February 3, 2025 • 18 mins
On Sports Fix with Jason Pine for 3rd of February 2025, the NFL has announced it will be bringing 3 regular season NFL games to the MCG in 2026. Russell McConnochie is the GM of American Football NZ, and he joins the podcast to discuss the growth of the sport in New Zealand and what this means for fans down under.
Piney offers his thoughts on Chris Wood's sublime form in the Premier League and whether fans over here realize the enormity of what he's achieving.
Plus, the Elijah Fa'afiu is back in the people's chamber to discuss the blockbuster trade in the NBA which saw Luka Doncic go to the LA Lakers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi there and welcome into a new episode of the
Sports Fix podcast at the start of a new week, Monday,
February third, I'm Jason Pine. Great to have you listeninging
in if OL could be coming to a town near us.
That town is across in Melbourne, but still close enough
for us to travel to. So NFL fans, how excited
should we be about this development? On the podcast today,
(00:44):
GM of American Football New Zealand, Russell mcconachie is going
to join us to give us his view on how
big this might be for the sport here and how
much is the sport of NFL growing in New Zealand.
Elijah a few who pops into the chamber to discuss that,
and also this bombshell of an NBA trade that broke
yesterday afternoon. I've got some thoughts on Chris Wood and
(01:05):
how he should be recognized in the latest in sports
news as well. Keeps to get through. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
In other news.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Let's kick things off with a look at the big
sports stories around today. A clutch final run has clinched
Zoey Sadowski Senate her first World Cup win of the
seasons in the snowboard slope style and Aspen.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Absolutely whopper on the backside double cork ten eighty at
the Bostom. Now this will be interesting. Eighty seven point eight.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That was an after the Olympic champion was second in
the standings before showing her class late on to win.
Speaking of class, a statement from Arsenal in football's Premier
League Day, what are Morbos.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Arsols on beaten?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
One of the Premier League stretches into a four months now.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He had a thrash Manchester City five to one, They
led just one nill at half time and the Dallas
Mavericks under scrutiny for hitting the eject button on star
point guard Luka Doncic, trading him to the LA Lakers
for ten time All Star center Anthony Davis. Former Mavericks
coach Avery Johnson has been asked if he'd have agreed
to this transaction during his time in charge. Absolutely not,
(02:18):
no way, no way. Lucas one to five years old
and sure it has been some of these situations defensively,
but just take the talent. Doesn't come around by that
many times in a life time.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Dissecting the sporting agenda, it's Sportsfex with Jason Pyne.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You're listening to the Sportslex podcast and a coup for
fans of the NFL in this part of the world.
Melbourne will host up to three NFL regular season games
from next year. The Herald Suns reporting the Los Angeles
Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, the two franchises with Australian marketing rights,
are set to face off in October of next year.
(02:56):
What a boost for the game down here. Let's bring
in GM of American Football, New Zealand Russell Mcconachie Russell,
the NFL coming down under. How big is this news?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well, yeah, it's great. They're bringing games down. They've actually
been here in Australia and New Zealand for the last
couple of years working in intermediate and junior secondary schools,
so they're preparing the ground, getting their fan base worked up.
It's been an amazing story.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I guess, coming down and running camps and things like
that and getting the word out as one thing, but
actually bringing NFL regular season games here as an entirely
different matter. What do the NFL see in terms of
the Australian market or any of the markets that they
take the games too.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well? The obvious one is are there players that are
capable of being in the NFL. I mean, it's a
well documented thing that the Australian rules kickers have made
a difference to the school the universities there in the
way in which they play. We also have the largest
(04:04):
population of Polynesia and Australia New Zealand and yeah, big
men are there, So there's that aspect of it, and
there's also growing the fan base worldwide. They already are
in Europe, they have been there for quite some time,
so this is just an extension, not just it's an
extension of that.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I guess some they could just sit there in the
United States, couldn't they? Russell? I mean, it's a massive
game over there. Let's not try to get away from that.
