you feel to rugby
right now or certain parts of it, lines opened to chat,

(24:14):
or anything else you heard from Mark Robinson. There our
eight hundred eighty ten eighty nine two ninety two. If
you would like to send a text twenty nine to
one before one o'clock, we'll check in with Kiaren Crowley,
former All Blacks fullback former Italy rugby coach. The line's
open for a week while our eight hundred eighty ten
eighty back with your calls after.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
This the tough Questions Off the Turf Weekend Sport with
Jason Tyme and GJ. Gunnerholmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder.

Speaker 10 (24:41):
News Talk.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Twelve thirty four News Talks. There'd be hello Mark, Yeah, funny,
how are you good? Thank you? Mark?

Speaker 11 (24:49):
Good?

Speaker 9 (24:51):
Good good, Hey you.

Speaker 10 (24:51):
I was just stepping overcord the last Italians of the
interview with the steer Mark Robinson, and I just sort
of wanted to bring you up and have a chat
about something slightly different about a rugby and which is
under eighty five kg men's rugby. Yeah please, Basically I
would app look, we love It's sort of dawned upon
me that we should, you know, talk about with us
worth talkback because you guys have a lot of sway

(25:13):
and you know getting out there on the radio about
promoting the particular grade.

Speaker 12 (25:18):
And I would.

Speaker 10 (25:18):
Absolutely love to see you know, the rugby union not
just give it lib service, actually go right. Well, we
put half as much effort as we did to the
women's game and promoting that into this rugby players would
just go skyrock rocketing up, and you know, I think
it's the way forward. I'd actually like to see you
set a goal within five years that we have an
eighty five All Blacks Test against Australia and Fiji and

(25:40):
Somemo and then set an example for it.

Speaker 13 (25:42):
But how good can you imagine.

Speaker 10 (25:44):
Fifteen guys running around like Damien McKenzie. Yes, you know
my experience with it. I mean I'm forty four now
and I grew up Wellington and played for Paniki there
and there's various teams in there, and you know, twenty
years ago it's actually had its day.

Speaker 12 (26:03):
So we had three.

Speaker 10 (26:03):
Divisions and they I think there's ten teams next division,
and now I think there's just one division, so it's
actually shrinking. And then I live in christ Church now
and it's always sort of a Canterbury. You know, we
would play real rugby here, but the players are dropping off,
the divisions are dropping off. So I'd really like to
see someone actually set within the union, actually go to
all the second fifteen to third fifteens and all that

(26:24):
sort of stuff at school and go, hey, this is
an option to stay at the game. Instead of club
squabbling over the best players, have a much more bipartisan
an approach and go, well, you know, we're here, you're here.
Let's try and fee those team together and get that
back into the because it's the spirit of the game.

Speaker 9 (26:39):
It really is.

Speaker 10 (26:40):
Because if you're one hundred and thirty gigs or something
straight out of school, you're going to get a professional
gig somewhere, and that's not really what it's about. But
we have to look and go, well, actually, instead of
still looking at eighty eight as an amateur thing, well,
we'll look at it as a as a real proper
rugby progression for those particular athletes. And they are fantastic
players and that's what it really boils down to. And

(27:01):
it's really attractive to watch because we're competing with rugby
League and I also think it's work for rugby league
as well. That would be absolutely so exciting to.

Speaker 12 (27:10):
Watch, you know.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
But what you yeah, I love it. I love it,
and I think what it would do also is keep
people in the game. Mark as you've referenced there, because
you know at school, I'm sure you've seen this. The
numbers at schools are going down because if you're under
If you're under one hundred kilos, often there isn't a
place for you in the first fifteen, you know. But yeah,
I remember that the eighty eighties, I remember what you're

(27:32):
right and Willington that it was that Ponicky So was
that the Dogs of War or something like that they
won the.

Speaker 10 (27:37):
Competition of both dogs in the cabs, you know.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, those things are iconic absolutely.

Speaker 12 (27:45):
Journalists.

Speaker 10 (27:46):
Yeah, the sports journalist Jamie Wall as well, that played
for them, and there's a lot of people with that
experience in that particular part of the game. And yeah,
we're sort of I'm in christ just trying to get
this sort off we're talking about at the club, but
it's really hard to sort of just find the avenue
on how to do it without the top end support
the guy. We're into this, but they're not really supporting it.

(28:07):
It's very top here. But you know, it's of teams
at matter or.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, I think the fact that they're yeah, I think
the fact that they're talking about this and are going
to send this team off. You know, it's to Shrill Anchor,
which seems an odd place to send a rugby team,
but you know, the Asian market I know is one
that he's on a rugby keen on connecting with you know,
who knows what the future might hold Mark. You know,
and as I've often said, when you innovate around keeping

(28:31):
players in the game, nothing should be off the table.
And Mark, if there's an under eighty five kilogram test
match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies, you and
I need to sit together in the stand and watch that. Mate.
I'll make this undertaking to you right now if that
ever happens, you and I watching that game together, Mate,
Good to talk to you. Thanks for calling in and
putting it in the spotlight. Really appreciate it. Hey, George, how.

Speaker 12 (28:53):
Are you good things Bonie? How are you mate?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
I'm good, George very good.

Speaker 12 (28:58):
Hey.

Speaker 14 (28:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (29:00):
Overall, just a quickly tacking up on Mark's point year
just before, Like I think if you're if you're putting
an eighty five A final as a curtain raiser to
an All Blacks game, I think you know there's a
there's a definite level of commitment there from from the
top around promoting that grade. So I certainly don't think
it's all bad from a from a head level around

(29:21):
promoting the emergence of that really strong grace and really
interesting comments from Mark Robinson before yep, but really quickly
just just overall sentiment really buoyed by those by the
comments of Mark Ronson there in terms of the state
of footing and commending you on on how you interview me.
He always seems to be very open to the state

(29:41):
of the game discussions with you, and I feel like
he's really grown into that role now. Sometimes it's sometimes
I forget it. I guess he took over that role
in the midst of COVID in twenty twenty and his
you know, had to chart a lot of path around
progression of the game, and some of it forced and
the Africa breakaway from superin things. But it feels like

(30:01):
he's really grown into the into the role now and
he's got a really good progressive attitude by the sound
of things there. And you know, at least at this
part of the world, we seem pretty steadfast on putting
the fan at the front of the product journal we
can around law variations and things within the game. So,

(30:21):
you know, nothing more than just probably a general compliment
to Mark Robinson there, because I know he's sort of
dealt with his criticism in the past, but he seems
to be every time he's on your show anyway, shown
a really positive sentiment around progression of the game.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Good man, George, Yeah, I agree. I agree. And having
chatted to people like Brett Robinson last week, the new
chair of World Rugby Bill Sweeney when he was over
here at the head of the RF, you when England
were here earlier in the year, they all speak very
highly of Mark Robinson at that world rugby level and
the advocacy that he gives to things like speeding up

(30:56):
the game, less TMO interference, the twenty minute red card,
the entertainment value, putting the fan at the center of
the conversation. I think often he is unfairly maligned for
whatever reason. But and it's a massive job CEO of
New Zealand Rugby, that's a big job. But yeah, I

(31:16):
think certainly at that world rugby level he represents us
very well. And there are a lot of balls in
the air here in New Zealand as well, everything from
the teams in Black as he calls them all blacks,
black Ferns, the Seven Sides down through age group teams,
through Super Rugby, through NPC all of the women's competitions
as well, Opikie and and you know the women's Farah

(31:41):
Palmer Cup and then down to the grassroots secondary school.
That is a big job, a really big job. Going
to have to move because I need to get to
Karen Crowley before one o'clock. But before we do that,
the ASB Tennis Classic returns to Auckland this summer. Women's
Week December thirty through January five, Men's Week January six

(32:02):
to eleven. Action is going to be hot on and
off the court at the ASB Classic and tickets at
ASB Classic dot co dot nz. Now we are this
weekend giving you the chance to get courtside every hour
of the show. Today and tomorrow we're going to play
Guess the Grunter. Guess the Grunter. It's one of the
all time great competitions. You just have to guess who

(32:23):
it is and we'll even give you a clue if
you know who our grunter is. Now you need to
listen to this bit carefully. Text the word tennis, then
your name and then the grunter or who you think
it is into nine two niney two. You must put
the word tennis there otherwise it won't get through to
us in the right place, all right, So you text tennis,

(32:45):
then your name, and then who you think the grunter is.
Send that to nine two ninety two just before the
News will reveal who it is and announce the winner.
This hour ticket to the day session on December the thirtieth,
that's during the women's tournament. Tell us who This is

(33:10):
a little bit hard to hear, so I'll give you
a clue. She's American and has won twenty three Grand
Slam Singles titles. So text the word tennis, your name,
and who the grunter is to nine two ninety two
seventeen to one.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
The biggest seams in sports are on Weekend Sports with
Jason Pin and GJ. Junnerholmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
News Talks EDB final test of the All Black share
tomorrow morning, just after nine New Zealand time. They face
Italy and Turin. For commentary here on News Talks EDB.
Former thirty five game nineteen test All Blacks fullback Karen
Crowley coached itally from twenty twenty one through to the
twenty twenty three Rugby World Cup that time at the
Helm included Anisuric first ever went over Australia and ending

(33:55):
a long windless run in the Six Nations. He's now
coaching in Japan and joins US now Karen. After the
World Cup last year, you said that the Italian players
need to start being treated with a bit of respect
off the field. What do you mean by that?

Speaker 9 (34:10):
Yeah, I good to beyond.

Speaker 15 (34:11):
Look, yeah, that was within within Italy circles. I felt,
I feel, you know, there's some stuff goes on behind
the scenes that are not don't don't put the team
in the best position, you know, to perform on weekends
or on games. And you know there was stuff going
on in the World Cup behind the scenes that shouldn't
have been going on.

Speaker 16 (34:32):
You know, just things like that.

Speaker 15 (34:33):
There was a sort of there was a dig at
the at the Italian Italian hierarchy. I suppose of the time.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Do you think things have improved?

Speaker 9 (34:43):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 15 (34:44):
You know, they got rid of me straight after that.
So yeah, look, the guys I.

Speaker 13 (34:49):
Think it is.

Speaker 15 (34:49):
You know, I think their performances are showing that they
are in that respect, So you know, I think, you know,
things are progressing. There's been a change in leadership, which
I think is as a good move and hopefully you know,
they get the benefit of that.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
So on the grass then I think you also said
that this current World Cup CYC, well, the one we're
in now, could be at least time. Have you seen
that on field progress in the last year or so?

Speaker 17 (35:15):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 15 (35:16):
I mean, I think the reason I said that is that,
you know, I thought most of the guys that went
to the last World Cup will be at this next
World Cup, and then I think most of them will
be at the World Cup after that as well. And
I think, you know, you're gonna have a lot.

Speaker 18 (35:29):
Of players by.

Speaker 15 (35:31):
Well, by this World Cup who have had fifty or
sixty test matches, and then the next World Cup, you
know they're going to be up above that, which you know,
they haven't had that for a long time because there
was a you know, a whole lot of younger guys
came in at the same time, and they'll be going forward.
You know, I think they're going to have a massive
challenge against New Zealand or against the Allbacks on Saturday,
but you know, I think they if they get the

(35:53):
right sort of draw at the next World Cup, you
know they could be pushing or should be pushing for
top eight anyway, I think.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
If there are areas which you could pinpoint that still
need to improve if they are to achieve that sort
of a goal at the next Rugby World Cup came,
and what would they be. Where do they need to
still improve?

Speaker 15 (36:10):
They need big men up front? I mean they haven't
got big men. You know, they've got good players. I
mean you look at their front row, the luseir prop
the players against you know, they all blacks on the
weekend is against you know, one hundred and twenty five
kilo guy and he's one hundred and nine kilos, you know,
and at international level, you know, you've got to have parity.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
It's in those sort of.

