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Speaker 1: This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks.
Speaker 2: It be Welcome on into Sports Fix. Sarah goes again
Speaker 2: the podcast with the mostus as we talk sport. I
Speaker 2: want to say me predominantly myself, Darcy Walter Grave, and
Speaker 2: we'll be joined later on the piece by digital sport
Speaker 2: editor from New Zealand, held Alex Powells. We'll pick through
Speaker 2: a couple of the big sports stories of the day.
Speaker 2: Shortly you'll hear from Richard Agar, assistant coach of the Warriors.
Speaker 2: The first team is out ready to take on and
Speaker 2: hopefully take apart the Raiders on Sunday, New Zealand time
Speaker 2: and the opening round of the NRL. Coming to you
Speaker 2: from a Las Vegas. I've got some thoughts around the
Speaker 2: ever changing landscape of sports coverage. Get on your computer,
Speaker 2: on your phone or on your TV and that's what
Speaker 2: we plan on doing here, the Sports Fixed to your
Speaker 2: home of all the latest sport you need to know
Speaker 2: from some of it you probably don't care about. It's
Speaker 2: good amongst in other news. Then sports star statements today
Speaker 2: Warriors winger Roger Tuivasa Sheeck is all fired up to
Speaker 2: start the NRL twenty five season and a good old
Speaker 2: U survey. The fullback center, former All Black, Blue and
Speaker 2: now winger is all about hanging out with the team
Speaker 2: whoever they are, worry that they play.
Speaker 3: We've got a new group, new leaders, new sort of
Speaker 3: players coming in, new plans, So I'm just excited to
Speaker 3: go out there at Express and you know, the last
Speaker 3: couple of months or but just running it, running against
Speaker 3: each other. So I'm just excited to play with this
Speaker 3: new group of boys.
Speaker 2: Qv Ben Campbell, new live golfer, mill Brook member and
Speaker 2: Queenstown local, knows all too well the key advantage of
Speaker 2: playing the New Zealand Open at home the Globe Trott
Speaker 2: and Golfer can't get enough others own, do they.
Speaker 3: It's obviously Kate. I love playing. You know, when you
Speaker 3: can keep in your own bed and play golf, tournament's
Speaker 3: pretty amazing. So I'm not really looking forward to the week.
Speaker 2: You know, the tournament just gets getting stronger and stronger.
Speaker 2: And Blue skipper Patrick took a lot who knows that
Speaker 2: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but also knows
Speaker 2: that standing still can sing the team.
Speaker 4: I mean, we need a volleyball game.
Speaker 2: I think most teams are copying us and sort of
Speaker 2: taking stuff from our game and how we played last year.
Speaker 4: There We've got to get better as well. And part
Speaker 4: of theirs have you seeing it different?
Speaker 2: Three athletes, three cuts, sports stars and their own.
Speaker 1: Words New Scandon, It's Sportsfix with Dancy Waldegrave.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite quotes, and trust me, I've got
Speaker 2: a pile of them, is this The only constant is
Speaker 2: change never truer than in the world of televised sport,
Speaker 2: of streamed sport, of sport wherever you want to get
Speaker 2: it on your phone, on your computer, on your notebook,
Speaker 2: on your television. It doesn't matter. It is coming at
Speaker 2: us thick and fast, and we have to be nimble
Speaker 2: when it comes to consuming our favorite sport. I know
Speaker 2: that for the older generation this becomes very difficult. The
Speaker 2: speed of change can become overwhelming for people maybe in
Speaker 2: their seventies and their eighties. This I know because my
Speaker 2: mother is experiencing the same issue. From my point of view,
Speaker 2: I feel you have to keep up to date, you
Speaker 2: have to accept the nature of change, and you have
Speaker 2: to be ready to pivot whenever it is required. Currently
Speaker 2: it looks like the zone are climbing on board the
Speaker 2: argument for rights for New Zealand rugby. It's taken away
Speaker 2: from underneath the nose of SkyTV, and there are thoughts
Speaker 2: that if SkyTV lose the rugby there's a good chance
Speaker 2: they'reabout as cooked as they come. But the nature of
Speaker 2: streaming services, the televisions, the smart TVs we have these days,
Speaker 2: and the ease of access to a number of channels,
Speaker 2: a number of streams and a number of different sports
Speaker 2: does make the world out oyster when it comes to
Speaker 2: watching sport globally twenty four to seven. In my position,
Speaker 2: I feel I have to buy everything. I need to
Speaker 2: be dial into the major sports that New Zealanders are
Speaker 2: interested in and the major sports that I'm interested in
Speaker 2: as well. I've gone from Spark through Sky I've got
Speaker 2: to say that's always been a constant to streaming services,
Speaker 2: and the more I do it, the more I engage
Speaker 2: in it, the easier it becomes to work out what
Speaker 2: the current norm is when it comes to sport broadcasting.