It's huge over there. They could just sit there and
enjoy sort of lapping it up on their own shores.
What do you think there is this ambition to spread
the NFL message internationally.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I think it's to do with growth of the game,
growth of the fan base. I mean, football has been
I guess part of the news around the concussion issues
that are plaguing in contact sport, and I think they're
seeing a little bit of a hat on their player base.
(05:05):
At the NFL. I don't think they see that because
there's just so as you say, so many numbers. But again,
if the need to grow your fan base is still
important worldwide. You know, here in New Zealand, American football
is the first fourth most consumed sport television writes and
(05:29):
just viewership, So they want to capitalize on that. They
want to bring the experience closer to their fans.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How suitable will the MCGB as an American football venue.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Well, that's interesting. I think it'll be okay. I mean
one of the things that that they want is a
fan experience. The MCG is an oval, there'll be a
bit of ground. I guess it'll be like Eden Park. Yes,
the capacity will be greater and they'll be looking to
(06:04):
fill that up. Obviously, the promoters will want that filled up.
They'll be Will there be flights from New Zealand Charter
flights from New Zealand taking fans across might be You.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Have to imagine there would be I God, imagine there
be a few people who you mix with, Russell who
would be kind to hop a board and get across
to Melbourne for a slice of the action. The fourth
most consumed sport here in New Zealand. Did you say, yeah,
what's interesting?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah? What is that?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Being driven by a younger demographic?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I don't have the deal. I don't believe. So I
looked at the demogra demographics some time ago, and it's
not the it's the I want to say, it's the
twenty to thirty five year twenty five to thirty five
year olds that are big. I mean every time I
talk to somebody, though, they tell me what their team
is and then then admit that they're a football tragic.
(07:00):
So you know, Jason, what's your team?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, my son's a big Minnesota Vikings fan, so almost
by default I'm on board the Vikings. I only asked
about the young people really through my own experience as Russell.
My son and all of his friends are mad keen
on the NFL. So I just wondered whether it's something
to do with playing Madden for example, playing Fantasy NFL
all of that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Well, yes it is but it's also now the accessibility
of the non contact version of the game. The barriers
to entry in New Zealand and Australia is a lot
of times of the equipment, fields and officials, but the
flag football version, which is non contact, smaller sides, smaller fields,
(07:49):
shorter game hugely populate. It's growing the sport massively worldwide
and the NFL are helping to drive that by getting
in at the junior levels and preparing the players with
the awareness of the game at junior levels.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Tell us about the growth of flag football here, how
that's driving year overall numbers, the growth on the health
of NFL here in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Well and twenty eighteen there are around seven hundred registered players.
Now there's at least double that we've doubled those numbers,
but that's not all of the stories. There's probably around
five or six thousand players the school based community based
(08:35):
just in competitions and tournaments and deliveries and schools. So
if you take our national championships for flag football, we
don't run one for tackle because there aren't enough teams
and we'd have to play for weeks. Tackle is running
a tournament for tackle would be difficult, but for Flag
(08:55):
in twenty twenty we had ten teams at our nationals
in one division. Last year we had forty one teams
and four divisions. This year we're going to have any
more even more so. Yeah, we're struggling with the right
kind of problem growth.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yes, indeed, a very nice problem to have. Russell, thanks
for joining us on the Sports Fix podcast GM of
American Football, New Zealand. Russell mcconachie SPORTSAX. Do you think
we're here in New Zealand fully realize the enormity of
what Chris Wood is doing right now? He is operating
in rarefied air as a footballer the Premier League, widely
(09:33):
regarded as the toughest competition in the world, and he's
leading the line for the team that is currently third.
