Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB sports editor on Auckland FC win, Warriors in Christchurch and Super Rugby - Weekend Wrap

Auckland FC have officially claimed the Premier's Plate after Melbourne City drew with Adelaide United. 

The Auckland team beat Perth Glory 1-0 at home yesterday. 

Newstalk ZB sports editor Elliott Smith joins the show for a weekend sports wrap. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's get to Alex Smith's sport Ellick. Good morning morning, Ryan,
good to see you. Now, look, probably a lot of
people know the answer to this question, but I'm wondering
what does that actually mean to win an A league
minor premiership.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Oh, you get a bit of silverware, a nice place
and you're crowned for the best team over the course
of the regular season. But it is great. Let let's
not get me wrong with you on that front. But
you're only going to remember the ultimate winner after the playoffs.
So Aukland, they see put themselves in the best possible position.
They've still got one game of the regular season to go,
then they're into the playoffs and we hope that ends

(00:32):
in a Grand Final victory. The A League's kind of
unique in terms of the footballing world elsewhere, you know,
like Liverpool's about to do this morning. Winning the Premier League,
you finish top of the regular season. There's only a
regular season. You finish top of that, you win the
Premier League. But the A League probably because in this
part of the world and we've got the Nral finals
and the Super Rugby Finals and everything like that, we're
not used to a top of the log sort of format,

(00:54):
so they play on and have the finals after that.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
So basically we've done We've done the business. We're at
top of the thing heading into the playoffs and then
hopefully into the Grand Final. That's right, which would be lovely.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
The Warriors currently sitting fourth on the ladder.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, this is a very good start for them, and
a couple of good wins in a Rye Broncos and
then the Knights on Anzac Day and christ Chooch. You
look at the NRAL this year and it's a competition
full of upsets. The Panthers, four time winners, back at
the bottom of the league. The Storm as always are
up there, but there's a whole mix of teams in
the top eight at the moment that are jostling for position,

(01:28):
and the Warriors are right up there and it feels
like they can bank a few more wins. They've got
the Cowboys away at the Magic Round this weekend. There's
going to be a tough match to the Cowboys in
the top eight as well, but they're building quite nicely.
I think they had that blip against the Storm a
few weeks back where they were completely terrible, but they
seem to have found the rhythm a little bit and
in the top four. It's a good spot to be

(01:48):
in at this point of the season. And then some
of the teams start losing origin players in a few
weeks time and that creates a whole new dynamic in
the league and teams become a little bit weaker.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
So look at the Warriors, they picked up a couple
of wins on on a bit of a role in
the Narl Past stick. Look, we're looking quite good across
the board, yeah, apart.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
From the Blues and the Super Rugby team, quite honest.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
But we've got the Chiefs and the Crusaders at the top.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's right. And it feels like in a couple of
weeks time they're going to meet in a regular season
game in christ Jews that that could well decide who
gets top of the seedings for the playoffs, and we
know how important that is in Super Rugby. You play
at home, you're more likely to win. The Hurricanes getting
into the top six over the course of the weekend,
so they're right still in the mix. But the Blues,

(02:31):
this title defense of theirs is going backwards. That are
rated not it's very poor against the Reds on the weekend.
They can still sneak into the ploffs for line, but
hard to see them making a run towards the title
from here. Can't see it all.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Right, Elliott, great stuff Goode is always Alex smith Zbig Sport.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
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