The burden of leadership
PLUS: A juicy local league kerfuffle, an NRL final worth getting excited about, and a tearful farewell hits all the right notes.
With a few days to digest the coming and going of the Black Caps, it’s worth expanding on the implications, the possible motivations behind Tim Southee’s big move and the wider implications.
Without question, it had to happen. Southee’s position had become untenable. In his past 15 bowling innings he has taken more than one wicket on just one occasion, a 2-46 effort against Australia at the Basin earlier this year.
Given that for five of the six years between 2018 and 2023 he’d bowled to a better average than his career 29.87, for his 2024 average to blow out to 73.12 is the very definition of a brilliant career appearing to fall off a cliff.
There is a large part of it that remains inexplicable. Southee is 35 and fast approaching 36 but the age-related drop-off doesn’t make sense to me because he’s a terrific athlete who takes great care of himself. He has never been a genuine quick and doesn’t have a high-stress action so, again, there’s no logical reason why he appears to be bowling through mud over the past year.
Unless…
I reckon Paul Ford cut pretty close to the bone on the BYC this week, when he mentioned that the burden of captaincy seemed to weigh heavily on Southee.
While acknowledging the impossibility of getting inside someone else’s head, Paul might have nailed it. One of Southee’s great strengths was the way he so obviously loved the game. It might not have always been caught by the cameras but when you were live at the ground you’d lose count of the times he could be seen in the outfield laughing and smiling, no doubt after cracking a joke at one of his teammate’s expense.
That has disappeared over the past 18 months and it’s fair to assume that the gravity of his position had taken his toll.
In more amateur sleuthing, you can draw a straight line from Galle (now known as a graveyard for NZ captains) back to Seddon Park, Hamilton, and the test against a third-rate South African side that was more troublesome than it should have been. That’s where Southee would have realised there was more to being captain than setting fields and saying next to nothing at pre- and post-test press calls. The skipper earned the ire of Neil Wagner, one of his most treasured teammates, that day by not bringing him on until the 37th over. After a minor on-field spat, Southee then had to be part of a delegation that told Wagner he wasn’t going to be selected to play Australia and might want to consider retirement.
Those dots might be too convenient to join in hindsight, but making hard decisions that directly affect the careers and livelihoods of your friends is not a bloodless exercise. Whether coincidence or not, you can certainly argue that Southee has never been the same skipper or player since.
So we now move to the Tom Latham era.
I would have gone in a different direction, even if a three-test tour to India is a brutal place to blood a novice captain.
As dedicated and as organised a cricketer as he is, Latham does not appeal as the type of bloke who can shift the overwhelming sense of stasis that surrounds this programme. He’s a safe pair of hands guiding a team that no longer looks good enough to play a safe brand of cricket. I hope beyond hope that I am proven hopelessly, embarrassingly wrong on this ‘reckon’, but moving from one veteran whose form has deserted him to another whose form is, at best, questionable, does not give the impression that the powers that be recognise the need for a radical refit.
To be blunt, any captain is likely going to struggle. An often overlooked factor is that we’ve seen the gradual disintegration of a truly great bowling attack. While we often marvelled at the Kane Williamson-Ross Taylor three-four batting punch that underpinned much of the success, the country’s greatest era was propelled by a pace-bowling attack that had all bases, aside from pure unadulterated pace, covered.
Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme chose to cash in on the final years of their careers by opting for the franchise route (with total justification), Wagner was inelegantly shuffled into retirement (again, probably justified), and Kyle Jamieson kept breaking things.
If the end of the road isn’t quite here yet for Southee, the concrete wall is fast approaching.
That’s tough. It’s not just the 1000+ test wickets you’re missing, but the knowledge gained over a decade and a half, and skills honed in different conditions against different opposition with plums from different ball manufacturers.
No matter how much we want it to be so, you can’t just plug in and play a new generation of promising young bowlers and expect the same results.
To these eyes, this new attack has to be wedded to dynamic leadership, a new mode of thinking and, quite possibly, a new mode of playing — none of which seems likely to be delivered from the decision-makers at Lincoln.
Anyhow, those glad tidings aside, next stop… Bengaluru, where India have won their past three tests by 238 runs, an innings and 262 runs, and a 75-run ‘nailbiter’ versus Australia.
Gulp.
The test squad for India is expected to be named early next week.
Meanwhile, the White Ferns begin their World T20 campaign, with some trepidation you would imagine, tonight.
NZ v India, Dubai, tomorrow 3am, Sky
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Grace Steinmetz had some big news today and while it’s sad, it’s also an enlightened decision and, hopefully for some, enlightening.
“Not how I pictured my rugby career coming to an end.