He has seventeen goals this season. The only guys who
have scored more a megastars Mahamad Talara of Liverpool and
Earling Harland of Manchester City. He now has eighty six
Premier League goals all up. That has him inside the
(09:54):
top fifty goalscorers in Premier League history. Now we're talking
about esteemed company here, more goals than Eden Hazard, Carlos Tevez,
Fernando Torres. He's only one behind Dennis Bergkamp and he's
closing in on the leading Australasian on the list, Australian
Mark Vaduka, who scored ninety two. It's time we gave
(10:15):
Chris Wood true recognition, in whatever form that might be.
He is a finalist for Sportsmen of the Year at
the Hallbergs, but I'm almost certainly won't win that. It'll
go to one of our Olympic gold medalists, Hamish Kerr
or Fin Butcher. And I've got no problem with that.
In fact, I think that's probably the right decision. But
I think we need to find a way of recognizing
and acknowledging our sports people like Chris Wood who are
(10:36):
doing their thing overseas, Steven Adams, another one Lydia Coe,
Liam Lawson hopefully in the years ahead. And what a
season Nottingham Forest are having. They were seventeenth last season,
just one place above the relegation zone. They were sixteenth
the season before that. At the start of this season,
I'm sure something similar would probably have been their goal.
(10:57):
Just don't get relegated instead. Their third six points clear
of the chasing pack teams like Manchester City and Chelsea.
They're eighteen points ahead of Manchester United, twenty points ahead
of Tottenham and thirty points clear of the relegation zone.
They only got thirty two points in total last season.
(11:18):
Quite astonishing. What a time to be a Forest fan
with our main man right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Let's pop inside the People's Chamber, a big part of
the sports podcast on a Monday and New Zealand Herald
News Talk s d be multi media journalist Elijah for
You was here as always now. I thought of you
yesterday when I saw this news drop. In fact, I
thought of a lot of people when this news dropped
about the trade in the NBA. Have you had time
(11:50):
to process this?
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I have now only just look. I don't think I've
ever woken up from a nap and checked my phone
and then sworn so many times on a Sunday out
of this belief at what I've just seen, Like I
guess to put this into perspective, we went to Haut
the Luca don Church trade to the Los Angeles Lakers
for Anthony Davis, who's heading to Dallas but I guess
(12:14):
to put this into a comparison like a rugby comparison,
think of I guess in the NRL Kaylon Ponger, a
rising star who's yet to win a championship, but it's
definitely on the verge of superstar. I was at superstar
and right now, if he got traded to the Melbourne
Storm for Cameron Munster, someone who's been there, done that,
that was probably the best comparison I could think of.
(12:35):
But the main takeaway from this whole thing is that
the Dallas Mavericks have basically decided that their twenty five
year old superstar, who's played at an MVP caliber level
over the last few years, has taken the team to
the NBA Finals just last season, have decided to pull
the plug on him and no longer believe he's the
franchise cornerstone that many around the NBA thought he was.
(12:58):
And that's probably the big shock and the big reason
why I was so shocked about this move. And yeah,
I'm still trying to process it, but definitely, in my opinion,
the biggest or the most shocking trade NBA history.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
As you say, he's twenty five years old, he's a superstar.
He is, I think, or was, in the eyes of
most NBA fans and Mavericks fans, I'm sure, in particular,
the cornerstone of their team moving forward. How would Dallas Mavericks.
How have Dallas Mavericks fans respond to this from what
you've seen online?
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah, well, they've pretty much treated it as a funeral.
That many of them have gathered outside the American Airline Censor,
which is the main stadium down in Dallas, and they're
pretty much in mourning of it, I mean, which seems
to usually be the case when a team loses their
main guy, their franchise superstar. But many of them are
in shocker and disbelief, some of them are in tears,
like they're pretty much treating this as a funeral, and
(13:50):
many of them, I guess, are angry towards the front
office for making this movie because they believe that Don
Chic was going to be the face of the franchise
for the next decade and now the Lakers are going
to have the new face of the franchise. And you
think of the Lakers and all the guys that they've
had come through the ranks in Magic, Johnson, Kobe Bryant,
Lebron Ja and now a guy like Luca Doncicic. So
I guess in a business sense, it's grateful Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And Lebron James is still there. Obviously he's getting on
with it now. But so Lebron James teams up with
Luka doncic I've done a bit of reading in the
background of this. The most it's the hardest thing for
us to get our heads round down here, Elijah, is
that this happens. Players are traded often without their own knowledge.
