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Speaker 1: This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome into a new week and a new
Speaker 2: week's worth of the Sports Fixed podcast hitting your podcast
Speaker 2: feed and around about this time Monday through Friday, February
Speaker 2: twenty fourth, I'm Jason Pine. Welcome in today. Auckland FC
Speaker 2: hottest ticket in town. They are the team that everybody
Speaker 2: is talking about right now, but what about on the
Speaker 2: other side of the Tasman They play of course in
Speaker 2: the A League BA standing for Australia, so our tongues
Speaker 2: wagging there as well, and could Auckland FC win the
Speaker 2: whole thing? Australian football commentator Simon Hill is with us
Speaker 2: on the podcast. Today we'll pop inside the chamber, Elijah.
Speaker 2: You with a couple of issues to discuss, including Joseph
Speaker 2: Parker's win in Reard and another excellent round of Super Rugby,
Speaker 2: plus much more besides. So let's get into it. In
Speaker 2: other news, let's kick things off as always whether look
Speaker 2: at some of the big sports stories around today. Key
Speaker 2: we go for Nick Vogue has secured the WebEx Players
Speaker 2: Series Sydney title, pocketing fifty thousand dollars for his efforts.
Speaker 3: What a day Finnick Voteling in the first victory on
Speaker 3: the pgactor of Austra Asia had to endure a big
Speaker 3: late challenge from Jake McLeod, but hell.
Speaker 1: Of his nerve.
Speaker 2: The highlight of the final ramp Nick Vogue a seventy
Speaker 2: five foot parts across winding terrain on the thirteenth Green
Speaker 2: at the Castle Hill Country Club. A fifty first One
Speaker 2: Day International century from Verrat Kohli has helped India defeat
Speaker 2: Pakistan by six wickets in their Champions Trophy cricket match
Speaker 2: at Dubai. My job was pretty clear to control the
Speaker 2: middle lowers, to try.
Speaker 3: And go after the seam bowlers and not take too
Speaker 3: many wrest again the spinners, but keep redeating straight.
Speaker 2: And Liverpool have increased their lead at the top of
Speaker 2: the Premier League Ladder with a two nil victory away
Speaker 2: at Manchester City Finals.
Speaker 1: For the referee.
Speaker 2: And Liverpool move eleven points clear at the top of
Speaker 2: the Premier League.
Speaker 1: Dissecting the sporting agenda, it's Sportsfix with Jason Vine.
Speaker 2: This is the Sports Fix podcast. The hottest ticket in
Speaker 2: town right now is a seat at an Auckland FC
Speaker 2: home game. You couldn't get one on Saturday twenty seven
Speaker 2: thousand plus turning up for the derby. We know that
Speaker 2: they're getting tongues wagging on this side of the ditch.
Speaker 2: What about over in Australia? Is it the same over there?
Speaker 2: Let's bring in one of the most recognizable voices in
Speaker 2: Australian football. He's been a commentator since the start of
Speaker 2: the A leagues, Simon Hilp. Simon, thanks for joining us
Speaker 2: on the Sports Fix podcast. Tell us about it, tongues wagging?
Speaker 2: Are people taking notice of Auckland FC over your side
Speaker 2: of the ditch?
Speaker 4: Hey, Piney, Yeah, I mean it's got to be the case.
Speaker 4: The top of the league by quite some margin, probably
Speaker 4: a bit unexpectedly from this side of the ditch, but
Speaker 4: I think people have been very impressed by the way
Speaker 4: they've approached this inaugural campaign and the way that Steve
Speaker 4: Coricker has built his squad and they keep getting results.
Speaker 4: So yeah, probably not quite as much hypeers over in
Speaker 4: New Zealand for obvious reasons, but people have certainly taking notice.
Speaker 4: There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: You talked about Steve Carricker and the squad that he's
Speaker 2: built just before we talk about the way they're playing.
Speaker 2: Is this a surprise to you that Steve Corocker has
Speaker 2: tasted success almost immediately at Auckland.