Speaker 15 (36:33):
Positions because you know you can hang in and hang
in and hang in. But ultimately, you know, the saying goes,
you know, a good big man will always always been
a good smaller man. So they need to get a
little bit more size, particularly in their type five is
probably the major area.

Speaker 17 (36:47):
I think.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
So that's that's attracting big men though, isn't it that?
How do you how do you even start to strategize
to do that? Do you just go and look around
the country for big blokes.

Speaker 15 (36:56):
Well, there's a few players you know, like who who
you know are Italian qualified. I mean a guy like
Deno Lamb for example, who has just crossed over. Was
know was Italian eligible, you know, and he's a bigger
man than some of them have got. There's a couple
of others out there that you know, they need to
try and really entice over and then you know they

(37:16):
need to they need to get their systems right that
you know. Sometimes a bigger kid, you know coming through
you know he's not going to make it for a
little while, but he develops later. So you know, you've
got to put your put your faith in those sort
of guys rather than you know, taking the hair and now,
I mean there's a hell of a lot of six
for two locks in Italy, you know, whereas they need

(37:37):
to be six, what's five six, what's six? You know,
even higher, so we're taller. So you know, you've got
to put your faith in your and some younger, younger
people that may not be ready at the moment.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
There was a suggestion that the all Black side to
play this game might be a little bit below full strength.
Having played England Island in France and three big test
matches over the last three weekends. But raises name is
pretty much a full strength side. Was that a surprise
to you?

Speaker 19 (38:04):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (38:04):
Yes and no. I mean, look, they would have a
plan I think going in. I think if that beaten France,
it could have been different. The fact that you know
they didn't quite get over the line against France has
probably influenced things.

Speaker 9 (38:13):
A little bit, but.

Speaker 15 (38:17):
You know, so you know that that was my main
takeaway from that. I mean also you've got a couple
of guys retiring, and Caine and Peranara and they'll want
to send them off on the right right sort of
foot as well.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
How have you rated the first year under Scott Robertson's
helm ship. I guess for the All Blacks.

Speaker 15 (38:37):
It's been challenging at the start obviously. I mean, you know,
I think they could have gone across the line and
you know in a couple of games that they've lost,
but they also could have got beaten in a couple
of games I've won, you know, if you look at
those England games. But you know, it's the same anywhere
you go. A new coach coming in or a new
coaching team. You know, they take a little while the systems,
they have new players, et cetera, et cetera. So you know,
I think they're tracking in the right way. You know,

(38:59):
they've had some good performances and you know, if they
finished strongly on the week or on the week again,
well then you know, I think you can certainly say
that it's been a successful first year. I mean, you know,
they've just introduced some newer players and guys like Satiti
and you know, the halfbacks getting a little bit more depth.
You know, they're probably the one area that they probably

(39:20):
are looking at a little bit harder is probably the
ten area. But you know, apart from that, I think,
you know, it's been a pretty positive, positive year.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
How's your first year been in Japan? Uh?

Speaker 15 (39:34):
Yeah, a bit of a struggle last year. Yeah, we
comeing to a team that had just got promoted to
First Division and you know we were we got a
few hidings, but we're putting a lot of hard work
in this at the beginning of the preseason at the
moment and looking forward to this season, hopefully we can improve.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Good to hear, Hey, Karen, really appreciate you taking time
for a chat and lending us some of your analysis
and insight. Thank you very much. Cheers, all the best,
all the best to you too, Karen Karen Crowley, their
former All Blacks fullback, former coach of Italy. Eight Away
from one new Stalk Seppi.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Analyzing every view from every angle in the morning world
weekends for it with Jason Vye. They call eighty News
Talk z.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
MB four and a half to one. This weekend we're
playing guest the Grunter with the ASB Tennis Classic and
that was our grunter from this hour American twenty three
Grand Slam Singles titles. It was, of course Serena Williams.

(40:34):
Thank you for your hundreds of texts and he's randomly
drawn a winner, and our winner of a double pass
to go along to the day session on December thirtieth
is Devon Cameron. Congratulations, Devon Cameron, you are off to
the tennis on December thirty. We'll be in touch with
you to arrange all the details for that. But don't

(40:55):
worry if you text it in and you're not Devon Cameron.
You've got another chance next hour and the hour after that,
and three more chances tomorrow to play guest the Grunter
with the ASB Tennis Class. More info and tickets available
at ASB Classic dot co dot Nz after one o'clock.
Secondary school basketball numbers are going gangbusters. On current numbers,

(41:18):
basketball is going to be the top high school sport
within the next year. Incredible growth basketball New Zealand CEO.
Dylan Boucher on this and Adam Peacock on a jam
packed Australian sporting landscape.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
It's the only place to discuss the biggest sports issues
on and after fields.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
It's all on weekends Forward with Jason Paine on your
home of Sport.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Talk one o seven. Hello, welcome into the show. I
sat down to watch that cricket yesterday afternoon, the first
day of the highly anticipated Test series between Australia and India.
Still as highly anticipated, but India won the toss and
so you will have a bat all out one hundred
and fifty, all out one fifty. Looking at the bowling figures,

(42:09):
Josh Hazelwood four for twenty nine, couple of wickets for
Mitchell Marsh, couple for Mitchell Stark. But if Australia thought
that that would be a relatively comfortable total to overhaul
and to start building a lead from they were mistaken
sixty seven for seven. They are seventeen wickets falling on
the first day in Perth, so yeah, this test is

(42:33):
quite a way advanced. Jasperit Bomera four for seventeen. He
has to be right near the top of seam bowlers
around the world at the moment. So sixty seven for
seven Australian chasing India first innings of one hundred and
fifty so as that's the lady three before they can
start thinking about a first inning's lead. Who's in Alex

(42:57):
Carey and Mitchell Stark. I was watching Manus Lava Shane
batt He got two off fifty two balls. That's one
of the old time great trying to stick around in
things from Marnus Lavashank. Anyway, we'll get to Adam Peacock
across the Tasman this hour to see if he can
unpack exactly what's going on there, as well as other

(43:19):
Australian sporting matters. We'll play guess the grunts are again.
I can't believe how many entries we had Andy in
the first in the first hour of the show, they
were flying in the machine almost melted.

Speaker 20 (43:31):
I think about three hundred three hundred or so entries
with my quick counting. I don't believe how much people
love love tennis grunts. It's fantastic. I think our promost
team are onto a winner with guess the grunts. Next
time you play tennis, I'm going to like put a
secret mic out there so we can throw.

Speaker 12 (43:49):
You in there.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Well, I'll do the same for you. Weren't you involved
in the news talks the'd be Sport Christmas Party tennis
tournament last year?

Speaker 9 (43:58):
I was.

Speaker 20 (43:58):
It didn't go particularly well for me. Oh, I was
a doubles tournament and I was what did they call me?
They called me Andy Vic. Dubble Fault was my nickname,
which I thought was it was quite I had a
fantastic forehand, but like just getting the getting the points started,
no good anything on my back hand. There's a good
scouting report for anyone who finds himself playing the inn tennis,

(44:22):
which is a pretty pretty rare thing for me.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Was it a singles or doubles tournament? Doubles doubles? Who
were you paired with.

Speaker 20 (44:30):
Newshok Zippie Sport director Clay Wilson, who's actually quite good
at tennis, so he would have had a good shout
to win it if he didn't have me on the
on his team.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
How did they did?

Speaker 20 (44:41):
You just do a random drawer for the team random
draw probably some sort of some sort of sort of
handicap system where where a bad player goes with one
of the better players.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
You'll never guess who won it.

Speaker 20 (44:54):
I feel like this is getting a little bit too
in house, but you'll never guess who won it Piney
last year, I'm going to have a guess, okay far away.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
I'm going to say Andrew Alderson's team.

Speaker 20 (45:04):
It was not Andrew Ordison. It was Matt Brown, former
tennis expert. Of course, anyway, we've gone to in house. Fine,
now I'll leave it back to you.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
All right, thank you. I look forward to seeing the
results of the News Talks ABI Sport tennis tournament this summer,
if indeed there is one. I want to talk basketball though,
first up this hour, because secondary school basketball numbers are
through the roof right across the country. On current numbers

(45:33):
and on the current trajectory, basketball will be the number
one sport in our high schools within the next year.
Participation has jumped an incredible sixty one percent since two thousand,
sixty one percent. Basketball New Zealand CEO is former Tall
Blacks legend Dylan Boucher. He joins US now, Dylan, I'm

(45:56):
sure these numbers won't be a surprise to you because
you track these sorts of things. But why do you
think basketball is so attractive to our teenagers?

Speaker 4 (46:06):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's more than just
a sport for our teenagers. I think that's a real
there's a real cultural elements of basketball. When I say cultural,
everything from you know, it's street, it's fashion, it's music,
it's it's fashion, it's style, it's you know, the NBA
is a real big influence globally on this game, and

(46:28):
kids fall in love with it, and it's easy content
to consume, So, you know, watching a highlight of a
basketball game or highlights from a basketball game are really
easy to consume and really intriguing for people because guys
are doing things that your average person can't do. And
I think that's really appealing to teenagers.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Absolutely, And you're talking about a lot of stuff that
people can watch and wear and that sort of thing.
But how has that translated across to people wanting to
pick up a ball themselves and give it a crack
you think.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
I mean, I only can think about when I was
that age and you know, falling in love with Michael
Jordan and what he was able to do and wanting
to go out in the backyard and practice it and
try and do what he was doing. And I think
it's exactly the same for our young people here. They
are wanting to go out and try to get good
at basketball because I think it's seen as a really
cool sport as well. So it's a sport that day

(47:17):
going and I really think it's a cool sport and
I want to be a part of that. And so,
you know, again, the amount of work that our young
people are putting into their game is phenomenal. The skill
level is higher than we've ever seen it. And you know,
from a very young age now you've.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Been pretty proactive to a basketball news yell and hopes
and schools, hoopes and parks now hoops and Mari, you
must be seeing a flow on effect, are you from
those initiatives?

Speaker 12 (47:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Absolutely, I mean we are. Every time we drive past
a hoop or something that's been installed in a school
or a park, it's always been used and you know,
it doesn't matter what our the day, there's always someone
on it. So we're really seeing those hoops that we're
putting in schools and in parks and in what I
now being able to be used, to be available to
people to use. And the goal is to be able

(48:03):
to make sure there's a hoop accessible within kind of
like a two kilometer radius of anyone at any time.
So that would that's the goal moving forward. And we're
really seeing more and more people that are you know,
engaging with their kids, taking their kids down to the
park and shudents and hoops with their kids. And it's
a really easy sport to get instant gratification by shooting
it and see and it go through the hoop.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, fantastic having those available. I guess in the organized
side of things, whether it's your traditional game or three
x three, how much pressure are the growing player numbers
putting on the sport for court space.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Again, I used I've made the joke that we used
to say it's a good problem when you when you're
busting at the scenes, but now it's just a problem.
We're seeing every region has got either kids from a
young age, playing late at night, you know, playing games
as late as nine to nine thirty at night, just
to be able to get as many teams as they
have wanting to play basketball in because because of court shortages,

(49:00):
we're seeing teams having, schools having weightless of kids who
want to play that can't play because there's nowhere for
them to play. So it is becoming a real problem.
And you know, we're doing everything we can to try
to come up with creative ways to ensure that if
you want to play basketball, you should be able to
and there should be somewhay where you can go and
bounce the ball and have a go, whether it be

(49:22):
in a team setting or in an informal environment.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
What are some of those solutions still and that you're
trying to come up with, both creative and more traditional.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
Yeah, even things like bringing some of the younger leagues
and playing them outside, playing them on outdoor courts. We're
seeing more and more schools get those you know, covered
in courts if you like, and so how can we
use those coven in courts? You know during those winter
months where you're still going to be dry underneath it,
but it might be raining around you, but you can
still be able to run leagues, again changing the formats,

(49:52):
being innovative, so using the three x three solutions, so
being able to run a couple of games at the
same time on one court and those sorts of things.
So and again trying to put as many hoops as
we can around so you can adapt the game and
have a lot of skill format things rather than just
necessarily games.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
So numbers at secondary school, as I say, going gangbusters.
When a teenager leaves school and they want to play
I don't know, cricket, football, rugby and netball, they simply
join a club and play in a league. What is
the pathway for basketball players when they leave school and
want to stay involved in the sport.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
Yeah, for us, that's where we're finding there's a bit
of a gap in the market and we're really trying
to come up with how do we keep people involved
in the game. And a lot of times it may
not even necessarily be staying playing in the game. They
want to stay involved in coaching. So we have our
traditional pathways through REP programs and things like that, through
our associations, and we introduced this year the Tupou League.