They're told. This is not a case of oh, look,
(14:36):
don just thinking I want a new team, or Anthony
Davis thinking that. From the sounds of it, they they
found out about the same time the rest of.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Us did exactly. And that's what makes this so shocking
is that there were no whispers, there were no rumors,
there were no leaks that just came out of nowhere.
It was just a bombshell that had been dropped. And
I guess the other party was Lebron James. He wasn't
told as well. He found out like the rest of us,
and Lebron's quite an influential player around the league, and
that you know, he likes to speak of the front
(15:06):
office and you know, ask for the kinds of players
that he wants around him to help win a championship.
But he found out at the same time as the
rest of us. So I think, yeah, it's shocked for
everyone all round.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
And just do we finish on this? The Mavericks approached
the Lakers. So the Mavericks wanted to get rid of
Luka Doncic. Is that how you read it?
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Yep, Luca did not request the trade at all. He
didn't want to leave Dallas. He would have stayed for
the rest of his career if he had a choice.
So this was all on Dallas. They wanted to pull
the plug and they have.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Wow, We'll watch with interest over the day's ahead. I
guess some I guess Dallas will come up against the
Lakers at some stage in the next little while, will.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
They Yeah, this should be I'm not sure what the
dates will be, but I think they're still. Yeah, they're
going to face each other at some point during the season.
So looking forward to when those two teams collide.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And different singlets for two of their biggest stars just crazy. Hey,
let's just talk quickly about Auckland FC, who we seem
to talk about every week and every week we might
just rinse and repeat because they win every week, well
just about anyway. Another another lateish goal, although in the
eightieth minute it wasn't beyond the ninetieth for them on
Saturday afternoon to get a two to one victory of
(16:16):
a mccartha. Man, it was warm. I'm not sure if
you're at the game, but Auckland f C five points
clear now and here we are in February, So I
kind of think we have to now throw off any
suggestion that this is kind of an early season flash
in the pan, don't we.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
No, They're the real deal right now, Auckland f C.
And I think if no one believes them, if no
one's believed them up until this point, then definitely believe
in them now. I think the one thing I'll say
is that on that eightieth minute goal, shouts to Francis Devreez.
He's such a valuable player for Auckland f C. And
the way he can deliver an accurate cross or a
free kirk, that's such a valuable guy to have and
(16:49):
set pieces and I mean, for me, he's one of
my favorite players to watch the season just because of
his ability to set up those type of goals. So
shout out to Francis Devrees and yeah Auckland c five
points clear. Not a bad way to but not a
bad place to be. Rather, if you're heading into.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The by absolutely right, yeah, absolute web Francis Devverice. I
think what it shows as well is that you know,
he's been playing He I think had a stint overseas
playing professionally didn't really work out. He's been back here
playing in the National League. But it goes to show
that players can given the opportunity to make the step up.
Francis Devree is a good example of that. Liam Gillion
at the start of the season. He's faded a bit
recently is another one. Cameron Howison, you know, and I
(17:30):
think looks good for the women's team when they come
in next year, you know, because they'll draw largely from
our national league, and we hope the same thing applies
to the players to get the opportunity to step up
to the to the A League women's competition who have
been playing national league as well. All right, mate, well,
I'm sure twenty four maybe thirty six hours ago you
didn't expect that half of the People's Chamber would be
(17:52):
taken up with an NBA trade. But here we are.
Thanks for joining me. As always, mate, we'll do it
again next week. Well do you? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Piney.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
This is Sportsfix, your daily does of Sports News Now
and by News Talks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
V and that is for the Sports Fix podcast for today.
