Marked for Timoci Naitini
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Akeimi Ralulu and Labasa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Labasa
Akeimi Ralulu 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Labasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sitiveni Rakai 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Akeimi Ralulu
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A quiet fortnight at Labasa
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Timoci Naitini is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 days out for Setareki Matai after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Labasa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Labasa
Simione Ragoneturaga 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Labasa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilaisa Vulimainavuso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Setareki Matai out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Labasa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Labasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sitiveni Rakai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Labasa
Simione Ragoneturaga 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Joji Vuakaca
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
No place for Apisai Sesewa in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Labasa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nemani Dolodai obliged against Navua. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Labasa.
Match19 Aug 2026
Nemani Dolodai wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Nemani Dolodai found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Navua went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.60 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Ba is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Aporosa Yada goes
Ba paid $43.0K and Labasa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sitiveni Rakai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.