Morning Report Essentials for Friday 16 May 2025
children sport 5 minutes ago
In today's episode, the Auditor General has issued a scathing assessment of Oranga Tamariki's procurement and contracting practices last year, after a day of uncertainty, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says he's sending a team to Istanbul for peace talks with a Russian delegation, the next America's Cup will be hosted by the Italian city of Naples. America's Cup Defender Team New Zealand chief executive, Grant Dalton, made the announcement on Thursday night, the Black Ferns will face off against defending Pacific Four champions Canada this Saturday, we have our weekly Political Panel and Kerry-Anne Walsh brings us the latest from Australia.
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RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Sevens star Michaela Brake braces for NRLW impact with Warriors women
Michaela Brake became the top tryscorer on the World Rugby sevens circuit in February. Photo: PhotoSport NZ Barely a week into her rugby league career, sevens superstar Michaela Brake experienced her 'Welcome to the Warriors' moment. Just months after becoming the most prolific tryscorer on the World Rugby circuit, passing former Black Ferns ally Portia Woodman-Wickliffe at Vancouver in February, the two-time Olympic champion is preparing for perhaps her biggest challenge, when NZ Warriors return to the NRLW competition , after a three-year absence. Sevens exponents are renowned for their fitness levels, but nothing could have prepared the pint-sized speedster, at 1.65m (5ft 5in) and 65kg, for the pounding she has already received at the hands of her new teammates. "If you watched our training on Saturday, holy, it got to the point where I was crying, because I was so exhausted, so taken aback by the physicality of the training," Brake (formerly Michaela Blyde) said. "You've really got to mentally get up for these kind of trainings, because it's very, very different. It's safely controlled, but you've got to seriously be tough, with the different dynamics of the contact area, how you used your body smartly to try to be the winner in the contact area. "I'm learning a lot about that the hard way, which is great. Just chuck me in the deep end with no floaties, and we'll see if I sink or swim. "It's a challenge I'm having to adapt to very quickly." Sevens-to-league converts aren't exactly rare, especially in the women's game, where several others have successfully transitioned previously. Two years ago, Tyla King (formerly Nathan-Wong) starred for the Kiwi Ferns in a rare test victory over Australia Jillaroos and, days later, was named World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year. Last year, Stacey Waaka set the NRLW alight early, scoring six tries in her first six outings, before fracturing a fibula in her right leg. Her performance was still good enough to earn Dally M Winger of the Year honours in her debut season. Most of those who have gone before Brake, 29, have at least some 15s background to draw on, when it comes to confronting much bigger players at close quarters. Waaka was a member of the NZ team that won the last Rugby World Cup and has chosen that pathway again this season. "I definitely need to work on my toughness in contact." Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Brake's previous attempts at the expanded format have usually ended badly, once at the hands of new flatmate and former Black Ferns Sevens teammate Shakira Baker. "I played three games for Bay of Plenty Volcanix in 2016, after not making the Rio Olympics, and we played against Wellington, who Shakira was playing for. "I decided to run it straight at her and she gave me a haematoma." More recently, another stint with the Bay team ended with a broken jaw, trying to tackle a prop in pre-season training. If nothing else, these failed forays into provincial rugby have sharpened her survival instincts in rugby league. "I definitely need to work on my toughness in contact," she admitted. "It's very different." "Obviously, in sevens and union in general, there are strict rules about where you can tackle, but in league, you can kind of bend those rules a little. I'm just trying to find the balance of where I can use my strength with my upper body in league, without getting bunted off by girls that are far bigger than myself. "Of course, my speed is not going to hide. As soon as I catch the ball, I'm just going to run hard into space and hopefully that will work out well for me in the Warriors jersey." On the other hand, Baker has an extensive pedigree in both forms of rugby union, with 13 tests for the Black Ferns - including the 2014 World Cup - and sevens gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In 15s, she is a hard-hitting midfielder, but at the Warriors, she may find herself among the forwards. Brake and Baker represent intriguing projects for new Warriors coach Ron Griffiths, who has already won two NRLW crowns with Newcastle Knights. Most of his squad have never played in the competition before - many have been plucked from domestic competition - so he has his work cut out moulding them into championship contenders in his first campaign. Teaching his rugby converts the finer points of the code will be key to his success. "We're probably a week-and-a-half in with Michaela and I think determination to succeed is probably what rings true the most," Griffiths said. "She came, as a fulltime professional athlete, into a semi-professional environment and the first day, she asked questions. "That's