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(18:29):
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi there and welcome into a new episode of the
Sports Fix podcast at the start of a new week, Monday,
February third, I'm Jason Pine. Great to have you listeninging
in if OL could be coming to a town near us.
That town is across in Melbourne, but still close enough
for us to travel to. So NFL fans, how excited
should we be about this development? On the podcast today,
(00:44):
GM of American Football New Zealand, Russell mcconachie is going
to join us to give us his view on how
big this might be for the sport here and how
much is the sport of NFL growing in New Zealand.
Elijah a few who pops into the chamber to discuss that,
and also this bombshell of an NBA trade that broke
yesterday afternoon. I've got some thoughts on Chris Wood and
(01:05):
how he should be recognized in the latest in sports
news as well. Keeps to get through. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
In other news.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Let's kick things off with a look at the big
sports stories around today. A clutch final run has clinched
Zoey Sadowski Senate her first World Cup win of the
seasons in the snowboard slope style and Aspen.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Absolutely whopper on the backside double cork ten eighty at
the Bostom. Now this will be interesting. Eighty seven point eight.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That was an after the Olympic champion was second in
the standings before showing her class late on to win.
Speaking of class, a statement from Arsenal in football's Premier
League Day, what are Morbos.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Arsols on beaten?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
One of the Premier League stretches into a four months now.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He had a thrash Manchester City five to one, They
led just one nill at half time and the Dallas
Mavericks under scrutiny for hitting the eject button on star
point guard Luka Doncic, trading him to the LA Lakers
for ten time All Star center Anthony Davis. Former Mavericks
coach Avery Johnson has been asked if he'd have agreed
to this transaction during his time in charge. Absolutely not,
(02:18):
no way, no way. Lucas one to five years old
and sure it has been some of these situations defensively,
but just take the talent. Doesn't come around by that
many times in a life time.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Dissecting the sporting agenda, it's Sportsfex with Jason Pyne.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You're listening to the Sportslex podcast and a coup for
fans of the NFL in this part of the world.
Melbourne will host up to three NFL regular season games
from next year. The Herald Suns reporting the Los Angeles
Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, the two franchises with Australian marketing rights,
are set to face off in October of next year.
(02:56):
What a boost for the game down here. Let's bring
in GM of American Football, New Zealand Russell Mcconachie Russell,
the NFL coming down under. How big is this news?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well, yeah, it's great. They're bringing games down. They've actually
been here in Australia and New Zealand for the last
couple of years working in intermediate and junior secondary schools,
so they're preparing the ground, getting their fan base worked up.
It's been an amazing story.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I guess, coming down and running camps and things like
that and getting the word out as one thing, but
actually bringing NFL regular season games here as an entirely
different matter. What do the NFL see in terms of
the Australian market or any of the markets that they
take the games too.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well? The obvious one is are there players that are
capable of being in the NFL. I mean, it's a
well documented thing that the Australian rules kickers have made
a difference to the school the universities there in the
way in which they play. We also have the largest
(04:04):
population of Polynesia and Australia New Zealand and yeah, big
men are there, So there's that aspect of it, and
there's also growing the fan base worldwide. They already are
in Europe, they have been there for quite some time,
so this is just an extension, not just it's an
extension of that.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I guess some they could just sit there in the
United States, couldn't they? Russell? I mean, it's a massive
game over there. Let's not try to get away from that.
It's huge over there. They could just sit there and
enjoy sort of lapping it up on their own shores.
What do you think there is this ambition to spread
the NFL message internationally.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I think it's to do with growth of the game,
growth of the fan base. I mean, football has been
I guess part of the news around the concussion issues
that are plaguing in contact sport, and I think they're
seeing a little bit of a hat on their player base.
