Photo Credit Masanori Udagawa
The tip-off of the 2024 Sky Broadband Rapid League is, if you will excuse the pun, rapidly approaching with the opening fixture to be played at Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua on Friday night with hosts ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens taking on Southern Hoiho at 6.30pm.
The second edition of the dynamic world-first innovative league sees a couple of rule changes to the 2023 version. Read below to have Mike Lacey take you through through through everything you need to know about the fastest competition in Aotearoa!
How a Rapid League roster works:
Firstly, teams can only field New Zealand qualified players in addition to a maximum of two FIBA Asia players (which for most teams will be Australian players but can be any player that qualifies in the FIBA Asia region). No other international players can participate, and no players named in the starting five for the same Tauihi fixture can play. The most players that can suit-up and play in a Rapid League game is (7) - and all these players will start on the bench in the Tauihi game. The minimum number of players in Rapid League for a team is (5).
New rules for the Sky Broadband Rapid League ladder:
Last year a Rapid League win was worth one point on the Tauihi league table. That rule has been erased. The points scored for and against by each team in a Rapid League game will now be added to team's points for and against on the Tauihi ladder – as it was in the recently completed 2024 Sal's NBL season.
Rapid League overview:
Games are 4 x 4-minute quarters.
No coach/bench timeouts are permitted, but each team does have access to (1) BNZ Player Timeout per half.
Rapid League games are played immediately prior to every G.J. Gardner Tauihi fixture and shown live on SKY Sport.
There are no play-offs, the team with the most wins at the end of the regular season are crowned champions.
There is a Rapid League MVP and All Star 5.
Team Previews:
Haswell Timber Mainland Pouākai
2023 Position: Champions
Record last season: 10-2
Opening game v Tauranga Whai at Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, Tauranga, on Saturday, October 5, tip-off 6.30pm.
Opening home game v Northern Kāhu at Cowles Stadium, Christchurch on Saturday October 19, tip-off 4.00pm.
Haswell Timber Mainland Pouākai, the defending champions, will be looking to replicate the fine form they displayed in 2023 when they were defeated on just two occasions.
However they will have to do this without many of last year’s team as the likes of Tsubasa Nisbett, Lauryn Hippolite and Jacinta Beckley who all have moved on. With the young quartet of Ashlyn Rean, Lauren Whittaker, Karereatua Williams and Maddie Morrow now pursuing American collegiate careers it will be a new look team wearing the red and black in this campaign.
Additionally the Mainlanders currently have only one FIBA Asia player on their books in Australian guard Mikhaela Cann so may opt to go with an all Kiwi lineup in Rapid League.
New Kiwi signings to watch:
The Pouākai will be buoyed with the return of Cantabrians Tessa Morrison and 2024 Tall Fern Ashlee Strawbridge. In addition Tara Manumaleuga joins after a five year NCAA Division I collegiate career and recent appearances for New Zealand Select in Japan. Forward Vitolia Tuilave, having played a year at Wofford College in the States, is another newcomer of note.
Possible starting five: Morrisson, Strawbridge, Manumaleuga, Lauren Tewhata and Sharne Robati.
ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens
2023 Position: Runners-up
Record last season: 9-3
Opening game v Southern Hoiho at Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua, on Friday October 4, tip-off 6.30pm.
Some key pieces from last season’s strong Rapid League showing will be missing when the Queens take the court for the opening game of the season. Eva Langton, Josie Trousdell, Tegan Graham, Parris Mason and Paris Lokotui are no longer with the club but some strong replacements have been brought in to fill the void, including three Tall Ferns.
The Tall Ferns trio of Lauryn Hippolite, Jacinta Beckley and Ash Tai have all shifted north after appearing for the Pouākai in 2023 and are sure to bolster a strong looking Queens lineup.
Expect the Queens to start the season strongly, the squad having had the benefit of playing three games in Hainan, China at the APAC Women’s Basketball Challenge last weekend.