”Scans have come back showing a brain injury that means I need to hang the boots up, medically retire and never play rugby again. Grateful that my health is still intact and we found out before it was too late.”
Contact sport is tough and getting tougher, no matter what brand of it you play.
Quick question/s: Is anybody else being bombarded by betting ads at the moment? If so, is it starting to bug the bejaysus out of you?
I’m not opposed to gambling and occasionally enjoy a wee flutter on the geegees and a monthly low-stakes poker school, but this marketing blitz feels massively OTT. Has somebody hacked my algorithm, or is it happening to all of us?
Speaking of unwelcome attention, this story from The Times stinks to high heaven ($).
World anti-doping chiefs are facing embarrassment after it was revealed that a leading official obtained a Reuters news agency accreditation to attend the Masters golf at Augusta.
James Fitzgerald, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) media chief, was helped by a Reuters journalist to obtain the permit which allowed free entry to the tournament in April and access to areas not available to the paying public.
After being alerted by The Times to Fitzgerald’s arrangement at the Masters, Reuters withdrew two stories reporting attacks by Wada on the United States’s anti-doping body Usada “to avoid the appearance of bias”.
Wada had launched retaliatory attacks on Usada after the American organisation criticised its handling of the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication but were cleared of wrongdoing.
It has led to a war of words between Wada and Usada which is still going on six months after the positive findings were first revealed.
Wada needs a complete overhaul (they might want to start in the PR department), and Reuters needs a good wash.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) Chair Dame Patsy Reddy has stuck to her word and confirmed that she will not be standing for re-appointment to the NZR board.
The former Governor General pledged in March that she would “reconsider her position’’ if provincial unions rejected her proposals to reform the NZ Rugby board.
The acrimonious saga over the governance of NZ Rugby and ultimately the composition of the board, ended in September after the provincial unions and stakeholders such as the Super Rugby franchises and the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association agreed to settle their differences.
If you want to look at the fact that it’s now Reddy and Dame Farah Palmer who have decided against standing again and raise an eyebrow, that’s fine by me.
STORY OF THE WEEK
While this story is contemporary, it momentarily took my thoughts for a pleasant walk down Memory Lane. My first front-page byline was a story I covered for Sunday News about administrative shenanigans and internecine warfare at a New Zealand Rugby League. The characters in that story were larger than life and included the late and Right Honourable David Lange.
This was a time when things at NZRL were so bad that a report by Andersen Consulting discovered that while many bills were not being paid, others were being paid twice.
The bloke who I worked on that story with was David Fisher. This week, he uncovered another corker ($), this time based on a PwC external report into the one-time asset-rich Auckland Rugby League.
The lede on the feature piece sets the tone nicely:
When Rebecca Russell walked into the offices of Auckland Rugby League, it was as if she had walked into the past.“I’d never seen so much paper in my life. It needed to be modernised. It was a real fire hazard, if nothing else.”
Unfortunately for Russell, it turned out to be a lot more than just a fire hazard. What she found was a business with accounting and management systems that bore little resemblance to the corporate world she had just left.
“We had a lot of questions. We walked into an organisation that just had no processes, no procedures, no standards. We were looking at suppliers and things just didn’t smell right and unravelled.”
Aside from the mess that Russell walked into, you cannot help but read this and be deeply troubled by the NZRL’s position, which on the surface appears to be one of trying to protect some of the ARL old guard and to diminish the work of both Russell and PwC.
Knowing Fisher, there will be more to come on this.
WATCH OF THE WEEKEND
I’m wary of pumping up finals too much because they can buckle under the weight of expectation, but if this NRL one is even half as good as last year’s threepeat-sealing win for Penrith over Brisbane, we’re in for a treat.
I have a soft spot for the Panthers, partly because of Ivan Cleary, but mostly because they proudly represent league’s modern heartlands. Where for years league’s staunchest support emanated from tough inner-city suburbs like Redfern and South Brisbane, gentrification has pushed the bulk of the blue collars to the hinterlands. The sport’s biggest catchment is now Sydney’s outer west where deprivation is high, as are most of the wrong statistics such as youth crime.
There was a touching paragraph in this story on league’s pantomime villain Jarome Luai, about to play his last game for Penrith before he leaves for Wests next season.
Luai can’t help looking back to where it all began. He signed his first contract in under-13s, and he recalls being in the car with his father. “I remember my dad tearing up, we were talking about it and saying, this could be our ticket out. That was what it was for us, growing up in Mount Druitt, we looked at footy and sport as a way out for our family.”
While Luai would love to go out a winner, in the SMH, Andrew Johns says it’s a long shot.
A lot of this game will be what I call kick-reception footy because both teams will complete a high percentage of sets. I expect the second half to open up a bit more.
