so sad

Interview with Rob Sherman, the ex-Australia & NZ technical director and now Fiji coach on the challenges minnow nations face
nit.com.au/13-03-2025/1...

Sydney FC striker Jaushua Sotirio's late-career defection from Australia to New Caledonia
www.canberratimes.com.au/story/892118...

A feature on Fiji's path through qualification and their attempts to lure more eligible players to represent the Bula Boys
www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/20/f...

New Zealand 3-0 New Caledonia match report (not sure why the big G credits Reuters here...)
www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Did New Zealand enjoy the easiest World Cup qualification of all-time? (Not quite, but for decades)

sportnation.nz/article/the-...

NZ Football want to re-ignite Soccer Ashes clash with Australia after qualifying for 2026 World Cup
aapnews.aap.com.au/glance/news/...

Collins told AAP she wanted to head to US to meet Hegseth in coming months, that would likely be after Peters travels to meet Rubio. (No reprise of their double-act, sadly)

Our write-up of China's naval adventure:
www.northweststar.com.au/story/889846...

Collins also gave an interview to Al Jazeera, she blamed Labour for defence attrition:
"It was to do with the way that the previous government had used defense to run COVID lockdowns and managed isolation facilities. So we lost a lot of people through that."

www.aljazeera.net/politics/202...

On the JD Vance speech she saw in Munich, Collins said she "agreed with a quite a lot of what he said about democracy and freedom of speech". Her main takeaway from Munich was the need to up defence spending. (This will obviously be happening through the Defence Capability Review and May budget.)

"(NZ) were the pretty much the only people that I'm aware of that got told. Certainly a lot of the Pacific nations, that ICBM (missile), which could be nuclear-capable, what they got told was nothing until after it was happened." Collins on ZB

Also said China's intercontinental missile test last October did Beijing reputational damage in the Pacific.

"The consequence that I saw was that a lot of Pacific nations that had only seen the really great side of China, which is economic growth ... suddenly felt very disrespected." cont...

On Russia aggression: "I think they got away with (the 2014 annexation of) Crimea, and they saw a moment of what they seemed as weakness in the West, and they thought they'd do it again and take over Ukraine in 10 days.

Will they get away with the ground invasion?
"We certainly hope not."

On Monday, PM Chris Luxon said he was "open" to New Zealand sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine. Yesterday, Collins told AAP this:
"NZ and Australia have spent a lot of time, and particularly men's lives, defending democracy in Europe, and we don't want to have to do it again."

seven days to put it in writing

and now we only have a week to submit on this. what gives!