Speaker 4: Not really, because you know, although he finished off is
Speaker 4: simply Sydney FC and it's quite a disappointing manner. The
Speaker 4: seasons before that, of course, he won back to back championships,
Speaker 4: so you know he's a good coach and people tend
Speaker 4: to forget those years of success when things go a
Speaker 4: bit wrong, but you know, he's always been able to
Speaker 4: put together a very competitive side. I think the criticism,
Speaker 4: certainly in the latter days of SYDNEYFC maybe be for
Speaker 4: that was that they weren't always that easy on the eye,
Speaker 4: but they were always very effective. And you know, key
Speaker 4: to it all is he gets his foreigners right more
Speaker 4: often than not. And we know in the A League
Speaker 4: that if you get your imports bang on the money,
Speaker 4: then you've got half a chance. In this league, they're
Speaker 4: supposed to raise their standards and I think he's certainly
Speaker 4: done that with Auckland, particularly impressed with Gmo Mai. I
Speaker 4: think he's terrific for Strata. Another terrific sign in Natal
Speaker 4: Moreno is very potent either off the bench or as
Speaker 4: a start, and we saw that at the weekend as
Speaker 4: well against Wellington. So you know, in tandem with Terry mcclinn,
Speaker 4: they put together a super competitive squad. But I think,
Speaker 4: you know, one of the things that has really struck
Speaker 4: me over the course of the journey this season is
Speaker 4: they're togetherness. When things have perhaps not been going right,
Speaker 4: they've managed to dig out results or be it you know,
Speaker 4: a draw at some venues or wins in other games,
Speaker 4: and that's the market not only a good side, but
Speaker 4: potentially a championship went inside.
Speaker 2: You just want to draw down too that because or
Speaker 2: you've watched the A League since the start, so have I.
Speaker 2: You don't always have to have the best roster, do you.
Speaker 2: You know, if you look around the league and you
Speaker 2: look at teams that have gone deep, deep into competitions,
Speaker 2: I think of the Western United side that won the
Speaker 2: A League. You know, that's just one example. You don't
Speaker 2: actually have to have a star studded roster, do you.
Speaker 4: No, you don't. I mean, obviously, you know, some quality
Speaker 4: helps and I certainly don't think Auckland are without quality.
Speaker 4: There's no doubt that they've got some very good players,
Speaker 4: but I think if you have a togetherness in the squad,
Speaker 4: a refusal to accept defeat, and I remember calling a
Speaker 4: game against Melbourne City when it looked for all money
Speaker 4: as though they're going to lose their unbeaten record, and
Speaker 4: they managed to find and equalize it deep in stoppage time.
Speaker 4: And it's not the only time they've done that this season.
Speaker 4: And that's a really good quality to have because you
Speaker 4: can't be at your best week in week out in
Speaker 4: a twenty six twenty seven round competition. But if you
Speaker 4: can grind out results skeet draws or pinch wins when
Speaker 4: you're not at your best, then you know you're going
Speaker 4: to be in there with a shout. So they've got
Speaker 4: most things right this season. It's difficult to find fault
Speaker 4: with them, to be honest, on or off the pitch.
Speaker 4: I think they've been an absolutely terrific addition to the
Speaker 4: A League.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: The only caveat I'll attached to that is we saw
Speaker 4: twelve or thirteen years ago Western Sydney Wanderers announced themselves
Speaker 4: to the competition in very similar fashion. You know, they
Speaker 4: won the premiership first go got to the Grand Final,
Speaker 4: although they didn't win it, and we thought they were
Speaker 4: going to be a powerhouse for years to come and
Speaker 4: one of the really big clubs in the A League.
Speaker 4: Now the Wanderers have sort of lost their way over
Speaker 4: the last decade, partly due to the departure of done Popovich,
Speaker 4: but there's been other reasons as well, So that's something
Speaker 4: that Auckland have got to guard against. This is all
Speaker 4: brand new at the moment and things are flying on
Speaker 4: and off the field and it's great. But obviously we
Speaker 4: want Auckland FC to be around in fifty one hundred
Speaker 4: years time with you know, the crowds just as big,
Speaker 4: if not bigger. So that's something they've got to guard
Speaker 4: against in future years. But you can't really fault what
Speaker 4: they're doing at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good point you make, but you know,
Speaker 2: you must look at the crowds. I mean, I've had
Speaker 2: the very very happy privilege of being at the home games,
Speaker 2: not down and likes, the act of support up in
Speaker 2: the sanctuary of the com box, but you must look
Speaker 2: at those crowds and think, man, that just looks amazing
Speaker 2: From your side of the Tasman.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know we're jealous of them in some ways.