(50:49):
So the Tu Poo League was based on like a
second division type concept where it was aimed at those
that possibly want to continue playing competitive basketball. They can
play in their a local six week competition, and then
the winning teams from those competitions, depending on which you're in,
how many qualify from each region, but come into a

(51:09):
national tournament that was played in dned in this year
and actually won by Otago. So and it has minutes
restrictions on it of if you play in the Sales
NBA or has minutes restrictions on how many minutes you
can You're only allowed fifteen minutes of court time to
play in the TUPU League. So it was aimed at
the guys who are possibly not getting as much court
time in the NBL, and then those that are wanting

(51:31):
to inspire to be in the NBL, but those that
actually just want to play at a high level. So
trying to create opportunities for those players to continue. But
a lot of our associations will have their own leagues
running that are aim taggert at those kind of athletes
that want to continue playing. Some may be just social,
but also some competitive as well.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Do you think what you said before about about what
the real attraction of the sport is to young people.
You know, it's not as as as strictly organized as
perhaps you know, if you're playing one of the other sports,
do you think that's one of the attractions, you know,
So you don't actually want a traditional club set up
where people go to the club rooms after of the game.
That players just want to go the court, play the game.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
And that's it, I think, to be honest, I think
in today's day and age, everyone's so busy, so you know,
like I think, I mean, I really loved the concept
of a rugby club, and you know, I played a
bit of touch growing up and we'd often played at
the rugby club and go in and have a beer
after the game or something like that. It was quite
a social environment. I feel like people are busy and
now than when I was growing up. So I think,

(52:31):
you know, the club structure is great, and then it
would be awesome. You know, there's some great club structures
in the South Island in particular and basketball, but I
think people are so busy now and they really just
want to give up their time play a game and
get back in their car and get home and do
whatever they've.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
Got to do.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
So I think that informal you know, style is playing
into it, and there's all different levels and it's all
playing into our favor right now.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
And just back to the standard of our top secondary
schools teams. You alluded to it before. I watched a
regional tournament in Palmerston North this year and that was
just the regionals, the one below the nationals and the standard.
You're right, Dylan is superb. How do you asceas where
it is and how much more it might grow?

Speaker 16 (53:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (53:14):
I think again. I think because of the Internet. I
think kids are able to get hold get hold of
international players from you know, it could be twelve year
old kid and you're watching on YouTube at the skill
worked out that doing and then they going, oh, and
that twelve years old and they go, oh, I need
to go practice that. So they go on their back
out and they work on their ball handling or work
on their shooting. And you know, we're seeing some products

(53:34):
of kids coming through now that have really picked up
the ball at a young age, fallen in love with
it and then just wanted to hone their skills and
at a really high level. I mean I'm the same
as you. I walk into a gym now and used
to walk into high school games and one or two
kids used to be able to dunk it. Now you've
got you know, nine of the twelve guys doing dunks
and in the warm up side in your game. This
is just crazy. And our kids getting bigger. Yes, I

(53:55):
walk in, I mean I'm six foot five, you know,
just under two meters and I walk into basketball stadiums
at like an under fifteen tournament and these kids walking
past bigger than me, you know, at an under fifteen tournament.
And I'm just going these didn't exist when we were
I was coming through, So there's real opportunities also existed.
There were like one real one stood out because it
was really tall. But now there's every team just about
has a big kid. So we're seeing more and more

(54:18):
size across the board. And the skill level, as I say,
has really improved.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Exciting times for the sports. You'd mentioned the Tall Blacks
as well. They're in action on Monday night in christ Church,
so a chance, I guess for people in that particular
part of the country to see the very very top
New Zealand players in action this coming Monday night. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
Absolutely, I mean I think if you've never been to
a game and you're wondering what the hype's about. Go
along to that Tall Blacks game in christ Church and
watch them take on Chinese Taipei and the Sea Basia
Cup qualifiers and you'll understand why it's so much fun.
I mean one basketball. The other thing about basketball, the
one thing it is is it's one of the few
sports that's actually betterlive. So a lot of sports when

(54:58):
you watch it on TV, you see better camera angles
and stuff like that. Basketball is one of the few
sports when you go you can there's not a bad
seat in the bill and you get your value for
money you get there, and it's actually better than watching
it live because of the atmosphere in the stadium. So
it's going to be a good crowd on Monday night.
Looking forward to being down there and watching the tour
Backs bounce back after a narrow loss against the Philippines

(55:20):
a couple of days ago. So should be a good
game and really looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Good Man, Dylan, Exciting time for the sport at all levels.

Speaker 4 (55:27):
Thanks for joining us mate, Always a pleasure, pony.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Thank you, Dylan. Dylan Boutcher, CEO of Basketball New Zealand.
Form of Tillbacks legend himself, of course, so I'm going
to take some calls in a minute. Just before that though,
the Tillbacks, as we mentioned at the end, there in
action Monday night, Chinese Taipei are their opposition. It's a
feb Asia Cup qualifier Wolfbrook Arena, Christy at seven o'clock.
Top off tickets a ticket Tech. The other thing Basketball
and New Zealand have done around this game has launched

(55:51):
a new initiative. They recognize that for some people crowds
can be a bit daunting, and Dylan just talked that
about the excitement and the hype of a game, but
not everybody loves that. So Basketball New Zealand are trying
out a new initiative with They're All in Inclusive Zone.
What they've done is reduced the capacity of this particular zone,

(56:11):
so there's a bit more space to spread out, and
have also reduced the PA levels so it's a bit quieter.
The tickets are the same price as bronze tickets, so
if you feel more comfortable or somebody in your family
does in a less crowded space, then you can give
the All Inclusive Zone a go. Details at ticketech for
the feb Asia Cup Qualifier Tall Blacks against Chinese Type

(56:34):
A seven o'clock on Monday night. I am very keen
to hear your thoughts and experiences on the rise and
rise of basketball here at eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
Let's get a couple of calls in a do these
figures match up with what you're seeing? A sixty one
percent increase in participation since the year two thousand at

(56:57):
secondary score level, basketball has just become this juggernaut of
a sport for teenagers for the reasons that Dylan mentioned.
Is this what you're seeing? What are your kids playing?
And why are they choosing the sports that they are?
Why are they choosing basketball over perhaps rugby, rugby, league football, netball, hockey,

(57:22):
the other winter sports? Why are your sons and daughters
choosing basketball and such big numbers. The other sport I
see exploding at the moment is futsal indoor football. The
numbers playing that are enormous, and it's got some big
parallels with basketball too. Played inside, fast paced, doesn't take
up too much of your day, Play it with your mates,

(57:45):
often with little adult involvements, And I know a lot
of kids quite like that. So what are you seeing?
Is this matching up the numbers, the sixty one percent
increase with what you're actually seeing in your own family
and at your kids' schools. I also talked to still

(58:06):
in there about the big gap in the basketball ecosystem here,
and that is what happens after secondary school. In most
other team sports, you can join a club and you
know when you leave school and play at a level
that suits you, you might want to play all the
way up to prems or the first team at that club. Rugby, rugby, league, hockey, cricket, neple, softball.

(58:29):
There are club structures and leagues in place for all
of those sports, not quite the same for basketball. There's
no obvious club setup. Yes there are clubs and leagues
which you can play in, but it's a very different
culture than the other sports that I mentioned, where you
have clubrooms and established clubs, and those clubs have connections

(58:50):
to schools through their geography and everything a club brings
with it is you know, you join a club for reasons,
you know, on and off the playing field. But maybe
what basketball's doing, it's the future. Anyone working in grassroots

(59:10):
sport knows what a struggle it can be. Rugby clubrooms
are very very different places now from what they were
in the seventies and eighties. Numbers are dropping. It's harder
and harder to find volunteers, so maybe there doesn't need
to be that sort of pathway for basketball. I feel

(59:31):
like there needs to be something, though, doesn't there because
with the numbers the way they are at high school,
it feels like an opportunity lost if those players are
lost to the game once they leave school. The numbers
at secondary school, at the risk of repeating myself, are
massive and the skill level, my goodness, incredible. So what

(59:53):
happens beyond that when you turn eighteen or you leave
year thirteen or seventh formers. We used to call it
what then? Because there's a massive, massive base of this
pyramid boys and girls play while they're teenagers. Where do
they go? Ready Ken to hear your thoughts on this
eight hundred and eighty ten, eighty nine, two ninety two
for texts one twenty six. We're back after this with

(01:00:15):
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(01:00:35):
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Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Don't get caught offside.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Eight hundred eighty eight Weekend Sports with Jason him and
g J Gardner Holmes New Zealand's most trusted home builder.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
News Dogs NV one twenty nine talking about of basketball. Hello, Ricado, Hey.

Speaker 17 (01:01:29):
Fine, can you hear me? Okay, I can fantastic Hey
look yeah now look I was just touching both with
you after that conversation that I'll come go get your
head list at Dylan Boutia. It's it's huge. It's a
massive sport, and I totally agree. It's one of those sports.
I believe the reason why kids love it is because
it comes in all different sizes, Like you know, you

(01:01:51):
could be you've got three ft, four foot, five foot whatever,
you know, and if you can shoot, you can shoot.
And I think it's one of those sports that it's
not intended by the weather, whereas you know, if you
look at rugby, soccer and all those other outdoor sort
of sports, you know, if it's running outside and whatnot, etc.
Games can get canceled, whereas basketball it is one of
those sports that's always predominantly indoors. Yeah, so so never canceled.