Speaker 2: Accepting the inevitable for me is key. It's fast, it
Speaker 2: can be head spinning. But if you want to get
Speaker 2: the very best of sport coverage around the globe, you
Speaker 2: have to be prepared to move with the times. That's
Speaker 2: the human way.
Speaker 1: Secting the sporting agenda. It's Sports Fix with Dancy Waldegrave.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the podcast to Richard Agar, assistant coach of
Speaker 2: the Warriors who find themselves in Las Vegas here of
Speaker 2: the opening round of the season on Sunday, New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Time they take on the might of the Raiders to
Speaker 2: give the United States of America a good taste of
Speaker 2: what context sport really is. Richard joins us. Now, Richard welcome.
Speaker 2: Probably not the easiest gig you've been involved in.
Speaker 5: Look, we're here to work. I think that's the important thing.
Speaker 5: It's an amazing event and spectacle, and you know, we
Speaker 5: feel very privileged that we're one of the chosen teams
Speaker 5: to kick off the season and we've just done some
Speaker 5: press and got asked a similar question. It's very very
Speaker 5: akin to a magic weekend, you know, where there's a
Speaker 5: lot of teams in one place, and you know, as
Speaker 5: one team's on the training field and other teams off
Speaker 5: it and you're.
Speaker 2: Running to people in the hotels and all that.
Speaker 5: But I think because of those magic weeks and experiences,
Speaker 5: everybody's sort of used to it. You know, it's not
Speaker 5: as wholly unusual as it may well have been back
Speaker 5: in time. Obviously, Vegas is very different, but being here
Speaker 5: quite early enabled the boys, you know, to get out
Speaker 5: there and have a look and spend some time together
Speaker 5: before you know, before we got down to the you know,
Speaker 5: the serious hard work and finishing our preparation for the
Speaker 5: game on Saturday.
Speaker 2: The game itself, on the feud you're with, the lines
Speaker 2: you've got and everything else, is that much different from
Speaker 2: what you'd experienced in our Elville, over here and in
Speaker 2: inz Or Australia.
Speaker 5: I think, I think from by all accounts, you know,
Speaker 5: the play surface is very good. We don't get to
Speaker 5: see it until we finished our last training session on Friday.
Speaker 5: What we found is we've trained on the pitch with
Speaker 5: similar dimensions for the last maybe half a dozen sessions.
Speaker 5: We obviously played on one down in Hamilton too. So look,
Speaker 5: you're saying, of both sides, we've gone back and had
Speaker 5: a look at last year's games. Both both games had
Speaker 5: plenty of points in them. There might be the odd
Speaker 5: instance where the size of the pitch comes into it,
Speaker 5: but it certainly didn't stop those games being high scoring
Speaker 5: games and have too much effect on the play. And
Speaker 5: it's same for both sides. So it's not it's not,
Speaker 5: it's not anything that's become too much of an issue
Speaker 5: for us.
Speaker 2: Richard, you see, you know, Daniel media sessions. What's been
Speaker 2: the dominant thought question from the American media? How much
Speaker 2: have they actually climbed into this, Well, it's.
Speaker 5: Not really, it's mainly it's been mainly the Australian and
Speaker 5: New Zealand media to be fair. There's some some British
Speaker 5: media ear this morning, which you know it's the first
Speaker 5: time they've been so there's a lot of excitement the
Speaker 5: fact that a British team is participating in you know
Speaker 5: what is predominantly an NURL event. Uh you know the
Speaker 5: codes and not the code sorry, the two governing bodies
Speaker 5: working together on that. The American media, I guess have
Speaker 5: been quite passive in media conferences are certainly the ones
Speaker 5: I've done anyway, as in the stand and the listening
Speaker 5: they observed. You know, there's not been I guess a
Speaker 5: heap of questions coming through about that, but you know,
Speaker 5: there's certainly been a reasonably strong presence from You've.