Speaker 4: Obviously we're you know, we have our own derbies that
Speaker 4: draw big crowds. There was I think twenty two between
Speaker 4: twenty two and twenty five at the Melbourne Derby on Saturday,
Speaker 4: which was terrific. A couple of weeks ago I had
Speaker 4: the privilege of calling the Sydney Garby when we had
Speaker 4: thirty two and a half thousand there, which was for me,
Speaker 4: the best atmosphere of the season. The one thing that
Speaker 4: you know, we have a problem with and I've seen
Speaker 4: sort of little hints of it over there in New
Speaker 4: Zealand as well. We don't exactly have a friendly media here.
Speaker 4: We have media that is invested in other sports and
Speaker 4: they will look to find fault in supported behavior in particular.
Speaker 4: And it was very disappointing after the Sydney Darby to
Speaker 4: pick up the paper the day after and see that
Speaker 4: the headline was about a couple of flares being led
Speaker 4: off twenty five kilometers away from the stadium, and you
Speaker 4: know that unfortunately, that's the stigma that this game has
Speaker 4: to deal with. On this side of the Tasman. I
Speaker 4: don't know whether it's quite the same in New Zealand,
Speaker 4: but you've got to be mindful of it. And you
Speaker 4: know there's a lot of media outlets here who have
Speaker 4: a vested interest in the game not succeeding. Again, I'm
Speaker 4: not as familiar with the New Zealand media as I
Speaker 4: am with the Australian media, but you know things can
Speaker 4: quickly unwrap so that they need to guard against that.
Speaker 4: Not saying it's going to happen, but over the course
Speaker 4: of the journey those things can start to become a
Speaker 4: bit of an issue.
Speaker 2: Well, it hasn't happened here yet and hopefully it won't
Speaker 2: for a long time, if at all. Hey, Simon, thanks
Speaker 2: so much for your time, Simon Hill, the voice of
Speaker 2: football in Australia talking about the football on this side
Speaker 2: of the Tasman and the phenomenon that is Auckland FC sports.
Speaker 2: In the space of just a couple of games, the
Speaker 2: Highlanders have become a very, very watchable rugby team again.
Speaker 2: Saturday night was quite the occasion under the roof at
Speaker 2: Forsyth Bar Stadium, with the Highlanders getting the job done
Speaker 2: against the Blues, which historically, as we know, has not
Speaker 2: often been the case. A couple of players to pick
Speaker 2: up on. Timothy Tavatava Nawai. What a performance from him.
Speaker 2: I thought he was an outside back. He's been playing
Speaker 2: in midfield and the first couple of performances this season
Speaker 2: have been the type to turn heads, in particular, perhaps
Speaker 2: the head of Robertson. Finn Hurley at fallback. He looks
Speaker 2: about twelve years old, He's just a tiny little bloke,
Speaker 2: but scoring two absolutely magnificent tries in an excellent all
Speaker 2: ramp performance, and even when they went down to fourteen
Speaker 2: and then down to thirteen men, the Highlanders still did
Speaker 2: enough to win. You simply cannot ignore the Jamie Joseph
Speaker 2: effect on this team. It seems as though moving back
Speaker 2: into a head coaching role absolutely agrees with him and
Speaker 2: clearly has had a highly positive effect on the Landers
Speaker 2: and the advantage they got on Saturday night from playing
Speaker 2: at home with a whole host of new scarfees in
Speaker 2: the city on O week. It's only round two, but
Speaker 2: for a fan base which has done it pretty tough
Speaker 2: in recent years, Highlanders fans can be pretty happy at
Speaker 2: the moment, and if we zoom out the entire round
Speaker 2: of Super rugby was again compelling viewing it was in
Speaker 2: week one, it was perhaps even better in week two.
Speaker 2: High scoring, plenty of tries to enjoy. Margins not quite
Speaker 2: as close as last weekend, but still quite a bit
Speaker 2: of jeopardy. The Highland is beating the Blues for starters.
Speaker 2: That was an upset. The Force going to Canberra and
Speaker 2: beating the Brumbies, that was an upset. The Force have
Speaker 2: won their first two games the Fiji and drew it
Speaker 2: nearly beat the Hurricanes, last year's winners. The Blues are
Speaker 2: zero to two and the Chiefs are looking every inch
Speaker 2: like a team that will go deep, deep into the
Speaker 2: competition again. Super Rugby alive and kicking in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five and it is great to see.
Speaker 1: The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix.