(01:02:15):
It's a great team environment. And like what Dylan will say,
you know, you know, he talked about sort of going
out into those sort of mainstream sort of basketball games,
but you can also get that same field at a
school game, at a club game. Just by watching it.
Just the atmosphere is amazing and just just watching the
kids just going out there and just enjoying being a

(01:02:37):
team sport. It's a combination of you know, an individual
you can see individual Williams out there, but at the
same time you can see that particular individual or individual
players being part of a great team environment in terms
of passing the ball around and being able to watch
the ball being circulated around the court and getting it
going from one end of the one end of the
court to the to the other side and getting it

(01:02:58):
in that in that troops Dylann ad mention. So yeah,
it's it's an amazing sport and I just wish you know, no,
you see, you see a lot of the physics. You know,
back in my day, I grew up in the sort
of the eighties and it was always rugby, rugby league,
sometimes cracket and football. We need to frown upon people
playing basketball because it sort of wasn't one of the
main sports in schools back in nowadays, you know, it's

(01:03:19):
always rugby or ruguby league. But now what I'm seeing
now is you're seeing a lot of rugby players, rugby
league players wanting to get into basketball. Because it's now
it's more of a contact sport as well. You know,
we used to look at basketball thinking, oh, it's kind
of like a girl he sort of sport. You just
basketball out. But now if you look at basketball, it's
more physical in contacts if you go and drive into

(01:03:40):
the pain, except that you can use your body as
long as you didn't think and you don't sort of
you know, stretch out your arms or whatnot. But but
and that's why why I think a lot of kids
love it is because it's it's a team sport. You
can you can be an individual brilliant player, but at
the same time, the feel that you get as a
team sport when you win or lose or you learn,

(01:04:01):
you know, and you can just practice on your own
when you go back home. You know, you got your garret,
got your outdoor. You know, you see a lot of
kids now, you know, they have a lot of indoor hoops,
I mean not indoor hoops. So they had a lot
of they buy hoops from Rebel Sports or gave me
or whatnot. They put outside of the driveway and they
just practicing. So it's an amazing sports.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Yeah, absolutely great summary, Ricardo and the point you made
first of all, I think is one of the most
valid and that you don't have to be you know,
and yes, Dylan was saying, there's some big guys playing
it and girls. Now, you know, size is important, but
it's not the be all and end all. You know,
you can be five foot and be a great shooter.
You know, you don't have to be massive. And the

(01:04:40):
team part of it's important too, because even if you
are up against a team that has a worldy of
a player and this happens you, this happens at all
sports people say, oh, you watch out for this player.
They're amazing, she's awesome or he's incredible. They cannot do
it on their own. They can't. Yeah, they might score
the bulk of the points, but you can't win a

(01:05:00):
basketball game by yourself. Got on your Ricardo, great points,
well made h at eighty ten eighty George, you got
some thoughts on basketball?

Speaker 12 (01:05:10):
Yeah, I do, Piney, I'll give someone else to go soon.
Sorry for the double diff.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
On the day. Not a problem, not a problem.

Speaker 12 (01:05:17):
Yeah, more time on my hands now without painting. Hey,
I think it's outstanding point. I really can mean dyllaing
in the team for what they've done with basketball that
the best thing about basketball is it's a true multicultural
game played by all people from all walks of life.
And hey, let's be honest, we're living in a society
and the world at the moment where it's probably a

(01:05:37):
bit more devices than we'd like. And I just love
the power that sport has rugby included to bring people
together on a common footing. And it's awesome, you know.
And it's the more people that are out there and
active in a world where devices are prevalent amongst kids,
the better. And it's fantastic to see the rise of
a game that is played by all the New Zealand.

Speaker 9 (01:06:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Look, and you only have to go along. And I've
been fortunate enough to do this my own sons and
basketball team at secondary school and here in Wellington. They
play on a Friday night and hundreds and hundreds of kids,
most of them are taller than me, or a lot
of them are. But the different types of people, all nationalities,

(01:06:22):
all different shapes and sizes, they're all they're playing. It
is utterly accessible to pretty much everybody.

Speaker 12 (01:06:29):
Yeah, it's and it's not mutually exclusive in terms of
other sports being threatened by the rise of the basketball.
I don't think like I think, you know, rugby or
cricket or other sports shouldn't be worried, but about it
an actual fact. They should be excited because it means
more kids are out there, more kids are act If,
as you say, Piney, they play Friday night and they
may well indeed then play into Saturday. I just think,

(01:06:50):
you know, we've got a really sports and parts of
society that are doing a really good job at getting
kids out because all the all the skills we've seen,
teamwork and everything like that are just are just fundamentals
of life. It's great to see a sport thriving, and
it's cool to think our other sports can kind of
live Verridge around basketball, and here what that means for
playing their own sport. I think it's great.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Good on your mate, good man, George, great to chat again, man,
call anytime. Oh eight hundred and eighty, ten to eighty.
Just a couple of points that were made by the
previous caller about and George is well there about the
fact that it doesn't compete necessarily with the other sports.
You don't have to forsake other sports to play basketball.
If I again use my own personal experience as an example. Here,

(01:07:33):
a number of the players who play in my son's
basketball team also play rugby, also play football. They don't
necessarily clash. Yes, of course, you can't do everything, and
sometimes there is a clash. In Wellington. Again, there's a
lot of first eleven football played on a Friday night.
That clash is with senior basketball, so players who are

(01:07:54):
in the first team for both do have to make
a choice. Rugby don't have to worry about it. There's
no rugby played on Friday nights and Wellington it's all
on a Saturday, so a lot of the boys and
my son's team play basketball on a Friday night and
then go and play rugby on a Saturday. It's obviously
different around all different parts of the country, but that's
just the experience here in Wellington. The other thing that

(01:08:16):
was mentioned there was the change and I grew up
in the eighties as well. My teenage years were the eighties.
There wasn't a basketball team at my school, well not
one that I can remember anyway, and I think I
probably would have remembered there was no basketball team at
that same school. Now there are seven senior boys basketball

(01:08:37):
teams and almost as many girls teams. So this rise
in participation since the year two thousand absolutely rings true.
Basketball up sixty one percent.

Speaker 6 (01:08:52):
Hello Calvin, you got athnoon, Jason. I'm just thinking too
that the bigger King here in the tron and the
CBD area has got a small shooting area fenced off
next to the little car park there. But what I
wanted to say is it's hard. So I'm eighty three,
so it's a bit hard to remember when it did happen.
But it's a few decades ago on a Friday night,

(01:09:15):
live on the radio, broadcast from some big time competition
and New Plymouth they had the basketball competition, so it
could be you know, it's hard to remember. It could
be twenty years, thirty years ago now and I solictened
to it on the radio. It was fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Yeah, I remember as well when basketball sort of had
a sort of as heyday. You'll probably remember this as well,
Kelvin in the eighties. I only again I related back
to Wellington. It's showing my geographical bias. But the Wellington
Saints you'll remember them, and games were on Saturday nights
on free towear television. You know, I remember watching this
basketball on Saturday nights on TV.

Speaker 6 (01:09:52):
Yes, yeah, well this one on the radio Friday nights.
You know, it was quite quite a long time ago
now I can still vaguely remember, but I used to
tune the old radio and every Friday night listen to it.
It went for quite a while, but like like some things,
it must have faded away. But deep down, deep deep,
deep down, I am a netball man, a close cousin too.

(01:10:17):
But I'll tell you what. The basketball that was invented
by you know, there was originally stat in America by
for the military training Keeping Fit program, and then a
few years later netball came from it as well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
Yeah, good stuff. Kelvin. Got a couple of other calls
to get to mate, but always enjoy chatting to you.
Thanks for calling in Well.

Speaker 14 (01:10:37):
Hi, yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 19 (01:10:41):
I wouldn't exactly say I'm a pioneer of basketball in
New Zealand, but I'm sixty five and when I was
fourteen in the fourth form till Crest High School, Hamilton,
I was in the B team.

Speaker 17 (01:10:52):
We had an A team and a B team.

Speaker 19 (01:10:53):
I wasn't tall enough to be and probably good enough
to be in the eighteen but.

Speaker 12 (01:10:57):
We played and we didn't play.

Speaker 14 (01:11:00):
We played at the high schools, but we had to
play through a social league at the YMCA on the
Wednesday night, we you know. And but it was a
school team that was put together by our pe teacher
Dave Norris back in the day.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
But there was no organized there was no organized secondary
schools competition for you to play against other schools.

Speaker 14 (01:11:21):
Not in Hamilton, no, but there were schools that fielded
teams and we played in the social league. So I mean,
but that, you know, there would have been early days.

Speaker 18 (01:11:30):
He was.

Speaker 14 (01:11:31):
He played for New Zealand, Dave I was.

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
Yeah, I recognized the name. Yeah, I recognized the name.

Speaker 14 (01:11:38):
Well, he was the coach and no, we were you know,
we we did pretty good as a new school. We
were brand new school then and it was a foundation
pupil there.

Speaker 12 (01:11:50):
And basketball, yeah it was good.

Speaker 14 (01:11:53):
I played rugby as well.

Speaker 17 (01:11:54):
I was only fourth grade. It was a light little winger,
you know, bath but I couldn't take the knock, so
I knocked that one on the head after fifth form.
But basketball, great game and I still follow it and
you know, so yeah, good good stuff.

Speaker 14 (01:12:09):
It's good to see. It's really taken off the schools
good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
Well, yeah, and I think we can't call you a
pioneer then in that regard. You know these days, like
I say that, you know, the numbers are huge that
every school. I can't imagine there being a secondary school
that doesn't offer basketball. Now you know the numbers, Joe,
I'll just get you to turn your radio down there
in the background that otherwise you'll be having conversations with

(01:12:34):
two of me. One's probably more than enough, mate, So
I'll get you to turn that down in the background,
which you have. Yeah, got on you, Joe yep, great,
what's on your mind?

Speaker 21 (01:12:47):
Well? Talking them about basketball. My cousin plays basketball. Now
you'll know who he is is you're one of the
most famous New Zillmers ever. But basketball's on his secondaries four.

(01:13:08):
His name is Kin Williamson.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Yes, I've heard of him. Joey's your cousin, did you say?

Speaker 3 (01:13:15):
Yes?

Speaker 21 (01:13:17):
His mother my wife a first Cozens.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
So I get the feeling. And I'm just having a
guest here. You'll be able to confirm this that he
would have been a pretty good basketball player.

Speaker 21 (01:13:28):
Oh yeah, but he played cord because he's quite short.

Speaker 2 (01:13:34):
He wouldn't be he wouldn't be in the paint. No, yeah, well.

Speaker 21 (01:13:43):
Many years. I don't know whether he still plays it
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Injury, Yeah, I bet you he's never lost the touch, Joe,
I bet you he could still. And I know that
these teams they often you see them, don't, don't you.
They they warm up playing but of football. And I
know that, you know a lot of the teams play
at the basketball as part of their you know, sort
of there as they're mucking around during the week. I
bet you Cane can still hit a sweet three pointer
from outside the three point line. You know who else

(01:14:10):
is really good at basketball? Was Jeff Wilson, Double International,
amazing rugby player, amazing cricketer. But they reckon he was
as good at basketball, Goaldie, as he was at those
other two. It's annoying, isn't it when someone's good at
all those things? No, it's not really, Thanks, Joe, gotta
Move've got to get across the Tasman. We'll do that
in a moment. Seventeen and a half to two, Adam
Peacock when we come.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
Back the Voice of Sport on your home of Sport
Weekend Sport with Jason Vine and GJ. Gunnomes New Zealand's
most trusted home builder News Dogs'd be.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
Now The asp Classic returning to Auckland this summer. The
women played December thirty through January five. The men go
from January sixth to eleven. The place to be in
Auckland during the holidays. More info and tickets at ASB
Classic dot co dot nz. Now this weekend we're giving
you tickets to get caught side by playing Guess the Grunter.
You just have to guess who it is. So if

(01:15:02):
you know who this grunter is, text the word tennis,
then your name than who you think the grunter is
to nine two nine two. All right, this hour, we've
got tickets to the day session on January the sixth.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
Who is this?

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
So that's pretty difficult. Here's your clue. He's Spanish, He's
won the ASB Classic twice and his initials are the
same as the Radio Broadcasters Association. Text the word tennis,
your name and who the grunter is to nine two
nine two. Busy time in Australian sport. Adam Peacock joins

(01:15:43):
us to unpack it all. Seventeen wickets have fallen on
day one of the opening cricket Tests between Australia and
India in Perth Adam, India all out one fifty Australia
sixty seven for seven. What's going on?