When it does open up, the question will be: which spine can capitalise? I reckon the Storm have more ad-lib footy, especially if the referee puts his whistle away.
It might just be the end of this remarkable run.
Melbourne v Penrith, Sydney, Sunday 9.30pm, SS 4
Other things to keep an eye out for this weekend (not exhaustive)...
The mighty Amber and Blacks challenge for the Ranfurly Shield on Sunday (Sky).
The less than mighty Silver Ferns attempt to win a miserable dead-rubber match against England (Sky).
Shane van Gisbergen’s playoff push continues at Talladega on Sunday morning (Three Now).
Boom team Aston Villa face bust team Manchester United on Monday morning (Sky EPL).
The Louis Vuitton Cup most likely wraps up in the early hours of tomorrow (Stuff/ Three Now)
A FINAL WORD
Thanks for all the kind words following my 500th newsletter, even from Simon who described it, not inaccurately, as a massive self-saucing exercise!
Once more, I find myself massively behind on the admin front, but even if I don’t reply, know that I appreciate your words.
This is a bit of a different way to end this newsletter, but I highly recommend listening to the last 15 minutes of the final Matt & Jerry show on Radio Hauraki. Either that or just cue this up to 1h 26m 30s.
Heath is upping sticks after 11 years on breakfast and is literally taking his talents up one flight of stairs to NewstalkZB, where he’ll occupy the less alarm-clock driven hours of noon to 4pm.
Promoting Heath’s new show, his old one, or any of his talents for that matter, is not the point of this blurb. You can love, hate or not care one way or another about the pair’s humour or sensibilities, but I’d still urge you to listen to the way Wells talks about his mate. It’s a heartfelt message of love and gratitude, delivered without the typical Kiwi self-consciousness, and it’s awesome.
It’s a big part of the reason why, even as I approach the gates of my Gen X dotage, I still enjoy floating in the outer reaches of the ACC orbit. Sure, those guys might spend an inordinate amount of time talking about ludicrous and occasionally puerile topics, but they genuinely care about each other and aren’t afraid to show it.
Having grown up in an era and sports-centric environment where any sign of male-to-male affection was more likely to earn you a homophobic epithet than it was a “thanks mate”, I say more power to this kind of chat.
Good fodder Dylan, I’m pleased to see the NZ MSM has finally come to life on this issue, up until then it was only yourself Andrew Fernando, Ian Smith and yourself showing any interest in it!
I do have a different perspective on things though….I think your suggestion that Southee’s form dip is captaincy related and in the head could be right but plays into a line of thinking I’m uncomfortable with (more on that in a moment). I think you’ve whisked past the role an ageing body might be playing. 35 going on 36 is old for a fast bowler. We could focus on the likes of Steyn, Anderson, Broad etc playing until older age but those guys were both quicker and better than Southee, so declined from a higher base. Most international fast bowlers are well done by 35. And seriously those head demons must be real bad to be operating to nearly 3x his career bowling average. I look at his bowling and I see he’s lost a vital 5-10kmh and has lost that vital late swing and kiss off the wicket. There are physical signs that must be considered as contributing to the poor results.
I agree that questions must be asked about the suitability of Latham as a long term test captain for reasons you point out. I’m very uncomfortable with the role and haste our failed captain has played in anointing him as successor. Surely it’s not for him to say. Just as it wasn’t for him to say that he’d “always put the team first”. I think it’s a fools errand for Latham, they’ll get flogged in India, no doubt.
Moving back to Southee I’m really uncomfortable about how it’s been managed and messaged by NZC. Here’s my take….Southee wanted to shore up his position as a *player* so he *resigned* to make it easy for NZC but it came with the proviso that he remains a first choice player and got a good rap. Both Stead and Weenink emphasised that he will remain a key player and member of the leadership group. How can this be so? He averages 78 with the ball!! If he didn’t have NZC wrapped around his little finger he’d have been told to go back to domestic cricket and prove himself, like Martin Guptill was. If I was Matt Henry or Ben Sears I’d be ropeable.
We’d all love to think that he has another couple of years of good bowling ahead of him, but for the same reason you say Latham isn’t the captain of a reshaped team I don’t believe Southee is part of the bowling attack. Persevering with him is head in the sand stuff. A huge gamble that comes at the cost of stullifying the renewal of our pace attack, led by a red hot Matt Henry.
Seems like a fair take on the Black Caps captaincy situation, especially the part about needing a dynamic captain to work with a new bowling attack. I haven't listened to the BYC podcast yet, so maybe you guys mention it there but any thoughts on who you'd like to see given the opportunity (poisoned chalice)? Daryl Mitchell?