(05:05):
At the NFL. I don't think they see that because
there's just so as you say, so many numbers. But again,
if the need to grow your fan base is still
important worldwide. You know, here in New Zealand, American football
is the first fourth most consumed sport television writes and
(05:29):
just viewership, So they want to capitalize on that. They
want to bring the experience closer to their fans.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How suitable will the MCGB as an American football venue.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Well, that's interesting. I think it'll be okay. I mean
one of the things that that they want is a
fan experience. The MCG is an oval, there'll be a
bit of ground. I guess it'll be like Eden Park. Yes,
the capacity will be greater and they'll be looking to
(06:04):
fill that up. Obviously, the promoters will want that filled up.
They'll be Will there be flights from New Zealand Charter
flights from New Zealand taking fans across might be You.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Have to imagine there would be I God, imagine there
be a few people who you mix with, Russell who
would be kind to hop a board and get across
to Melbourne for a slice of the action. The fourth
most consumed sport here in New Zealand. Did you say, yeah,
what's interesting?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah? What is that?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Being driven by a younger demographic?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I don't have the deal. I don't believe. So I
looked at the demogra demographics some time ago, and it's
not the it's the I want to say, it's the
twenty to thirty five year twenty five to thirty five
year olds that are big. I mean every time I
talk to somebody, though, they tell me what their team
is and then then admit that they're a football tragic.
(07:00):
So you know, Jason, what's your team?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, my son's a big Minnesota Vikings fan, so almost
by default I'm on board the Vikings. I only asked
about the young people really through my own experience as Russell.
My son and all of his friends are mad keen
on the NFL. So I just wondered whether it's something
to do with playing Madden for example, playing Fantasy NFL
all of that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Well, yes it is but it's also now the accessibility
of the non contact version of the game. The barriers
to entry in New Zealand and Australia is a lot
of times of the equipment, fields and officials, but the
flag football version, which is non contact, smaller sides, smaller fields,
(07:49):
shorter game hugely populate. It's growing the sport massively worldwide
and the NFL are helping to drive that by getting
in at the junior levels and preparing the players with
the awareness of the game at junior levels.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Tell us about the growth of flag football here, how
that's driving year overall numbers, the growth on the health
of NFL here in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Well and twenty eighteen there are around seven hundred registered players.
Now there's at least double that we've doubled those numbers,
but that's not all of the stories. There's probably around
five or six thousand players the school based community based
(08:35):
just in competitions and tournaments and deliveries and schools. So
if you take our national championships for flag football, we
don't run one for tackle because there aren't enough teams
and we'd have to play for weeks. Tackle is running
a tournament for tackle would be difficult, but for Flag
(08:55):
in twenty twenty we had ten teams at our nationals
in one division. Last year we had forty one teams
and four divisions. This year we're going to have any
more even more so. Yeah, we're struggling with the right
kind of problem growth.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yes, indeed, a very nice problem to have. Russell, thanks
for joining us on the Sports Fix podcast GM of
American Football, New Zealand. Russell mcconachie SPORTSAX. Do you think
we're here in New Zealand fully realize the enormity of
what Chris Wood is doing right now? He is operating
in rarefied air as a footballer the Premier League, widely
(09:33):
regarded as the toughest competition in the world, and he's
leading the line for the team that is currently third.
He has seventeen goals this season. The only guys who
have scored more a megastars Mahamad Talara of Liverpool and
Earling Harland of Manchester City. He now has eighty six
Premier League goals all up. That has him inside the
(09:54):
top fifty goalscorers in Premier League history. Now we're talking
about esteemed company here, more goals than Eden Hazard, Carlos Tevez,
Fernando Torres. He's only one behind Dennis Bergkamp and he's
closing in on the leading Australasian on the list, Australian
Mark Vaduka, who scored ninety two. It's time we gave
(10:15):
Chris Wood true recognition, in whatever form that might be.