Speaker 22 (01:15:56):
I don't know. I spoke to my mate Hads after
play yesterday briefly and he said, and I asked him
the same question, I said, what would that was? Just
the wicket was a horrible batting, was a good bowling
and he went the ladder. He just said, just elite bowling.
And it's yeah, you've got to hand it to both
Stark and Hazard in particular for Australia to Jasper Bumrock,

(01:16:20):
my goodness, he just made them look like third greatest
the way that he was able to rip through that
Australian top order. And yeah, you've got to pay nothing
but compliments to the guy about how good he is.
He's on these wickets. He comes into his own and
it makes you question what end you do with their wickets.
They've got a fast bowling battery that looked pretty good

(01:16:41):
yesterday and you just wonder why they rocked up with
those decks against you guys in particular that turned sideways.
It's weird, but yeah, for the bowlers and let's be honest, Piney,
when when it comes to T twenty cricket, it's batters
and they they thrive in that. So maybe it's not
a bad thing that there is a little section of

(01:17:01):
the game still reserve for the elite bowlers and they
can get the most out of there. Chosen draft.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Be nice to see. I'm batting at some point tho
wouldn't you wouldn't want tickets today? Three?

Speaker 9 (01:17:09):
Here?

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
Would you?

Speaker 19 (01:17:10):
No?

Speaker 22 (01:17:11):
No, we I think we'll be doing a wrap podcast
on Monday out there saying will I talk as opposed
to doing one next Thursday. It's yeah, it is disappointing
for like you want to see a contest and drawn
out a bit. But hey, if the bowling's too good,
the bowling's too good, let's.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
Go to rug beat the Wallabies on a roll wins
and successive Test matches against England, then that's thumping of Wales.
You reckon, They'll keep they'll keep the Grand Slam dream
alive against Scotland Monday morning.

Speaker 22 (01:17:40):
Well, talking Tobe for me to be the expert voice.
But I had a chance to catch up with Tim
Horan through the week and he was saying that people
in Australia Rugby not well, are happy if it's one
out of two of the next two. Ireland obviously not
going to be easy next weekend, but he reckons this
Scotland side is going to provide a massive test. They're

(01:18:01):
good at the moment and it's weird, isn't it with
the whole nations. They kind of they go from like
they have two or three years where they're very, very
good and then they drop away in their mud again.
So at the moment it seems like Scotland's gone through
a good period. I did note that Joe Schmant and
his team have barely been able to train this week
because of the after cold snaps that's ripped through the

(01:18:21):
northern hemisphere and there's been no pitches to train on.
They've been training on artificial turf, so maybe the freshen
up might do them good. But yes, it's certainly or
we spoke about it last week, didn't he But the
peph and everyone step in Australia and rugby is certainly
back after these two wins.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Absolutely right. Yes, Simon Turan with the All Blacks are
playing Italy. Apparently our commentary team over there just trying
to source every single jacket, beanie scarf layer that they
possibly can. Apparently it's absolutely freezing up there.

Speaker 22 (01:18:51):
Yeah, and oddly enough, my son is in Serbia and
played a game in bulk area through the week pining
of the round ball type and he played his first
ever game in snow. So yeah, it's continental wide. What's
happened there? So yeah, jackets and short supply.

Speaker 11 (01:19:08):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
I want to get to the soccer roos in the moment.
But first of all, Australia through to the Davis Cup
tennis semi finals a two to one went over the US.
Was this expected?

Speaker 21 (01:19:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 22 (01:19:18):
No, I've got to be honest and Layton Hewett went
bold with his selection. First up with Party Kokanakas. Who's
you know, I'm not set the world on fire this year.
He's had some pretty good results. But he beat Ben
Shelton and they kind of set the tie up and
they went to one. It's look, it's Davis Cup. Light
it's all done in four days. Eight teams knockout best

(01:19:40):
of three in best of three set matches.

Speaker 12 (01:19:43):
It's yeah, it's not what it used to be. Davis
Cup over the course of a.

Speaker 22 (01:19:47):
Weekend with best of five matches and five match ties
as well, but it is what it is.

Speaker 12 (01:19:53):
But they went through.

Speaker 22 (01:19:53):
Unfortunately we lost Spain now at the first hurdle which
went we lost Raphael and Nadal who lost his last
ever match one. He's lost his first ever Davis Cup match,
lost his last ever one and won everything in between,
so they pretty shovers up his career.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
Our farmers are absolutely right. Full circle moment for him
and circling back to the Football World Cup qualifiers for
the SOCCA Rus. I'm just looking at this table just
to explain to people. It's a group of six. The
top two go automatically to the World Cup. Japan a top.
They've got sixteen points after six of ten games, then
Australia seven points, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China all

(01:20:30):
six points. This is up for grabs, isn't it.

Speaker 22 (01:20:34):
Yeah, japanas through so they don't have to worry about anything.
They're ten matches. You need back to get thirteen points.
I reckon all the way that the results are going,
maybe twelve's enough that Japan are often running and they
can book their place.

Speaker 6 (01:20:45):
Right now.

Speaker 22 (01:20:47):
We've just been really fortunate. We haven't looked after our
own business like we did against bar run through the week,
we're one air up, cruising and then bang bang, we've
got two two goals against the run of play and
we're all of a sudden we have to scratch around
for a draw, which we get. But look, we're going
to take their business big style in March against don't
win that we could be going the long way around

(01:21:09):
to try and.

Speaker 12 (01:21:10):
Get to the World Cup.

Speaker 22 (01:21:10):
But it's a weird old group because the other results
underneath everyone's beating everyone. So at the moment it's still
in Australia's hands that have to be a lot better
than what they were in moments against Bahrain and also
against Oudi Arabia last week. It's frustrating, by its very frustrating.
How to key, we're going that's almost true.

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
Almost Yeah, back to back eight goal out ex Actually
need to put it into context. They're playing Oceanny a sides,
but yeah, doing what they have to do. So yeah,
a couple of games away and as you know Oceanny
you get automatic entry from now on. So yeah, we're
looking forward to March when there's the Semis in the final.
In Oceanny, you're qualifying crucially though, Mate, crucially, how's the

(01:21:48):
weather in Sydney today for a bit of.

Speaker 22 (01:21:50):
Golf and unite rounds for the A leagues. Twenty four
degrees and not a cloud in the sky, so it
is a one Sydney weather for one.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
Brilliant Well, I'm going to let you go out and
enjoy that and we'll catch up again next Saturday.

Speaker 22 (01:22:04):
Cheers Finny.

Speaker 2 (01:22:05):
Everyone on to Adam Peacock Out of Australia seven to
two News Talks at B four to two of playing guests,
the grunter that is the grunting of Roberto Bautista Agut.
Congratulations Michelle ten Hove. Michelle, You're off to the day
session on January sixth at the ASB Tennis Classic. For

(01:22:29):
knowing who that grunter is, another one to guess. After
two o'clock straight after two Australian All Round, Glenn Maxwell
is on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
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 Vain on your home of Sport
News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
The two oh seven Welcome in. We're here till three
on weekend sport when Tim Beveridge takes the rains tomorrow.
Just a reminder we're on the air at the slight
earlier time of around eleven fifteen. When things wrap up
in Sheer in between the All Blacks and It's Ille
will take over. And tomorrow we want to put together
Razors report cards for twenty twenty four. We need your

(01:23:19):
help for this. How do you rate the year? How
positive do you feel? Who are your players of the year?
Which positions might be up for grabs next year? All
of that on an extended weekend sports show tomorrow from
eleven to fifteen onwards here on News Talk ZB. The
full commentary of the game, of course, is on ZB
from just after nine o'clock this hour. Sal GP underway.

(01:23:43):
The new season of sal GP has its season opener
in Dubai starting tonight. We'll get you to Dubay. Peter
Berlings on the show and also a brand new member
of the new Zealand sale GP team, Leo Takahashi. He's
taken over from Andy Maloney as flight controller. We'll play
guest the Grunza again. Guess the Gruntster has been incredibly popular.

(01:24:06):
Tickets to the asb classic to give away right across
the weekend your latest chances. This hour will play you
a tennis player grunts and you just got to tell
us who it is. It's pretty simple concept. We'll do
that shortly. Glenn Maxwell is on the show standing by
the chat to us the Big Show, one of Australia's

(01:24:27):
great white ball cricketers. He's with us very very shortly.
Your causing correspondence always welcome on the show. Oh eight
hundred eighty ten eighty is our number nine two ninety
two for text messages. But as we approach eight and
a half past two, it as time, as we always
do it around this time on weekend sport, to bring
you up today to make sure nothing has escaped your attention.

(01:24:50):
In case you missed, it is what we call it.
We begin in Cleveland, where the Cleveland Browns have braved
near blizzard conditions to upset the Pittsburgh Steelers twenty four
to nineteen in the NFL up touched in the Browns
look you this crowd, nobody's luck. And after the game,

(01:25:15):
the Browns eccentric quarterback Jameis Winston gave us some tremendous
post game color.

Speaker 5 (01:25:23):
Lad snow lading snow the Cleveland Brown's got some more WIRs.

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
Baby, that's kidding, Jameis Winston. What a man to perth.
Australia put India to the sword at the start of
the first cricket Test, taking on everything.

Speaker 7 (01:25:41):
Another opportunity for Kawaija at this time if sob result.

Speaker 16 (01:25:46):
He's held it.

Speaker 7 (01:25:48):
He's held it this time when he's talking about the sun,
he takes the catch and on day one of the
first Test, Australia, let's got India over one fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
Yes, so India all out one fifty having elected to
bat on winning the toss. But India then fought back
and have somehow put themselves in probably the stronger position
at the end of day one, taken.

Speaker 23 (01:26:14):
Big heads and then you have packed again.

Speaker 20 (01:26:16):
It's for Comra delight for India and it's chaos for Australia.

Speaker 2 (01:26:23):
Chaos is right, IZI a sixty seven for seven at
the end of the day. Meantime, up in the Northern Hemisphere,
France offended off Argentina in rugby's Autumn Internationals and Luke
Pierce blows his whistle for the end of the match.
France utterly dominance in.

Speaker 5 (01:26:43):
Their first half, lost a little bit of their shape
in the second forty, but they did keep the Pumas
at arm's length.

Speaker 2 (01:26:52):
And finally to the A League where the Wellington Phoenix
women have notched up their first win of the season
during Unite rounds in Sydney against Adelaide Yea.

Speaker 8 (01:27:04):
Tanaka COEs White women take it a luction, You're of them.

Speaker 2 (01:27:11):
HiT's the back of the map and the relative nuts.

Speaker 3 (01:27:15):
On the pod analyzing every view from every angle in
the Sporting World Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Call eight
hundred eighty US talks.

Speaker 2 (01:27:26):
eNB eleven minutes past two on Weekend Sport. Australian cricketing
star Glenn Maxwell has a book out. It's called The
Showman and Charts. Has comeback from a traumatic broken leg
at the back end of twenty twenty two to being
a huge part of Australia's twenty twenty three World Cup win,
which included one of the most extraordinary One day innings

(01:27:49):
ever played forty hairs on.

Speaker 24 (01:27:51):
Their feet and.

Speaker 5 (01:27:56):
Legend show unbelievable, familakable thing you've probably ever seen, cricket staggering,
absolutely one going what a one and he should not
have to walk off the party ship be carried off.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
What a performance he had two hundred and one not
out in that World Cup pull match at the back
end of last year. Woven into the story are some
brilliant insights into the events and people that have shaped
him into one of the world's premiere all round cricketers.
It is a terrific read. Glenn Maxwell is with us. Glenn,
congratulations on the book, your first one. Are you happy?

(01:28:38):
How happy are you with the way it's come out?

Speaker 19 (01:28:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 16 (01:28:40):
Extremely proud of the way it's come out.

Speaker 11 (01:28:42):
There's a lot of hard work and a lot of
time put into it, and certainly very proud of how
it's come up.

Speaker 2 (01:28:49):
Can we start where the book starts, after the prologue
and all that sort of thing? With your ankle break
November twenty twenty two, freak accident at a makes fiftieth birthday.
There's a photo. I think that photo should come with
a warning as well. Now that you're on the other
side of it, how concerned will were you initially that
it would severely affect your career?