Speaker 2: Managed to finally got yourself a team selected first time,
Speaker 2: and I don't know how long the decisions around that
Speaker 2: Playingly it comes down to coach, but you'd have a
Speaker 2: fierce say I'd suggested have an here within many debatable
Speaker 2: positions there before you name that team. Richard, Yeah, loads
Speaker 2: and good ones.
Speaker 5: You know, I felt last year at the times during
Speaker 5: the season, I guess we're shuffling the decks a little
Speaker 5: bit with the amount of injuries we had and probably
Speaker 5: people not in the form that we would have liked.
Speaker 5: But this year, everybody's trained well, They've been really well
Speaker 5: connected in training. The trial form has been good and
Speaker 5: when we picked the team, you know, before we sat
Speaker 5: down to pick the team, we've felt straight away that
Speaker 5: they were going to be three or four good players
Speaker 5: in good form and experienced players that potentially wouldn't make
Speaker 5: our lineup. So yeah, it were difficult. I think the
Speaker 5: makeup of the bench was probably the biggest talking point,
Speaker 5: if you like, just around how you're going to make
Speaker 5: interchanges work, the facts. It's around one game, taking into
Speaker 5: account the opposition that we're playing as well, and just
Speaker 5: making sure that going in with an interchange plan, we've
Speaker 5: got all bases covered on rotation, and sometimes it's not
Speaker 5: just a case of can you get people on and off,
Speaker 5: it's just can you use all those substitutions effectively well
Speaker 5: and give everybody the required game time that you know
Speaker 5: you think that player warrants. So yeah, that was difficult,
Speaker 5: but we feel we've come up with something for around
Speaker 5: one that certainly gives us cover, picks people in form,
Speaker 5: gives us our best opportunity to attack and defense strongly.
Speaker 5: And at the same time, as I said, the guys
Speaker 5: that we think probably just warranted the ship, I'm going
Speaker 5: to say that a couple of quite unbelievably close calls
Speaker 5: around the bench, and sometimes you need a crystal ball
Speaker 5: to get that one right, you know, because you know,
Speaker 5: we don't know what's going to happen. But as I say,
Speaker 5: we think we've got most of our bases covered. So yeah,
Speaker 5: fingers crossed, fingers crossed, we've got it right. And you know,
Speaker 5: I love the fact that we've been able to pick
Speaker 5: two three young guys in our in our what mate,
Speaker 5: just purely unmerit.
Speaker 2: Gone, who was the tightest call you've started it you
Speaker 2: can finish it well.
Speaker 5: I think the last one on the bench, you know,
Speaker 5: whether that's Sam Healy tomorrow Mar And I'm trying to
Speaker 5: think who else would have been in contention for that.
Speaker 5: You know, bunts had really strong showings pre season. Eddie
Speaker 5: and I is a guy that will come into contention
Speaker 5: because of his versatility. So you know when I say
Speaker 5: all those guys were, you know we're in the mix.
Speaker 2: They genuinely were in the mix.
Speaker 1: The chamber is now incision on sports.
Speaker 2: Come on, we'll welcome to oh mate, Alex Powell here
Speaker 2: in the chamber. I'm know you about what how long now, Alex?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean this is debatable because i'd work experience
Speaker 4: with you, like in two thousand and nine and you
Speaker 4: don't remember it.
Speaker 2: But it was a long time ago. I'll call you
Speaker 2: old mate. It feels like you've been around far too long. Anyway.
Speaker 2: He's the digital editor for New Zealand. Here it always
Speaker 2: lots to talk about the wonderful wide world of sport. Look,
Speaker 2: it was like yesterday the team came out. We've had
Speaker 2: a chance now to digest it. We don't know anything
Speaker 2: until they play against the Raiders' initial thoughts around what
Speaker 2: the wars have presented.
Speaker 4: I mean there was no great surprises. I think the
Speaker 4: only real question was who was going to be at
Speaker 4: five eighth. We knew that Luke Mtcalff was going to
Speaker 4: be half back. Were they going to go Shanelle Harris
Speaker 4: Devita or were they going to go to Mighty Martin.
