In part one of this series (there may be a part three), I alluded to the many wrinkles and nuance there is to the moves of Colin de Grandhomme and Neil Wagner to Northern Districts Knights. Part one was all about the Knights, so hit that up if you haven't already and just as funky as exploring what it means for the Knights, perhaps offering even more funk is what these moves mean for Otago Volts and Auckland Aces; especially the Volts.

Last summer was rough for Otago.

Now they bid farewell to Wagner and I can't think of a kiwi cricketer who holds more mana with their province than Wagner and Otago. That's partly due to the fact that Wagner oozes mana from his effort and toil with the ball, but he's also an Otago veteran who has stood strong like a kauri tree through numerous waves of Otago cricket.

The funk though, sits in the noise around other departures from Otago. Apparently Derek de Boorder is set for retirement and it's also been hinted at in many outlets that Jimmy Neesham will also leave the Volts. Losing Wagner, de Boorder and Neesham could be viewed as terrible, however given just how crappy Otago were last season, this falls in the 'clear the decks and refresh' bucket.

Something obviously wasn't quite right for Otago last summer. They finished 5th in the Plunket Shield, with a worse record than Canterbury who finished 6th but with a far superior run-rate and more points; Otago had 2-7-1 (win-loss-draw) vs Canterbury's 2-6-2.

In the Ford Trophy, Otago finished 6th with a 2-5 record that was the same as Wellington and Otago slid to last place via run-rate. However you want to slice and dice it with points, run-rate or whatever, finishing 5th and 6th in the major competitions is not good. Then factor finishing 6th in the Super Smash with a record of 2-7 and it's fairly safe to say that the Volts were the worst team across all formats last summer.

I have no idea why Otago had a stinker and I don't care for inside knowledge, so I have no reason to speculate. The facts speak for themselves and those facts point to some sort of need for change, even if that involves parting ways with three of your best players.

I also have no idea how Otago's roster will look - we will find out in the coming weeks. With that in mind, I don't want to go too deep into exploring their options but they do have a handy crop of youngsters who should blossom with greater opportunities over the coming seasons; Shawn Hicks, Jacob Duffy, Jack Hunter, Michael Rae, Josh Finnie. Sprinkle the possible experience of Rob Nicol, Neil Broom, Anaru Kitchen, Brad Wilson, Hamish Rutherford and Michael Rippon on top and you have a Volts team that can build towards brighter times.

There contract list will be bloody interesting as they could snap up some exciting recruits to help that rebuild and there may be the departures of a few more veterans, maybe.

Wagner's departure will be of greater impact to Otago, than de Grandhomme leaving Auckland, simply because de Grandhomme is an all-format Blackcap and hasn't been around for Auckland much recently. What this will do for the Aces, is fast-track their move towards their young brigade, or amplify it.

Of course, Auckland could add a veteran or two to their roster so keep that in mind. What Auckland has done in recent seasons is give Lockie Ferguson and Jeet Raval greater scope in terms of leading and usher in the likes of Glenn Phillips, Rob O'Donnell, Ben Horne, Sean Solia, Ben Lister, Jamie Brown, Aniket Parikh and Mark Chapman. Without much thought or planning behind this, I'd put that Aces crop of youngsters as the best young crop in Aotearoa.

Matt McEwan gave Auckland fantastic value with bat and ball last summer after moving up from Auckland and following Mitchell McClenaghan's involvement will be interesting as well. Michael Guptill-Bunce and Craig Cachopa split the captaincy duties between red and white ball cricket, which is a lovely representation of Auckland's roster right now as they are both young captains.

There is room for a few intriguing roster moves for Auckland and how their final contract list shapes up will as funk as Otago's; Auckland could go all-in on their youth and let them breathe, or add a few more veterans.

The departures of de Grandhomme and Wagner reflect where Auckland and Otago are at as cricket clubs (I prefer 'clubs' over 'associations'). They are very different departures with different impacts on the clubs they are leaving and now they leave the door wide open for some shenanigans, cool shenanigans when those contract lists are dropped.

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Peace and love 27.