He is a finalist for Sportsmen of the Year at
the Hallbergs, but I'm almost certainly won't win that. It'll
go to one of our Olympic gold medalists, Hamish Kerr
or Fin Butcher. And I've got no problem with that.
In fact, I think that's probably the right decision. But
I think we need to find a way of recognizing
and acknowledging our sports people like Chris Wood who are
(10:36):
doing their thing overseas, Steven Adams, another one Lydia Coe,
Liam Lawson hopefully in the years ahead. And what a
season Nottingham Forest are having. They were seventeenth last season,
just one place above the relegation zone. They were sixteenth
the season before that. At the start of this season,
I'm sure something similar would probably have been their goal.
(10:57):
Just don't get relegated instead. Their third six points clear
of the chasing pack teams like Manchester City and Chelsea.
They're eighteen points ahead of Manchester United, twenty points ahead
of Tottenham and thirty points clear of the relegation zone.
They only got thirty two points in total last season.
(11:18):
Quite astonishing. What a time to be a Forest fan
with our main man right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Let's pop inside the People's Chamber, a big part of
the sports podcast on a Monday and New Zealand Herald
News Talk s d be multi media journalist Elijah for
You was here as always now. I thought of you
yesterday when I saw this news drop. In fact, I
thought of a lot of people when this news dropped
about the trade in the NBA. Have you had time
(11:50):
to process this?
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I have now only just look. I don't think I've
ever woken up from a nap and checked my phone
and then sworn so many times on a Sunday out
of this belief at what I've just seen, Like I
guess to put this into perspective, we went to Haut
the Luca don Church trade to the Los Angeles Lakers
for Anthony Davis, who's heading to Dallas but I guess
(12:14):
to put this into a comparison like a rugby comparison,
think of I guess in the NRL Kaylon Ponger, a
rising star who's yet to win a championship, but it's
definitely on the verge of superstar. I was at superstar
and right now, if he got traded to the Melbourne
Storm for Cameron Munster, someone who's been there, done that,
that was probably the best comparison I could think of.
(12:35):
But the main takeaway from this whole thing is that
the Dallas Mavericks have basically decided that their twenty five
year old superstar, who's played at an MVP caliber level
over the last few years, has taken the team to
the NBA Finals just last season, have decided to pull
the plug on him and no longer believe he's the
franchise cornerstone that many around the NBA thought he was.
(12:58):
And that's probably the big shock and the big reason
why I was so shocked about this move. And yeah,
I'm still trying to process it, but definitely, in my opinion,
the biggest or the most shocking trade NBA history.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
As you say, he's twenty five years old, he's a superstar.
He is, I think, or was, in the eyes of
most NBA fans and Mavericks fans, I'm sure, in particular,
the cornerstone of their team moving forward. How would Dallas Mavericks.
How have Dallas Mavericks fans respond to this from what
you've seen online?
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah, well, they've pretty much treated it as a funeral.
That many of them have gathered outside the American Airline Censor,
which is the main stadium down in Dallas, and they're
pretty much in mourning of it, I mean, which seems
to usually be the case when a team loses their
main guy, their franchise superstar. But many of them are
in shocker and disbelief, some of them are in tears,
like they're pretty much treating this as a funeral, and
(13:50):
many of them, I guess, are angry towards the front
office for making this movie because they believe that Don
Chic was going to be the face of the franchise
for the next decade and now the Lakers are going
to have the new face of the franchise. And you
think of the Lakers and all the guys that they've
had come through the ranks in Magic, Johnson, Kobe Bryant,
Lebron Ja and now a guy like Luca Doncicic. So
I guess in a business sense, it's grateful Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And Lebron James is still there. Obviously he's getting on
with it now. But so Lebron James teams up with
Luka doncic I've done a bit of reading in the
background of this. The most it's the hardest thing for
us to get our heads round down here, Elijah, is
that this happens. Players are traded often without their own knowledge.