Speaker 11 (01:29:11):
To be honest, I was really naive to how much
damage I'd truly done to my foot and had no
idea of the magnitude of effort and time that was
going to have to be put back into rehab and
training to I suppose get it back up to speed
to even be ninety percent of what it once was.
And once I suppose I got on the journey of

(01:29:34):
almost getting back and sort of having those relapses of
pain and having to go through the process all again,
it was only then that I sort of understood the
severity of what I'd done. And Yeah, it's hard to
sometimes read back through and sort of remember all of that, but.

Speaker 16 (01:29:54):
Yeah, I suppose it sort of makes it all part
of your journey.

Speaker 2 (01:29:56):
How did you navigate the darkest parts of that, the
times when you thought, Hey, there isn't a finish line
in sight here, I'm not going to be able to
do what I used to do well.

Speaker 16 (01:30:06):
I to be honest, I never really felt like that.

Speaker 11 (01:30:08):
I always thought that there was going to be a
way that I'd find a way through, because there hadn't
been I suppose a hurdle that I hadn't been able
to push through overcome, And I'd sort of always been
driven like that throughout my career to if you have
a roadblock, find a way to get past it and
get through it. And I just saw this as another

(01:30:31):
hurdle and it just was probably took me longer to
get over it than probably some.

Speaker 16 (01:30:37):
Of the other hurdles that I've had in my career.

Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Or r at least jump forward then, because people can
read all about your rehab and the endless stuff that
you had to do to get right for the World Cup.
You got there. I want to jump to your tour
one night out of that's okay, Glenn, Pat Coummins comes in,
You're seven for ninety one, chasing two ninety two to one.
Three hours later, double one hundred, one hundred and twenty
eight balls, twenty one fours, ten sixer's the last eighty

(01:31:01):
runs come when you're severely cramping, your body's basically giving
up on you. Aaroni and Smith said, the most remarkable
thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. And you're right
so brilliantly about it. Mate. What's it like having that
moment that people will never forget?

Speaker 11 (01:31:20):
Yeah, it's pretty surreal. I feel like I've had moments
throughout my career where I've had flashes of really good staff.
I've had incredible teams, that I've been a part of,
to achieve incredible staff and to have I suppose a
moment that people relate to or people can sort of

(01:31:45):
say that that was there, where they were moments that's
going to be forever surreal and forever something that I'll
sort of just pinch myself and can't believe I've been
able to achieve something that something like that. And I
think to be able to sort of talk people through
it and talk through the emotion almost sort of humanizes

(01:32:07):
a little bit as well. To be able to, I suppose,
speak about in a way and sort of explain that
I was tired and I just sort of wanted it
to be all over, and and I sort of had
other people willing me through and been able to sort
of help me get through that. It wasn't just me
on that journey. There was a lot of people sort

(01:32:28):
of helped me through it as well. But it was
an incredible night and one I'm very grateful for.

Speaker 2 (01:32:34):
I've watched back the highlights just an advance of chatting
to you, and the last eighty runs. I mean, you're
just standing there, and you know you're not moving your
feet at all? Are you just you're just waving the
bed at it, but still with there's incredible timing. What
was that like, man, that last eighty runs or so well.

Speaker 11 (01:32:51):
I've talked about different stages of this. I reckon cricketers,
I reckon I've been lucky enough as a cricketer. I
have maybe five or six days where everything goes right,
everything hits the middle of that, things go your way,
and you're able to walk off either undefeated or walk
off at the completion of the game. And this was

(01:33:13):
just one of those days where it just lasted for
a little bit longer and to a point where my
body was exhausted, and I was able to almost back
past that point and still be there and still not
get dismissed and somehow be there standing at the end
of that game.

Speaker 16 (01:33:32):
And yeah, it certainly wasn't the way I thought my
innings was going to end.

Speaker 11 (01:33:38):
I think as soon as I started cramping and my
back started going, I was like, well, this is going
to be over soon. That's going to have to do
a lot of this work with Zants and Josh Hazer
would but hopefully I can get us closer and then
they can do the job. But yeah, just kept on
finding gaps, had a bit of luck, and yeah, kept
trying to find a way.

Speaker 2 (01:33:56):
Yeah, remarkable stuff. I mean, earlier on in the tournament,
you'd smashed a forty ball century against the Netherlands quick
fire forty odd and the went over New Zealand. But
then you fell off a goal cart and suffered concussion,
which meant you missed the Paul game against Things. I'd
completely forgotten about that and everything else that happened in
that World Cup. How do you reflect on that incident?

Speaker 16 (01:34:18):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 13 (01:34:20):
It was.

Speaker 11 (01:34:20):
It was a strange incident because because I was concust
and I had a bit of memory loss, I had
no idea what happened. So I sort of got I
was on the bus on the way back, so holding
my head, so I sort of I had this nasty
cut on the back of my head, and I had
no idea what had happened, and so I was just confused,
and then got told when we got actually the hotel

(01:34:43):
to clean it up, and they sort of glue the
little scratched back together, and I still had no Really,
I had no memory of the incident. I had no
idea what actually happened, and yeah, it was. It was
a really strange feeling knowing that I was cancst and
having this like fifteen minute window just completely gone. And Yeah,

(01:35:06):
the next few days are a bit strange. I felt
all sorts of range of emotions and then sort of
felt a bit of frustration that I was missing out
of the game and I was out for a period
of time and just decided to do everything possible that
I could to get ready for that Afghanistan game and
make sure I didn't miss anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:35:25):
You won the World Cup in twenty fifteen, was twenty
twenty three a bit more special?

Speaker 16 (01:35:31):
Though?

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
I mean, you right so vividly about it. Was there
something a bit more special about winning it on twenty
twenty three?

Speaker 11 (01:35:39):
Yeah, I think about how much doubts there were and
how the World Cup was sort of set up to
be India's great triumph. I think the fact that there
was a lot of things against US. I think the
two games that we started off we played against probably
the two other favorites in India and South Africa. Losing

(01:35:59):
those two and to sort of come back from there
and win the rest of the games was something that
was pretty incredible amazing to be a part of. And
there were so many doubts, especially from back home after
those first two games, that we were in disarray. There
was turmoil and we'd hit the panic button and it
was now never and we just were able to find

(01:36:20):
a way for the rest of the tournament and once
we got to I suppose that that final day there
was obviously only one hurdle, and it was the home
the home country and India and against all their fans,
a sea of blue, and it was supposed to be
their final triumph and their big celebration, and to I

(01:36:43):
suppose upset that have a brilliant final where Pat Cummins masterminded.
I suppose brilliant tactical changes throughout that whole whole innings
was just made it all the more special.

Speaker 2 (01:37:00):
Another underlying theme in the book is is your relative
lack of red bull cricket for Australia. You've played over
to hundred and sixty white ball matches, just the seven
tiers matches, nonsense, twenty seventeen, none at home. Do you
still harbor red ball ambitions for Australia.

Speaker 16 (01:37:16):
Yeah, I certainly do.

Speaker 11 (01:37:17):
There's a tour coming up to Sri Lanka at the
back end of our summer and I'm certainly keen to
put my hand up for that. It's also in the
lead up to the Champions Trophy, so there's going to
be a block of cricket there with the Australian side
where I'm hoping i'm involved, and.

Speaker 16 (01:37:35):
Who knows what that squad's going to look like.

Speaker 11 (01:37:38):
The conditions in schril Anka are extremely different to anything
we have in Australia, and I'm sure that squad's going
to look completely different to what our current national side
looks like, and the structure of the team's going to
be completely different as well. So looking forward, I'd love
to be a part of that, but if I do

(01:37:58):
miss out in selection, it's probably not going to.

Speaker 16 (01:38:02):
Define how my career is being.

Speaker 2 (01:38:04):
Just want to ask you about a couple of incidents
matches on the side of the testament. One of my
colleagues found out I was chatting to you and he
said you got asked him about the group game at
the twenty fifteen World Cup Eden Park. You guys all
out one fifty odd, we're cruising one thirty one for four,
then you get Corey Anderson out and all of a
sudden we lose five for fifteen. Treat Bolt comes in
to tooin Kane Williamson, and you famously gave it the

(01:38:25):
choke brilliantly to our crowd. Do you remember that.

Speaker 11 (01:38:29):
I remember being on that side of the ground for
I reckon fifteen O's before that, and I was just
coping it relentlessly. And then I went back out there
when the I think it was the ninth wicket was
lost and they were dead silent and they were just
staring at me, and I was like, Jesus gone quiet

(01:38:51):
over here. And I did that, and oh my god,
I just had instant regrets, Like just instant, I just
when the things you do when you're young and stupid
around the crowd. But to be fair, the crowd took
it really well. They actually do it. They gave it
back and end of the game were sort of like
I gave him clap and said that it was pretty

(01:39:12):
cool to be a part of and but.

Speaker 16 (01:39:14):
Yeah, it's just one of those dumb things you're doing younger.

Speaker 11 (01:39:16):
And I hadn't I don't know first thing that popped
in my mind that they were choking, And after all
the grief I've been coppying for the previous overs, I
thought it was a good chance to get it back,
and then came and just goes bang and hits it
for six and it's game over.

Speaker 2 (01:39:31):
No brilliant. I think all the reactions just probably helped
that we won, but all the reaction afterwards was just brilliant,
the fact that you could give it but also take
it as well. The other one, other one was Wellington
in twenty twenty one. You smashed one of the yellow
seats at Wellington Stadium and the studium manager at the
time got you to sign it auctioned it off for
a charity. Do you remember that one?

Speaker 12 (01:39:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 16 (01:39:51):
I do, I remember that was was that off one mate?

Speaker 2 (01:39:55):
There might have been off Jimmy Nishan bound to have been.

Speaker 9 (01:39:58):
Oh, I hope it was.

Speaker 11 (01:40:01):
I got him to sign. I got him to sign
one of his shirts and I had I think it
was signed like four four six four four six four or.

Speaker 16 (01:40:09):
Something like that.

Speaker 11 (01:40:09):
Brilliant, But yeah, that was a strange series that I think.
That was one of our first ones post covid Or.
We definitely did a We did a quarantine I think
on the way over to New Zealand, which looking back,
scenes ridiculous. It's just literally just jumping over the back
fence and going to see our neighbors, and.

Speaker 16 (01:40:31):
Yeah too, have that series in front of.

Speaker 11 (01:40:34):
No one, especially after all our history and how much
the crowd gets into those contests. That felt like a
bit of a shame that we were playing in front
of no crowds. And I certainly remember that series being
a bit of a strange one.

Speaker 2 (01:40:48):
And just something else you write about twenty nineteen, the
indefinite break you took from cricket Streets anxiety depression. How
do you reflect on that time in your life.

Speaker 11 (01:41:00):
Yeah, it's obviously a difficult time, but as I stress
in the book, there's probably been the moments throughout my
career that I wasn't able to identify what was going
on in my brain and what I now know to
be clinical signs of what I was going through, and
I suppose to be able to sign it, assign it

(01:41:25):
a name, and assign it a place that I now
know how to identify it and how.

Speaker 16 (01:41:31):
To deal with it and.

Speaker 11 (01:41:34):
Adjust to life with it. It's not going to completely
disappear out of my life. It's always going to be
something I'm continually working on, and it had to come
to a head at some stage, and I'm certainly lucky.

Speaker 16 (01:41:45):
I had great people around me and I was able
to come back to the sport.

Speaker 11 (01:41:48):
I know there's been people that have had it and
gone away and not been able to come back, and
I was extremely lucky to have the support around me,
put some things in place and to be able to
come back. And I suppose play the game that I
grew up loving.

Speaker 16 (01:42:04):
To be able to. I suppose get through it and
find a way to I suppose play through it as well.

