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Mixed news for two Paris Olympic gold medallists as Kiwi Ferns squad named

Stacey Waaka of New Zealand runs in for a try during the 2024 Perth SVNS women's match between New Zealand and USA at HBF Park on January 27, 2024 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Tyla King will return to the international rugby league arena after being named in the Kiwi Ferns’ squad for the Pacific Championships. However, the New Zealanders will be without another two-time Olympic gold medallist who missed selection due to an injury.

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King had practically just arrived in Paris last October when World Rugby recognised the Black Ferns Sevens playmaker as the world’s best sevens player. That honour was bestowed upon King just a matter of days after she helped New Zealand beat Australia in rugby league.

The Kiwi Ferns hadn’t beaten the Jillaroos in seven years, but King had played a part in a famous rugby league result for the New Zealanders. King will look to make a difference once again when the rival sides meet at least once during the upcoming Pacific Championships.

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Following the 2023/24 SVNS Series season, King retired from rugby sevens after the Paris Olympics. The 30-year-old returned to NRLW with the St George Illawarra Dragons, with the five-eighth making four appearances during the recent campaign.

King has been rewarded with a spot in New Zealand’s squad, but a former teammate of the Black Ferns Sevens representative has missed out. Stacey Waaka has been ruled out of representative honours after suffering a leg injury.

Waaka was recently named in the Dally M Team of the Year and the Rugby League Players Association’s Team of the Year. The 28-year-old scored six tries, broke 23 tackles, made six line breaks and completed 94.7 per cent accuracy of her tackles.

It seemed quite likely that Waaka would’ve made the grade without this unfortunate injury. But, even without the ‘smiling assassin’ in their squad, the Kiwi Ferns have named a solid group ahead of their tournament opener on October 27.

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“We are excited about the squad we have assembled,” Kiwi Ferns head coach Ricky Henry said in a statement. “The depth of talented Kiwi players across the NRLW this year has been outstanding to watch and made our selection process more difficult than ever.

 

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“We are looking forward to seeing the rookies take their opportunity. They have been impressive to follow throughout the season and we have no doubt they will proudly represent the jersey. It is also a great pleasure to name Georgia (Hale) in her 10th Kiwi Ferns squad.

“To bring Test level women’s rugby league back to Christchurch is exciting,” Henry added. “It’s great to be giving young wahine down south the opportunity to see that there is a pathway in the game that leads to representing your country.

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“We hope to continue to inspire that next generation of Kiwi Ferns with more games played across Aotearoa in future.”

Waaka will return to the Black Ferns Sevens after recently penning a contract extension with New Zealand Rugby.

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist, Gayle Broughton, is also in line to debut after being named in the Kiwi Ferns squad for the first time. Broughton switched from sevens in 2022 by signing with the Parramatta Eels, but is now with the Brisbane Broncos.

The Kiwi Ferns will kick off their quest for Pacific Championships glory against the Jillaroos at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium. New Zealand will later take on Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on November 3, which could potentially determine the grand finalists.

Following those two fixtures, a Grand Final will be held in Syndey on November 10. That match will go ahead on the same day as the men’s Pacific Championships decider.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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