Speaker 2: On the Sports Fixed podcast, Let's hop inside the Chamber,
Speaker 2: The People's Chamber being a Monday starring Elijah Few who's
Speaker 2: joined me. Now quite a bit to talk about over
Speaker 2: the weekend, Elijah, you and I spent some time together
Speaker 2: in the zb news room looking at screens all over
Speaker 2: the place. Let's start with Joseph Parker. I'm not quite
Speaker 2: sure how to feel about this. It wasn't the opponent
Speaker 2: he was supposed to fight, but he did what he
Speaker 2: had to do. Do you think Joseph Parker will be
Speaker 2: happy to have to have got this one done and
Speaker 2: now he can look ahead of.
Speaker 5: Bit, Yeah, for sure. I think whenever you take a
Speaker 5: fight at short notice, it can always be a bit
Speaker 5: of a challenge either bodes well for yourself or the
Speaker 5: challenger because it's not much really, not much real study
Speaker 5: that he can really go off.
Speaker 2: But I guess for Parker, he's been.
Speaker 5: You know, preparing for this for the last you know,
Speaker 5: a few months or so, so he's been in ring shape.
Speaker 5: And I can't say the same about Martin Bacoli, but
Speaker 5: he credits him for stepping up. I guess the big
Speaker 5: question now is when does he get his world title shot,
Speaker 5: Because you would think that Daniel duboile they'll reschedule that
Speaker 5: rematch and they'll go Dubir and Parker. But sounds like
Speaker 5: Duboi wants that world titled unification title bounce against the USAK,
Speaker 5: so Parker is going to have to wait a little
Speaker 5: bit longer unfortunately.
Speaker 2: So I guess what that might open up then is
Speaker 2: whoever wins that Duboir v Osik. Parker would have to
Speaker 2: be near the front of the queue to have the
Speaker 2: next crack, wouldn't he? Or are we just being too
Speaker 2: naive about the politics of boxing. I don't know, well,
Speaker 2: I would assume.
Speaker 5: So he's done everything possible to put himself in that position.
Speaker 5: He's He's faced three of the most feared fighters in
Speaker 5: his division in Deon Say Wilder, je Le Jang and
Speaker 5: now Martin Bercoli. So I mean, he's done everything he
Speaker 5: could ask of him, and now he's going to be
Speaker 5: real patients. Otherwise he might get asked to do another
Speaker 5: fight before he gets the actual will title fights. So,
Speaker 5: I mean, the dynamics of boxing and boxing politics is
Speaker 5: it's weird. You can't really predict what promoters want these days.
Speaker 5: So unfortunately, yeah, JP's going to have to might have
Speaker 5: to be a little bit patience this time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but look at he's only doing what he can do.
Speaker 2: And I admire him, you know, because often in boxing
Speaker 2: you lose a fight or two and they, you know,
Speaker 2: you sort of fade into obliving. He's lost three fights,
Speaker 2: hasn't he, Joseph Parker, But he's proven that, you know,
Speaker 2: you can bounce back from these things. He's one of
Speaker 2: his last six and yeah, it'd be great to see
Speaker 2: him get get another crack. Look at the Super Rugby table,
Speaker 2: it looks like it's upside down. The Blues are at
Speaker 2: the bottom and the Force a second. What's going on?
Speaker 2: No clue, I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 5: I will say funny stat is that the Blues, for
Speaker 5: all the points that have been put up and all
Speaker 5: the tries that have been scored the season, the Blues
Speaker 5: have scored the least number of points this season and
Speaker 5: the team above them is the Boratars, who've only played
Speaker 5: one game. So I guess that says something sort of
Speaker 5: missing from the Blues, and I'm not really sure what
Speaker 5: it is. They'll need to find a solution fast because
Speaker 5: the Chiefs look like the team's be it right now.
Speaker 5: The Force are right up there with them, which I
Speaker 5: don't think anyone would have predicted. But I'm just yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm loving two rounds in. I'm loving how the Super
Speaker 5: Rugby season has been played out so far, So.
Speaker 2: Am I And I just said that on the podcast,
Speaker 2: but it's worth repeating. Just on the Force as well.
Speaker 2: At the stat I saw was that that they're the
Speaker 2: first side in Super Rugby history to win back to
Speaker 2: back games while conceding forty points in both of them.
Speaker 2: They're clearly not defending. But it doesn't matter if you
Speaker 2: get forty four, well, get forty five.
