Marked for William Khan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match8 May 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” William Khan and Nadroga agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 May 2027
Three points for Nadroga, 2‑1 the final word against Nadi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Nadroga
Merrill Nand and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 May 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Epeli Vunibola
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match10 May 2027
The half-term report on Nadroga
Position 9, 9 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2027
1‑4 to Rewa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Nadroga's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nadroga has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Nadroga
Romit Narayan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
William Khan gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Doors closed at Nadroga
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Jione Naitau
3 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Epeli Vunibola
Nobody at Nadroga is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Usaia Tilivarua is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Mar 2027
The small margins put Nadroga out
Out, 1‑3 to Suva, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdul Naviko is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nadroga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Taniela Raubula, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
William Khan named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. William Khan is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rusiate Verevou after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Looking ahead5 Apr 2027
The leaders are next for Nadroga
Lautoka top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Mar 2027
3 matches without a goal for Nadroga
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Semesa Sacere was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Nadroga take on the side everybody is chasing
Suva arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Jone Ralumu
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match13 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Nadroga?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ba? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Nadroga
Romit Narayan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad22 Feb 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Nadroga the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The training reports on William Khan are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Nadroga
Romit Narayan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
William Khan is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Romit Narayan breaks a bone — 60 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Nadroga
Romit Narayan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Nadroga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sakeo Taganeca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.6K — a club that wants Aporosa Yada enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$43.0K on the table at Labasa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Nadroga have gone to Nadi with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Nadroga
Romit Narayan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Nadroga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sakeo Taganeca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alipate Ravai has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.