important - it showed everyone she wanted to invest and needed to understand what the game was about. It let people know that, if you don't know, it's ok to ask questions." Brake will probably start out on the wing, which seems a safe place to learn the positional intricacies of the game, before testing the waters at fullback or centre. Despite her abundance of sevens success, she is not putting pressure on herself to excel immediately in her new environment. "I'm not coming in here with the mindset of wanting to win all the time, because I'm so new to this game," she said. "I'm just taking it day by day, learning as much as I possibly can without putting too much pressure on myself to being the best. "I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by players who have played Kiwi Ferns and NRLW for a while now, so learning off them has been very valuable. "Also remembering I'm one of the older girls in the squad, so another purpose is to encourage these young girls to make the most of this opportunity. A lot of them have never signed a piece of paper before, so this is their first opportunity to really stamp their mark on NRLW. "I'm hoping I can help them make the most of it by being professional, making the most of the resources we have here, so for their long-term career, they're locked in for a long time with the Warriors and can play fulltime professional league for as long as they can." Brake considered following several of her sevens teammates into the 15s programme, but decided the league option fitted better into her lifestyle. "It was the perfect opportunity for me to leave the sevens nest and really test myself as a footy player," she said. "The main attraction was that I'm essentially home for a lot of it. "It was a matter of weighing up what was best for me and my career and my family, and being part of the Warriors ended up being the winning opportunity for me." Brake said the game has grown over the past few years and the fan engagement is "insane". "What the Warriors have here at Go Media Stadium is second to none, when it comes to a crowd and atmosphere here in New Zealand. I wanted to be a part of that energy with the Wahine Warriors." The Warriors women kick off their NRLW season against defending champions Sydney Roosters on 6 July across the Tasman, with their first home game against Parramatta Eels a week later. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Newsroom
4 days ago
- Newsroom
Our sports queen honoured by the King
Suzanne McFadden has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours for her services to sports journalism and women. In this Q&A, the founder of our LockerRoom section and passionate advocate for better participation, media coverage and recognition for women in sport, reflects on a 40-year labour of love. How hard was it starting out in the 80s as the only woman in the room in sports departments, press boxes and media conferences? Initially it was tough to get a foot in the door. I tried a couple of times, but naively I had no idea how difficult it was as a young female to get a start in sport, which was the only job I ever wanted. It wasn't until a defendant in a district court case I was covering threatened to kill me, that the Herald bosses finally agreed to transfer me from news to the sports department – just in time for the 1990 Commonwealth Games. I was there when gymnast Nikki Jenkins, then 14 years old, won gold on the vault, and her parents had been my PE teachers. I stayed working in sport for the Herald for 10 years – and I had incredible opportunities to cover events around the world, like the America's Cup. And even though I was the only woman in the department through that decade, it felt more like being part of a tight sports team. There was one time, though, at a sailing regatta, I was made to feel like the 'new girl' who'd only be there for 10 minutes… 30 years later… Did you get pigeon-holed into writing about women's sports? In my first job, at the Bay of Plenty Times, I was a general news reporter, but the sports editor, Kevin Savage, asked me to cover the local netball competition. I was not impressed – I'd only ever played 10 minutes of netball at school (fell over, grazed my knees on the asphalt, and never walked onto a netball court again). But he told me to write about the people more than the sport, and that's become my compass. Sir Terry McLean, who I was privileged to work alongside when I first started in sports journalism, once told me, 'The human story is the best story'. So even if I was assigned to women's sport, it was okay, because I was weaving the stories of interesting and often outstanding people into the match reports. Have you ever had a woman boss? Who are your female mentors? I've never had a female boss in sports reporting, but some of the best editors I've worked with in my freelancing career have been women. The wonderful Carroll du Chateau at Canvas taught me how to craft a feature story and was an incredible mentor. Michelle Crawshaw always trusted me with fascinating assignments. And my cousin Fiona Rotherham, then editor of Unlimited magazine, made business stories relatable and human. Among the women I look up to today is Shirley Hooper – vice president of World Netball and heavily involved in artistic swimming in New Zealand – and also a cousin. Storytelling runs in our McClean genes. Speaking of, my parents were both great mentors – Dad gave my sister and I our love of watching sport, and Mum taught me how to write. Ashley Stanley and Suzanne McFadden at Eden Park. Photo: Paul Enticott How