Speaker 4: They've gone Schanell Harris, Tavita, Tomira. He's not even on
Speaker 4: the bench, he's on the extended Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if they get a use, but
Speaker 2: I mean that's quite abrupt because I thought he'd at
Speaker 2: least be there.
Speaker 4: But no, Well they've done this with somebody even when
Speaker 4: you think back to last year and who's playing really
Speaker 4: well at half back and then they'd bring Sean Johnson
Speaker 4: back and he wouldn't even be on the So I
Speaker 4: mean they obviously see a role from outside of the
Speaker 4: match day squad or.
Speaker 2: People break so he's got to be around involved. But
Speaker 2: do you think that's a good idea to have channel
Speaker 2: in there? This works for you?
Speaker 4: I really like Chanel Harris to it. I think he
Speaker 4: might have the highest ceiling of all the harves they've got.
Speaker 4: I think we're far from cine missim I think he's
Speaker 4: the most versatile half they've got because he's look at him,
Speaker 4: he plays six and seven, he's had a World Cup
Speaker 4: final at nine, he's played for the Ways at fallback.
Speaker 4: He probably do a job in the centers. He could
Speaker 4: play at thirteen. So I think having him out there
Speaker 4: is just such.
Speaker 2: He understands the spine, doesn't it. Think that's, as we
Speaker 2: all know, very very important. All those I've always seen
Speaker 2: the spines well and good. But if you've got no limbs,
Speaker 2: you can't go anywhere. And there are limbs in that pack.
Speaker 2: There are limbs really looking forward to seeing James Fisher Harris,
Speaker 2: aren't we all.
Speaker 4: I mean, have you seen the behind the scenes stuff
Speaker 4: they're doing from Vegas. No, he's awesome.
Speaker 2: Ah, but he's a key part of this and I
Speaker 2: think that we've got to stop and I won't say
Speaker 2: the name so you hear focusing on who we've lost,
Speaker 2: because who we've gained and who we've picked up is
Speaker 2: extraordinarily valuable. We get it. Some of those guys are
Speaker 2: going to be missed, but it's about the future.
Speaker 4: I think, to be honest, the only one who really
Speaker 4: steals its mear is Tahu because that was the most recent.
Speaker 4: But like we knew two years ago, Infaniel Blake was going,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: Was he ever really here?
Speaker 4: He was here, but James Fisher Harris came in and
Speaker 4: last what May. So we've had a long time to
Speaker 4: get used to the idea of it, and I think
Speaker 4: everyone's just as excited the fact he's starting, the fact
Speaker 4: he's co captain, as well as Mitch Barnett. I mean
Speaker 4: that if you say who has the scariest captains in there?
Speaker 4: How I think the Warriors take it in straight sets
Speaker 4: with those two.
Speaker 2: Do you think we've got over the loss of Sean Johnson?
Speaker 2: We should have done. I had that two years ago,
Speaker 2: a wonderful year. Last year he's kind of already out
Speaker 2: the door, wasn't he. So I don't know if that
Speaker 2: gets missed either.
Speaker 4: I think that, of course they're going to miss him.
Speaker 4: You know, he's probably for me and the Warrior's top
Speaker 4: three players of all time. Yeah, you know, you don't
Speaker 4: replace it overnight. But they've got a guy on Luke
Speaker 4: Metcalfe who a David vested in, but be they believe in.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the wing men, because Roger Tui Vasa
Speaker 2: shek bring you out there. Oh he'll rip it up.
Speaker 2: Guy's a great prime. So pleased they've given somewhere we
Speaker 2: can act. You have some space, unlike sin to which
Speaker 2: I thought was just bizarre. What about on the other wing,
Speaker 2: the size of Taine.
Speaker 4: I worry. I mean, tanned to a pecky is not
Speaker 4: the biggest guy, but that's never stopped and playing at
Speaker 4: fullback has it, you know, And I'm obviously he's gonna
Speaker 4: be fielding a few more kicks and you are really
Speaker 4: if you're an opposition kicker, you're going to really look
Speaker 4: to challenge him in the air. But he'll find a
Speaker 4: way because the good players do. And tain to a pick,
Speaker 4: he's a bloody good player. It was quick, he's qua
Speaker 4: get it.