Speaker 5: I mean they're the they're the proof or I guess
Speaker 5: their proof of what the Super Rugby, the new Super
Speaker 5: Rugby identity is in terms of scoring all these points,
Speaker 5: and I guess defense doesn't really matter out there in Perth.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's amazing what the Force are doing. So
Speaker 5: hopefully we'll see how long this goes for.
Speaker 2: I like the Chiefs, I have to say. I like
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. I thought they were very, very workmanlike in
Speaker 2: round one beating the Blues up at Eden Park, and
Speaker 2: then when the Crusaders came to Hamilton on Friday night,
Speaker 2: the biggest ever margin of victory by the Chiefs over
Speaker 2: the Crusaders. Look, Clayton McMillan is never a bloke to
Speaker 2: get too excited, but I think Chiefs fans can I
Speaker 2: know it's only two games and it feels like the
Speaker 2: Chiefs are favorites.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was a huge statement against the Crusaders, especially
Speaker 5: in the last half an hour. I think the score
Speaker 5: is about. It was seventeen Noll and then the Chiefs
Speaker 5: just piled on the points and piled on the tries.
Speaker 5: And that is a scary thought when you've got a
Speaker 5: Chiefs team who were firing on all and they can
Speaker 5: produce an outcome like that. So definitely a warning shots
Speaker 5: to the rest of the competition.
Speaker 2: Speaking of warning shots, the fire them all rarely. Auckland FC.
Speaker 2: If we look at the A League finally in the
Speaker 2: chamber today, just another absolutely magnificent occasion at go Media
Speaker 2: Stadium on Saturday afternoon, over twenty seven thousand turning up. Look.
Speaker 2: I talked a lot about this game and the lead
Speaker 2: up to it, and there's no way I saw this coming.
Speaker 2: Did you see a six to one thumping coming?
Speaker 5: Definitely not. I think you'd think with a derby game
Speaker 5: that the Knicks would be, you know, fired up and
Speaker 5: find looking to find a way to I guess turn
Speaker 5: their season around them, especially for a couple of senior
Speaker 5: players back in the fold. But yeah, Auckland have just
Speaker 5: proven that they're right now. They're the team to beat
Speaker 5: and six y one. No, I did not see that coming.
Speaker 5: I wonder has Logan Rogerson claimed that hat trick or
Speaker 5: was that still Nat a Morenos Because I know there
Speaker 5: was one of those Moreno goals was a deflection off Rogerson.
Speaker 5: So I'm not sure if they did like rock peper
Speaker 5: scissors to figure out who scored that hatrick there.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't even if they did. I don't even
Speaker 2: think that's official. It goes to the official goals panel.
Speaker 2: But I can tell you I spoke to Steve Corecker
Speaker 2: on the radio yesterday and he said, right, Logan Rogerson
Speaker 2: is animant the hat trick as us, whether he's whether
Speaker 2: he's whether it's just a bit of an in changing
Speaker 2: room banter or not. It definitely hit him on the
Speaker 2: way in, you know, and like any striker, like any
Speaker 2: good striker, he'll claim it. I think at the moment
Speaker 2: it's Moreno's goal, and Logan Rogerson was probably only only
Speaker 2: half serious. But and to be fair, it actually doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: does it. You know, you win six one, you take
Speaker 2: it any day of the week, and you look at
Speaker 2: a guy like Kzuma Maai and you think before the game, okay,
Speaker 2: if you said them you're going to get you know,
Speaker 2: team's going to get six today, he'd be like, oh gee,
Speaker 2: I wonder how many I'm going to get. He didn't
Speaker 2: get any. Max Marta the same, didn't get any, so
Speaker 2: I Moreno and Rogerson fighting over the goals. But yeah,
Speaker 2: what a statement. Again, it's it's the hottest ticket in town,
Speaker 2: isn't it? You know? Do you know they've sold twenty
Speaker 2: two thousand of those replica shirts? Twenty two thousand.
Speaker 5: That explains why I'm waiting a while for my for
Speaker 5: my shirt. I've been waiting quite a while. Everyone seems
Speaker 5: to be, yeah, snapping them up before I even click,
Speaker 5: you know, before even able to pay. So oh, come
Speaker 5: to me eventually, Poney, could I send you one of
Speaker 5: my Phoenix shirts. In the meantime, I'll politely decline, piney.
Speaker 2: Right, well, let us go our separate ways out of
Speaker 2: the people's chamber. In that case, great to jet has
Speaker 2: always mate. Well again next Monday, we'll do Thanks Pony.
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