much has it changed in sports journalism for young women? I honestly don't think the dial has moved enough. It's just as hard to get a job in a sports newsroom now as it was back in 1986. There are some excellent female sports reporters right now – Dana Johannsen at RNZ is a multiple-time sports journalist of the year; the TVNZ sports team has a strong female representation, including the super-talented Jordan Oppert. Yet we're still the minority, and the only way that's going to change is with more female sports editors. Something I've been really proud we've been able to do through LockerRoom is introducing more female voices to sports writing, and giving two women – Ashley Stanley and Merryn Anderson – scholarships to work at Newsroom. Through these wāhine, I discovered I love mentoring. What's your approach when setting out to interview someone? Great question! For a LockerRoom long read (you know all my stories are long!) I research, but not to the point where I think I know everything about the person. There needs to be that element of curiosity, where I want to learn more for the readers, so I can share something new. And I never call it an interview – it's always a chat. And there's no such thing as a stupid question. Suzanne McFadden first wrote about the late Sir Peter Blake's America's Cup red socks superstition. What stories do you look back on with most pride? What makes you happiest about stories you find and publish? During the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego, I wrote a story about Team New Zealand's superstitions on Black Magic – Sir Russell Coutts always the last man on the boat, and Sir Peter Blake wearing his lucky red socks. The rest is history. I've loved telling stories about women that show how resilient they are, and how much more they have to do to be successful. Sportswomen who've returned to the top as mums, especially in the 'From Here to Maternity' series in LockerRoom. What makes me happiest about publishing stories? When one person tells you they read it, and it helped them through something they were facing. Like the RED-S stories we've told over the years. If you can make a difference in one person's life, it's a win. Your RED-S stories opened a lot of people's eyes. How'd that story come about? American athlete Mary Cain broke her silence on the mistreatment she received while she was training under the all-male support team at the Nike Oregon Project, and how the win-at-all-costs mentality had made her ill. She had all the symptoms of RED-S, a syndrome I hadn't really heard of, but it turned out there were Kiwi athletes who weren't fuelling their bodies to match the energy they were expending. The more we wrote about RED-S, the more athletes came forward with their own health battles. Hopefully, we've helped some young women spot the signs in time. Are women in sport getting a fair crack now at representation, competition, professionalism, payment, crowd support, media? Look, the three World Cups hosted by New Zealand in 2022 and '23 were phenomenal for women's sport here – they opened so many eyes to just how entertaining and enthralling women's sport is. The media coverage of women's sport spiked to 28 percent – higher than I ever expected to see in my career. But things have slipped away since then – it's as though we need the big events, like the Olympics, to remind the public how talented our female athletes are. Covid hasn't helped the situation – if there's a funding cut, it's most likely the women's programme in a sport will be the first to feel it. Pay equity in some sports is still a pipe dream, and there aren't enough women's coaches at the top level of most sports. There's still so much work to do. But LockerRoom has had amazing readership, as recently as the past fortnight, which highlights that people still want to read interesting stories about women in sport. McFadden with the great Black Fern Portia Wickliffe Woodman. Photo: Supplied Who would you most want to spend time with, write about – for LockerRoom or for a book? That's a tough question! Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Emma Twigg and Sophie Devine immediately come to mind. Writing a book is hard yakka though, and I don't think I'll be rushing back into one. But the two books I've written, Striking Gold and Honey, are two of my proudest achievements (alongside my two sons, and two grandsons, obviously). And, what was your first thought when Government House sent you word of your MNZM nomination? It was a Friday, I think, and I wasn't feeling 100 percent, so I'd just had a nap. I woke up to an email from Government House and I immediately panicked. I thought it must be a long weekend, and this email was the media list of honour recipients, and I'd quickly have to prepare a LockerRoom story for Monday! Then I opened it, read it, and read it again and bawled my eyes out. A recognition like this is 'ginormous', as my four-year-old grandson would say. I feel incredibly proud, humbled, and grateful to everyone who's guided me along this crazy path, and all who've come with me. And that includes you, Tim. Thank you.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- NZ Herald
America's Cup: Legal action becoming a more likely prospect in power struggle
THREE KEY FACTS Amid all the harsh words raining down on Emirates Team New Zealand and the threats from challengers to withdraw, direct and tacit, it is possible to see the hand of Alinghi boss, Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, shuffling the America's Cup deck. There is talk in sailing circles