Speaker 2: You're accelerated off and I think he'd probably embraced this
Speaker 2: challenge of being picked one. Yeah, sure, kick it to me.
Speaker 4: He's not just quick, he's smart and that's gonna I
Speaker 4: think ultimately any physical disadvantgy have will be made up
Speaker 4: for his intelligence.
Speaker 2: Across the board. The entire team, Yes, it looks good,
Speaker 2: but they've got a lot to pick up now. They
Speaker 2: sold out every home game last year. That won't last
Speaker 2: if they dropped the ball on the first hand full
Speaker 2: of round, so maybe they can be forgiven this first one.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting trip over to Vegas. But our whole
Speaker 2: coaching Staft's on not just now, Oh are they They
Speaker 2: have to be? Okay? Well don't don't you agree they
Speaker 2: have to be. They had their great start and then
Speaker 2: last year it kind of flound and it swallowed around.
Speaker 2: Now they've got the team there, they've got it. They've
Speaker 2: got to get up to the eight otherwise there'll be
Speaker 2: pel to pay.
Speaker 4: No, you're right, there probably are very few excuses. They
Speaker 4: can't have as much disruption as they did last year.
Speaker 2: No, well's hope they don't have as many injuries as
Speaker 2: well always.
Speaker 4: And they're going to have injuries, and that's the thing.
Speaker 4: It's how you deal with that.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out more about that in Las Vegas
Speaker 2: underway on a Sunday afternoon. What a great time for it.
Speaker 2: Mar nin who's still playing pro football, he's still up
Speaker 2: these forty two years old and he signed up to
Speaker 2: play top fourteen rugby. I would say that's barely believable,
Speaker 2: but it's Mar Nonu so it is.
Speaker 4: That's the thing. I mean, how we thought after twenty
Speaker 4: fifteen when he was done with the All Blacks, thought
Speaker 4: oh that's it and then he went over to Sas
Speaker 4: he came back to the Blues, I remember there was
Speaker 4: talk will you get back into the All Blacks for
Speaker 4: the twenty nineteen World Cup night?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: Look, I mean I grew up with Mar. I'm a
Speaker 4: Hurricanes fan. I just love watching the guy. I really like.
Speaker 4: It's made me insit in the top fourteen. Just how
Speaker 4: does mar go to to get a start. But if
Speaker 4: you're a young guy coming through it too long, which
Speaker 4: I know, Toulon's not the best club for developing like
Speaker 4: local talent because you know, the ownership does see the
Speaker 4: value and bringing overseas stars. If you're a young guy
Speaker 4: who can pick Martin on his brain, you are just
Speaker 4: coming up. Trump's there huge.
Speaker 2: And I like the ways Carryon's career because the way
Speaker 2: he signed off twenty fifteen World Cup. Finally, if there's
Speaker 2: a way to leave international representation, there's a bitter way.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen it, but I don't think he's bothered
Speaker 2: his copybook along the way? Has he? Now?
Speaker 4: I think we can't overlook the fact that it is
Speaker 4: his job. He needs to make as much money as
Speaker 4: he can while he can, you know, because I mean
Speaker 4: I don't know too much about mar.
Speaker 2: To be fair, and no one knows too much about ma.
Speaker 2: He hardly is agreeable with the media, and he hasn't
Speaker 2: been in the past, right.
Speaker 4: Well remember when he came back to the Blues and
Speaker 4: it was sort of in his contract, doesn't have to
Speaker 4: do media, but he would hang about and all the
Speaker 4: background of all the media conferences, just teasing the journalists,
Speaker 4: like you want to speak to me, but you can't.
Speaker 2: And who doesn't love to tease journalist to Alex Powell.
Speaker 2: Digital Sport EDIFO the New Zealand Herald. Thanks very much
Speaker 2: for joining us and the Chamber.
Speaker 1: This is Sportsfix, your daily dose of sports news powered
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Speaker 2: EB wrapped up with a bow on it. That's Sports
Speaker 2: Fix podcast for another day, that day being Wednesday, the
Speaker 2: twenty sixth of feb twenty twenty five. My name is
Speaker 2: Darcy Waldgrave. And if you want more sport talk, but
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