New Kiwi signings to watch:
In addition to the afore mentioned trio of Tall Ferns the Queens have added former Kāhu wing Awatea Leach, New Zealand U18 representative Keriana-Marie Hippollite and former age group international Alana Paewai.
Possible starting five: Lauryn Hippolite, Beckley, Tai, Grace Hunter and Lou Brown (Australia).
BNZ Northern Kāhu
2023 Position: Third
Record last season: 6-6
Opening game v Southern Hoiho at Eventfinda Stadium, Auckland on Sunday October 6 at 2.00pm.
The sight of Mary Goulding hitting the court, 15 months after the serious car crash that nearly claimed her life, will be the feel good factor of the opening week of the Rapid League season.
Now residing in Auckland Goulding is one of six Tall Ferns Northern Kāhu have to choose from in addition to 3x3 Tall Fern Azure Anderson and they could play them all in a Rapid League game if they chose to. In all likelihood the number is more likely to be four but with the addition of a couple of Australian players it’s a formidable looking Rapid squad that will have strength in depth.
Uniquely the Kāhu have opted to sign three FIBA Asia players (all Australians) and two other international players. With only two FIBA Asia players permitted to play in the Rapid League in any one game some juggling of resources will fall the way of the Kāhu coaching staff.
New Kiwi signings to watch:
In addition to Goulding former Tall Fern Chev Paalvast, now based in Brisbane, will be playing a full season back in Auckland for the first time in a decade.
Possible starting five: Krystal Leger-Walker, Paalvast, Goulding, Steph Bairstow (Australia) and Lily Rotunno (Australia).
Tauranga Whai
2023 Position: Fourth
Record last season: 3-9
Opening game v Haswell Timber Mainland Pouākai at Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre on Saturday October 5, tip-off 6.30pm.
Whist the Tauranga Whai had a disappointing season in 2023 the Rapid League form of teenager Pahlyss Hokianga was nothing short of sensational.
Her eye catching efforts not only propelled her into Whai’s Tauihi lineup but earned her a call up to the Tall Ferns. Making her senior international debut at 16 years, 122 days she became the second youngest ever Tall Fern.
Hokianga returns for her second season as do fellow teenagers Sophie and Emma Rogers as well as veteran forward Maka Daysh.
New Kiwi signings to watch:
Following an outstanding five year career at Brigham Young University (BYU) former Waikato representative Kaylee Smiler is the major off-season pick up along with ex-Tokomanawa Queen Eva Langton.
Possible starting five: Smiler, Langton, Hokianga, Lara McSpadden (Australia), Morgan Yaeger (Australia)
Southern Hoiho
2023 Position: Fifth
Record last season: 2-10
Opening game v Tokomanawa Queens at Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua, on Friday October 4, tip-off 6.30pm.
Opening home game v Mainland Pouākai at the Edgar Centre, Dunedin, on Saturday October 12, tip-off 6.30pm.
Plenty of familiar faces return to the Hoiho as they strive to improve on last year’s 2-10 record.
Tyler Mitchell, Caitlin O’Connell and Millie Simpson return - the trio having recently helped the University of Otago claim silver at the 2024 Tertiary National Championships.
Former Tall Fern Samara Gallaher may well see more Rapid League action this season and if so her experience and leadership qualities would be a massive boost for the squad.
New Kiwi signings to watch:
The prowess of Jennifer O’Connell on the boards – she was the leading rebounder in Rapid ’23 – will be missed but Aliyah Dunn, having played for Tokomanawa Queens in 2022, should prove a more than capable replacement.
Rapid rookies capable of making an impression are 2024 New Zealand U18 internationals Elise Carline and Elise Gilbert.
Possible starting five: Gallaher, Dunn, Mitchell, O’Connell and Chelsea D’Angelo (Australia).
There are thirty Rapid League fixtures to be played over the next 10 weeks – let the games begin!
