Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB sports editor on Auckland FC win, Warriors in Christchurch and Super Rugby - Weekend Wrap

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Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB sports editor on Auckland FC win, Warriors in Christchurch and Super Rugby - Weekend Wrap · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now let's get to Alex Smith's sport Ellick. Good morning morning, Ryan,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: good to see you. Now, look, probably a lot of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: people know the answer to this question, but I'm wondering
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: what does that actually mean to win an A league
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: minor premiership.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, you get a bit of silverware, a nice place
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: and you're crowned for the best team over the course
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: of the regular season. But it is great. Let let's
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: not get me wrong with you on that front. But
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: you're only going to remember the ultimate winner after the playoffs.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: So Aukland, they see put themselves in the best possible position.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: They've still got one game of the regular season to go,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: then they're into the playoffs and we hope that ends
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: in a Grand Final victory. The A League's kind of
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: unique in terms of the footballing world elsewhere, you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: like Liverpool's about to do this morning. Winning the Premier League,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: you finish top of the regular season. There's only a
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: regular season. You finish top of that, you win the
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Premier League. But the A League probably because in this
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: part of the world and we've got the Nral finals
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and the Super Rugby Finals and everything like that, we're
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: not used to a top of the log sort of format,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: so they play on and have the finals after that.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So basically we've done We've done the business. We're at
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: top of the thing heading into the playoffs and then
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: hopefully into the Grand Final. That's right, which would be lovely.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: The Warriors currently sitting fourth on the ladder.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a very good start for them, and
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: a couple of good wins in a Rye Broncos and
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: then the Knights on Anzac Day and christ Chooch. You
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: look at the NRAL this year and it's a competition
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: full of upsets. The Panthers, four time winners, back at
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the bottom of the league. The Storm as always are
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: up there, but there's a whole mix of teams in
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the top eight at the moment that are jostling for position,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and the Warriors are right up there and it feels
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: like they can bank a few more wins. They've got
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys away at the Magic Round this weekend. There's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: going to be a tough match to the Cowboys in
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the top eight as well, but they're building quite nicely.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I think they had that blip against the Storm a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: few weeks back where they were completely terrible, but they
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: seem to have found the rhythm a little bit and
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: in the top four. It's a good spot to be
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in at this point of the season. And then some
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: of the teams start losing origin players in a few
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: weeks time and that creates a whole new dynamic in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the league and teams become a little bit weaker.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: So look at the Warriors, they picked up a couple
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of wins on on a bit of a role in
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the Narl Past stick. Look, we're looking quite good across
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the board, yeah, apart.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: From the Blues and the Super Rugby team, quite honest.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: But we've got the Chiefs and the Crusaders at the top.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: That's right. And it feels like in a couple of
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: weeks time they're going to meet in a regular season
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: game in christ Jews that that could well decide who
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: gets top of the seedings for the playoffs, and we
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: know how important that is in Super Rugby. You play
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: at home, you're more likely to win. The Hurricanes getting
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: into the top six over the course of the weekend,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: so they're right still in the mix. But the Blues,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: this title defense of theirs is going backwards. That are
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: rated not it's very poor against the Reds on the weekend.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: They can still sneak into the ploffs for line, but
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: hard to see them making a run towards the title
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: from here. Can't see it all.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Right, Elliott, great stuff Goode is always Alex smith Zbig Sport.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, Listen live
• 2:50
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• 2:53
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