They're told. This is not a case of oh, look,
(14:36):
don just thinking I want a new team, or Anthony
Davis thinking that. From the sounds of it, they they
found out about the same time the rest of.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Us did exactly. And that's what makes this so shocking
is that there were no whispers, there were no rumors,
there were no leaks that just came out of nowhere.
It was just a bombshell that had been dropped. And
I guess the other party was Lebron James. He wasn't
told as well. He found out like the rest of us,
and Lebron's quite an influential player around the league, and
that you know, he likes to speak of the front
(15:06):
office and you know, ask for the kinds of players
that he wants around him to help win a championship.
But he found out at the same time as the
rest of us. So I think, yeah, it's shocked for
everyone all round.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
And just do we finish on this? The Mavericks approached
the Lakers. So the Mavericks wanted to get rid of
Luka Doncic. Is that how you read it?
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Yep, Luca did not request the trade at all. He
didn't want to leave Dallas. He would have stayed for
the rest of his career if he had a choice.
So this was all on Dallas. They wanted to pull
the plug and they have.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Wow, We'll watch with interest over the day's ahead. I
guess some I guess Dallas will come up against the
Lakers at some stage in the next little while, will.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
They Yeah, this should be I'm not sure what the
dates will be, but I think they're still. Yeah, they're
going to face each other at some point during the season.
So looking forward to when those two teams collide.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And different singlets for two of their biggest stars just crazy. Hey,
let's just talk quickly about Auckland FC, who we seem
to talk about every week and every week we might
just rinse and repeat because they win every week, well
just about anyway. Another another lateish goal, although in the
eightieth minute it wasn't beyond the ninetieth for them on
Saturday afternoon to get a two to one victory of
(16:16):
a mccartha. Man, it was warm. I'm not sure if
you're at the game, but Auckland f C five points
clear now and here we are in February, So I
kind of think we have to now throw off any
suggestion that this is kind of an early season flash
in the pan, don't we.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
No, They're the real deal right now, Auckland f C.
And I think if no one believes them, if no
one's believed them up until this point, then definitely believe
in them now. I think the one thing I'll say
is that on that eightieth minute goal, shouts to Francis Devreez.
He's such a valuable player for Auckland f C. And
the way he can deliver an accurate cross or a
free kirk, that's such a valuable guy to have and
(16:49):
set pieces and I mean, for me, he's one of
my favorite players to watch the season just because of
his ability to set up those type of goals. So
shout out to Francis Devrees and yeah Auckland c five
points clear. Not a bad way to but not a
bad place to be. Rather, if you're heading into.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The by absolutely right, yeah, absolute web Francis Devverice. I
think what it shows as well is that you know,
he's been playing He I think had a stint overseas
playing professionally didn't really work out. He's been back here
playing in the National League. But it goes to show
that players can given the opportunity to make the step up.
Francis Devree is a good example of that. Liam Gillion
at the start of the season. He's faded a bit
recently is another one. Cameron Howison, you know, and I
(17:30):
think looks good for the women's team when they come
in next year, you know, because they'll draw largely from
our national league, and we hope the same thing applies
to the players to get the opportunity to step up
to the to the A League women's competition who have
been playing national league as well. All right, mate, well,
I'm sure twenty four maybe thirty six hours ago you
didn't expect that half of the People's Chamber would be
(17:52):
taken up with an NBA trade. But here we are.
Thanks for joining me. As always, mate, we'll do it
again next week. Well do you? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Piney.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
This is Sportsfix, your daily does of Sports News Now
and by News Talks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
V and that is for the Sports Fix podcast for today.
Thank you so much for listening in. If you are
a subscriber to Sports Fix, a fresh episode we'll drop
into your podcast feed same time tomorrow and every weekday.
And for more from News Talks AB Sport listen to
Sports Talk weeknights between seven and eight pm and weekend
Sports Saturday and Sunday between midday and three For more
(18:29):
from News.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Talks EDB listen live on air or online and keep
our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
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