Speaker 2 (01:42:10):
Yeah, it's just one example of many in the book
of the roller coaster that your career has been. Glennet.
Like I say, it's a cracking reader. I hope you
sell heaps of these. How's your hamstring? By the way,
you're gonna be okay.

Speaker 16 (01:42:21):
Yeah, it should be all right.

Speaker 11 (01:42:22):
It's just probably a little bit older, and it's going
to probably take me a little bit longer to be
one hundred percent. I think if I had done this
ten years ago, I would have said I'm back playing
next week, but probably going to be a bit more
cautious with this one, especially with what's to come at
the back end of the summer. So hopefully you'll be
back in a couple of weeks. But I'm in no

(01:42:44):
real rush at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:42:46):
Good Man again, congrats on the book. I hope you
sell heaps. Thanks for having a chat to us across
New Zealand.

Speaker 16 (01:42:50):
Thanks very much.

Speaker 2 (01:42:51):
Cheers, No, thank you, Glenn Glenn Maxwell.

Speaker 6 (01:42:53):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:42:53):
The book's called The Showman. I had the chance to
read an advanced copy. It's really good, really really good.
And yes, that incident back at Eden Park in twenty fifteen,
I remember that so vividly, so much about it. That
Cricket World Cup stands out to me. For that game
when Trent Bolt basically knocked them over for one point fifty,
we're cruising, we lose five for not many and yeah,

(01:43:17):
Glenn Maxwell giving it the choke to the fans, what
a great, great opportunity to as perspective on that, they
of course had the last laugh even though Came Williamson
won that game. They went on to win that Cricket
World Cup and the twenty twenty three to one as well,
which forms a big part of this book, The Showman
by Glenn Maxwell. To twenty seven on Weekend Sport will

(01:43:38):
take a break. When we come back, it's to Dubai
and to the opening event of the New Sale GP season.
The second stop this season is Auckland in the middle
of January, but they start tonight in Dubai. Peter Burling
after this.

Speaker 1 (01:43:54):
The Big Issues on and after Field Call eight hundred
eighty ten eighty Weekends Forward with Jason Paine and GJ.
Gunner Homes New Zealand's most trusted home builder, News Talks Baby.

Speaker 2 (01:44:06):
Two point thirty on News Talks hereb and Weekend Sport.
Going to play guest the Grunter with the ASB Tennis
Classic very shortly, but the twenty twenty five Sale GP
season kicks off and du buy this weekend. Black Foyl's
co CEO and driver, Peter Burling, is with us out
of Dubai. Peter, thanks for taking the time. It's only
a month or so since you retained the America's Cup

(01:44:27):
off the coast of Barcelona. How long were we able
to celebrate and enjoy that before switching your focus to
Sale GP again.

Speaker 25 (01:44:35):
Yeah, we had a you know, an amazing celebration in Barcelona,
and yeah, what a special victory that was, you know
for me. Since end, it's actually been a little bit
of time off with the family. It's always incredible when
you get to the end of those events, just.

Speaker 13 (01:44:49):
How tired you actually are.

Speaker 25 (01:44:53):
So yeah, managed to have a little bit of time
off in Barcelona and then do a little bit of
trip around with the family and then yeah, looking forward
to to getting home over and actually made it home
yet after that's looking forward to getting home after this
weekend and yeah, it's been able to time and in
deed over the summer.

Speaker 2 (01:45:08):
All right, just before we move on to sal GP.
How do you reflect on your success off the coast
of Barcelona? You know, how do you how will you
remember you know, going back to back to back.

Speaker 25 (01:45:20):
I think it's just an amazing team effort to see
everything come together. It's, yeah, a culmination of so much
hard work for so many people, you know, over over
a long period of time.

Speaker 13 (01:45:33):
So yeah, just some some incredibly special memories there.

Speaker 16 (01:45:36):
But you know it's.

Speaker 13 (01:45:39):
Yeah, something that you have forever.

Speaker 25 (01:45:41):
But yeah, this weekend we're looking forward to getting back
into into a little bit of sl.

Speaker 13 (01:45:45):
GP racing and yeah, excited to try and kick off
the season strong.

Speaker 2 (01:45:49):
So some new faces in the Black Foils team. Leo
Takahashi has joined you as flight controller, replacing Andy Maloney.
He knows the f fifty pretty well of course, But
how much integration has that required having a new flight
controller on board.

Speaker 25 (01:46:03):
Yeah, it's definitely been a lot of hard work in
the background, just making sure that everyone's on the same page.
You kind of are all I suppose used to the
language we speak on the boat. Yeah, what different calls men,
how we run our playbook. But yeah, to be honest,
there's only so much work you can do on shore
before you've got to get out there and put it
to the test. And we're really excited today to be

(01:46:24):
getting out on the water and just trying to I
suppose to get the group to gel and operate at
the level now we can. So, yeah, it's a really
exciting weekend to be able to, I suppose have our
first test this season, and just looking forward to getting
out there and giving it are all and we really
want to get off to a good start this weekend.
But we know that you've got a lot to learn

(01:46:45):
and improve, and you know this is going to be
a long season and we really want to be just
stepping forward every event.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
What sense do you get from Leo about his level
of readiness and I guess as levels of excitement.

Speaker 25 (01:47:00):
Yeah, well, I suppose for us, it's really cool having
a new person on the team. You know, I think
you know, any business, any group, you need a certain
amount of turnover to keep that energy, keep that excitement,
and you know, that's definitely what he brings is you know,
a really good level of energy and intensity to the group.

Speaker 13 (01:47:16):
But you know, also he's got that little bit of
an experience in.

Speaker 25 (01:47:19):
The flight controller position as well, you know, having having
sailed for Japan for for a long time. Yeah, and
then obviously but with the Americans last season, So you know,
he's he's really looking forward to having a full time
gig in that role, and you're really being able to
cut his teeth and Sam meech on.

Speaker 2 (01:47:34):
New addition to your coaching team. What sort of ideas
and fresh energy has he brought?

Speaker 25 (01:47:40):
Yeah, Sam, We've had a long history with Sam. Actually
you have done a lot of sailing against them over
the years. But yeah, it's just a really really good
guy to have involved, you know, bringing some fresh ideas
and yeah, I mean we've been so lucky with the
coaching staff we've had over the years to continue to
push us forward, and I'm sure Sam's going to sort

(01:48:02):
into that amazingly.

Speaker 2 (01:48:03):
How do you reflect on the last sole GP season? Know,
you lead the season standings, couldn't quite get the job
done in the season finale, but how do you look
back on twenty twenty four.

Speaker 25 (01:48:14):
Twenty twenty four for us was a little bit of
a roller coaster. Yeah, we got off to an amazing start.
You won the first event. Then, yeah, probably had our
low point of the season, my first low point of
the season, terrible event in La Broke, our willing Misson event,
and then we went on an absolute run from there,
you know, managing to get back to the top leaderboard

(01:48:36):
and I think if you look at that points Sally
we managed to get by the end of the season,
was you know, something we're incredibly proud of. Obviously frustrated
with the group not to be able to put together
one of our best races in that that finaland sanfran
but yeah, I mean it's it's such small margins when
you put three of three boats that are performing at
a really high level on the start line and throw
them around a toe minute race. You know, we obviously

(01:48:59):
had a bit much interaction with the Aussies, just let
the Spanish get over the top and it was pretty
hard to make a pass from there, so.

Speaker 2 (01:49:05):
You start the new seat. And in Dubai, you won
the final at the Dubai event last season from memory,
didn't didn't win any of the five fleet racers, but
obviously won that the final in Dubai. What did you
learn last season in Dubai that will be helpful as
you open this new season.

Speaker 13 (01:49:21):
Well, de buys a bit of a unique venue.

Speaker 25 (01:49:23):
We actually sail right behind in a breakwater, so it's
incredibly flat. The water's relatively warm, so you can push
the boats really high in the right height. But yeah,
it's really a lot about getting off the start line consistently,
making sure you're in a reasonable position consistently at mark one,
and then not making any mistakes.

Speaker 13 (01:49:41):
From there, continuing to push forward in the race.

Speaker 25 (01:49:44):
You know, with it being right at the bottom end
of the windle that's generally here, it means that the
one shadows, you know, the disturbance and turbulence off the
boats has a massive effect. So you're making sure you
position the boat really well around the racetrack and make
the most of have the opportunity to get.

Speaker 13 (01:50:02):
Given to you.

Speaker 25 (01:50:03):
And with one more boat on the start line and
that abualance is going to be even worse, so it's
going to be interesting to see how much more.

Speaker 13 (01:50:09):
Of a effect that has.

Speaker 25 (01:50:12):
But to be honest, we just feel like we've got
a really good plan as to how to deal with
it and looking forward to going out and print it
to the test now and.

Speaker 2 (01:50:19):
Stop number two is back in Auckland, so you will
get the chance to get home obviously and then sail
on home waters in Auckland this time. How much are
you looking forward to your home event?

Speaker 12 (01:50:30):
Oh?

Speaker 25 (01:50:30):
I'm super excited to be racing back at home. You
think any sailing event you do in the Zellen's always
a really special one. You're seeing how many kiwis get
down there and cheer us on. It's obviously still relatively
close to Christmas, but I mean the support it's got.

Speaker 13 (01:50:45):
So far as has been absolutely unreal.

Speaker 25 (01:50:47):
And you know, still a couple of tickets for sale,
so yeah, for those that haven't managed it, it's a
secure one yet I encourage them to to get on
with it.

Speaker 13 (01:50:56):
And yeah, it's going to be an absolutely amazing weekend.

Speaker 25 (01:50:59):
You know, the seeing eleven sorry twelve now if fifty's
bruising around there in Auckland Harbor and such a small
bit of water is going to be going to be
a pretty cool spectacle and it'll be an amazing atmosphere.

Speaker 13 (01:51:10):
So't super excited.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
Yeah, you can't wait. Do you reckon your your season favorites?
Do you reckon your twenty twenty five sal GP favorites?

Speaker 13 (01:51:19):
I think we'd have to be one of the favorites. Yeah,
I think.

Speaker 25 (01:51:24):
You know, there's the good teams last season that every
run's back and reasonable shape. You know, some of the
new teams have got really strong lineups as well, so
you know this season will be all about who.

Speaker 13 (01:51:34):
Puts their best foot forward. You know, it's the unique,
unique league.

Speaker 25 (01:51:39):
We've just got to put your best foot forward, make
sure you get through to the final and then you're
in really good shape from there.

Speaker 13 (01:51:43):
So you know, looking forward to doing that.

Speaker 25 (01:51:44):
And you know, for us, this weekends a lot about
making sure we execute what we're trying to do out there,
you know, trying to be nice and consistent and you know,
really give ourselves a good, good platform to build from.

Speaker 2 (01:51:57):
Well, all the best and do by Pete and for
a little bit of a break, I guess after that,
did you come home for Christmas. Can't wait to see
you in Auckland and January.

Speaker 13 (01:52:04):
Mate also thanks us, Mate.

Speaker 2 (01:52:07):
Now thank you Petter Peter Burling, that co CEO and
driver of the Black Foils team here. So January eighteen
and nineteen is when SALGP hits Auckland. We were lucky
enough to do the show from christ Church Julia this
year when it was down there, and yeah, just sort
of putting the finishing touches on our broadcast which will
come to you live from sal GP in January, mid January.

(01:52:30):
It's going to roll around pretty quick, less than two
months away. But yeah, SALGP starts tonight in Dubai around
eleven o'clock New Zealand time. Leo Takahashi, who'd us talking
about him? Then the new flight controller are going to
have a chat to us in just a moment. But
another feature of the summer in Auckland will be the
ASB Classic Women or the Women's Week for the WTA

(01:52:51):
December thirty to January five. Men's Week on the ATP
Tour January sixth through eleven. Action is going to be
hot on and off the court at the asp Classic,
certainly the place to be over the holidays. If you're
in the Auckland region. All the details you need on
tickets etc. ASP Classic dot co dot nz. But this
weekend we've got tickets to get you court side. We're

(01:53:12):
playing Guess the Grunter. You just have to guess who
this is and you're in the drawer to be courtside. Now,
when are our tickets for this time? Here we go
the evening session on January sixth. Evening session on January
the sixth, that's the first evening session for the men's draw.

(01:53:32):
All you have to do is text the word tennis,
then your name, and then who you think this is
to nine two ninety two. Something a little bit different.
This is our rather than guess the grunter. Can you
guess the grumbler? Tell us who this is? You can't
be serious, man, you cannot be serious. How far is

(01:53:54):
on the line, Sean blew up. I'm not even going
to give you a clue for that one. That's so easy.
So text the word tennis, your name and who that
is to nine two nine two. Begin to win tickets
to the ASB Classic. Guest the Grunter. It's nineteen to three.
We're back in a.

Speaker 1 (01:54:13):
Second one crutch Hold Engage Weekend Sport with Jason Pain
and GJ. Gunnomes, New Zealand's ice Trusted home Builder News
talk to Baby.

Speaker 2 (01:54:24):
Two forty four. As mentioned, the New Sale GP season
starts tonight in Dubai. We've heard from Peter Berling. Let's
bring a new black foils flight controller Leo Takahashi. He's
joined the New Zealand team for the next three years
following the departure of Andy Maloney. Leo, thanks for taking
the time for a chant. How did this all come about?

Speaker 18 (01:54:41):
Yeah, thank you very much, Jason, thanks for having me.

Speaker 24 (01:54:44):
Yeah, so I gues you know, a couple of things,
you know, with Andy's departure and the new season beginning,
there was an opportunity and yeah, a phone call from
Peeden Blair and it just happened really quick.

Speaker 18 (01:54:55):
But yeah, now we're in Dubai getting ready for the
new season.

Speaker 2 (01:54:58):
So when Peter Berling and Blair chuke ring you with
a proposition like this, I imagine it's a fairly easy yes.

Speaker 19 (01:55:04):
Is it.

Speaker 18 (01:55:05):
Yeah, it's right now.

Speaker 24 (01:55:08):
It was a pretty easy yes and a massive opportunity
for me in my career. So yeah, it was, you know,
stoked to say yes.

Speaker 2 (01:55:14):
So for the casual sole GP fans who are listening,
and can you explain to us the exact role of
the flight controller.

Speaker 18 (01:55:22):
Yes, as the flight controller.

Speaker 24 (01:55:24):
I mean there's there's six people on board the helm, wing, trimmer,
flight controller, two grinders and strategists. See, we all have
our roles to play on making the bow go fast
and good around the track.

Speaker 18 (01:55:38):
Flight controller especially.

Speaker 24 (01:55:39):
We have big foils under the boat, four of them
in fact, two rudders and two daggerboards. So I get
full control of those oils. And you know, in layman's terms,
if the boat's flying high and stable and we're going
well in the race, you know we're doing I'm doing
a good job. And if the boat's looking unstable and
a little bit jumpy, I'm not doing a very good job.

(01:56:00):
So I get full control of the foils and fly
the boat as high as I can and fast as
I can.

Speaker 2 (01:56:05):
That seems I'm sure they're all important jobs, but that
seems like a really important job, and one which I
guess would be fraught with a bit of risk taking
and maybe a bit of margin for error or small
margin for error. Is it a stressful job?

Speaker 24 (01:56:21):
Yeah, it's a lot of concentration involved, and it's very
quick and snappy now, you know with all the quick
racing and the TV times and all that.

Speaker 18 (01:56:29):
So just have to be fully focused for that fifteen
minutes and you know, three races or to play for.

Speaker 24 (01:56:34):
You know, if you're last in a race and that's
going to be big points for the season. So always
going to be focused and controlled. And yeah, as a
risk verse reward, if you fly the boat high, it
is more margin for error and you could lead to
a crash or but also if you fight the boat
high and you do it well, then you're going to
be going fast.

Speaker 18 (01:56:51):
So that's the kind of gray area we're playing with.

Speaker 2 (01:56:54):
Has there been an integration period for you with the team.
I mean, clearly you know what you're doing, but in
terms of comms on board things like that, the language
that's used, all those sorts of things.

Speaker 24 (01:57:05):
Yeah, the control I'm more of on the receiving end
of comms, so I'm kind of just hearing what the
boat's going on.

Speaker 18 (01:57:11):
I'm fully focused on just flying the boat well.

Speaker 24 (01:57:13):
So you know, Pete and Blair and Live the strategist
there more mostly in the comms, and I'm just kind
of tuning in and making sure that I'm kind of
pre entering what's going to happen in the race, and
that's about it for me.

Speaker 18 (01:57:26):
And in terms of.

Speaker 24 (01:57:29):
Getting used to the team, I know all these guys
really well, so it's been really easy fitting in and
we've been in device for a couple of days now,
but a team building and just going through a lot
of documents, you know, of the last few seasons and
just kind of really getting integrated and how it all
works here.

Speaker 2 (01:57:44):
You've had time obviously with Japan Sales GP team and
the US team as well. Do you perceive that this
will be a step up from those two teams?

Speaker 18 (01:57:53):
One hundred percent?

Speaker 16 (01:57:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 24 (01:57:54):
The Black Floors are the benchmark of Sales GP right now,
so you know, the cream of the crop, and you know,
got some definitely big shoes to filter to do my part,
But you know, I'm just really excited to bring my
my experience and my kind of two cents into the team.
And I guess yeah, I mean it's an opportunity for
the team to get a new face and a new perspective.

(01:58:16):
So I'm just really looking forward to to showing what
I can do. And you're helping this team develop and
get back on the top step.

Speaker 2 (01:58:24):
You meant it before that during races it's often one
way colms that you're you're receiving a lot of information.
But when you're having your debriefs and as you meet
you before, when you're going through your preparation, does it
feel like an environment in which you can offer thoughts
suggestions freely?

Speaker 24 (01:58:39):
Yeah, so you know, just listening to the comms and
all that, I can kind of see what I kind
of saw or heard in the race and then kind
of just give my two cents on what I thought.
And yeah, you know, we have a really good culture
in the team where you know, we're really just open
to feedback and just it feels like such a professional
high high sports team.

Speaker 18 (01:59:00):
So it's really good in that sense.

Speaker 24 (01:59:01):
And yeah, I mean everyone here is so good to
work with, so it's been really easy get into it,
and I'm just really excited to just itching to get
on the boat and get racing.

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
So after do By, the second stop on the calendar
is Auckland in January. You grew up sailing at the
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron of course, where the race
course will be how special an event. Is Auckland going
to be for you?

Speaker 18 (01:59:23):
Oh, it's going to be epic.

Speaker 24 (01:59:25):
Yeah, Auckland Harbor, it's going to be super tight racing
and it's really cool how the grandstand is going to
be set up right on win yourd point.

Speaker 18 (01:59:33):
Yeah, the start and the finish would be.

Speaker 24 (01:59:35):
Right there, so basically buzzing right next to the wall,
and the fans approved me close enough to touch the
boats might be able to see me on board, which
would be cool. Yeah, it's going to be really special
and a real good testament to how well just bringings
ALGP there. It's gonna be awesome City of Sales basically, and.

Speaker 2 (01:59:54):
You've done a lot of sailing in a lot of
different boats. How to sail GP compare to the other
sailing you've done.

Speaker 24 (02:00:02):
There's nothing like Sale GP. Really, it's definitely the pinnacle
of the sport. You know, what differentiates salgia pizza a
real sport is just how tight and quick you have
to be so focused.

Speaker 18 (02:00:16):
To do well here.

Speaker 24 (02:00:17):
And like I said, you know it's it's tire course
fast racing and yeah, the fans get to enjoy it, so,
you know, Sergei Pi has really changed the dimension of
kind of sailing as a whole. The fans can see
it so close and just be there with us, so
that's a cool part of it. It's basically just like
if one on the water.

Speaker 2 (02:00:37):
Really, yeah, it's it's brilliant to watch. And of course
recently you were helmsman of the New Zealand team and
the Youth America's Cup and Barcelona. How do you reflect
on that experience twice for you now? Of course, yeah,
that was a.

Speaker 24 (02:00:49):
You know, a really cool experience just being part of
the whole atmosphere there and being part of the bigger
team in general.

Speaker 18 (02:00:55):
But you know, just take those learnings.

Speaker 24 (02:00:58):
It's been a big year for me, so just really
trying to take all those learnings what I learned in
Barcelona into into the Black Foils and yeah, my focus
switches now into the short course racing and being a
flight controller as well, so something different and yeah, just
going to put my all into this project.

Speaker 2 (02:01:14):
Exciting times ahead. We'll all the best and do by
this weekend, Leo. Look forward to catching up in person
when you hit Auckland in the middle of January.

Speaker 18 (02:01:21):
Thanks Jason, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (02:01:23):
I appreciate you time. Leo, thanks indeed, Leo Takahashi. There
new flight controller with the black foils. Our sale GP
Team Dubai. First event starts tonight and again tomorrow night.
Then they have a break before they had Auckland January
eighteen and nineteen nine to three with him playing guest
the Grunter, or in this case, guest the Grumbler.

Speaker 16 (02:01:43):
You can't be serious, man, you cannot be serious.

Speaker 2 (02:01:47):
Come Mills on the line, short blew up.

Speaker 12 (02:01:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:01:51):
I don't think there were too many wrong answers. John McEnroe,
of course is our grunter slash grumbler this hour. Our congratulations.
Thanks for all the text. By the way, hundreds came through.
The one that has been randomly selected is that of
joe An Nixon. Congratulate Joeanne. You're off to the evening
session on the sixth of January at the ASB Tennis Classic.

(02:02:12):
You and a friend, so two tickets for you. We
have more to give away tomorrow between twelve and three.
Will play guest the Grunter again tomorrow, more tickets to win.
More information on the ASB Classic at ASB Classic dot
co dot nzet eight to three news talks eb.

Speaker 12 (02:02:31):
Let's see from the.

Speaker 1 (02:02:32):
Track fields and the court on your home of sport
weekends for it. Where's Jason vine Us talks MB.

Speaker 2 (02:02:39):
Five to three. That's us for today, Tim Tim Beverage
after three with a weekend collective. We start tomorrow show
after the end of the rugby likely to be around
eleven fifteen. We're putting together Razors report card for twenty
twenty four tomorrow with your help, so we look forward
to chatting to you then. Thanks for listening in this
afternoon and taking part in the show. Huge thanks to
Andy McDonald for producing and pulling everything together, answering the phones, etc.

(02:03:02):
What's our exit song today, mate? Yes, Piney. This exit
song comes from one of my favorite musicians.

Speaker 20 (02:03:07):
It's Miley Cyrus because it's her thirty second birthday today,
so I've chosen Malibu by Miley Cyrus.

Speaker 2 (02:03:14):
Absolute banger of a song.

Speaker 20 (02:03:16):
All right, well, let's uh, let's hear it. You sound
you sound judgmental, Barnie. I'm I'm unsure about your feelings
on this. I'm completely non judgmental. I'm the opposite of
whatever judgmental is. Let's listen to the last little bit
of it and we'll see you tomorrow.

Speaker 23 (02:03:36):
Let's we are have a slight boy flow back in

(02:03:58):
Sometimes I feel like com joining yours, Save me, no
thank you, with.

Speaker 12 (02:04:04):
All of mine.

Speaker 23 (02:04:07):
It's a brand new style, a dream come true.

Speaker 11 (02:04:14):
Man.

Speaker 1 (02:04:20):
For more from Weekends Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks at B Weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio

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