Marked for Junior Anand
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Zibraaz Sahib breaks a bone — 129 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Anand 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Saula Waqa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Zibraaz Sahib breaks a bone — 136 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Lautoka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Junior Anand 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Anand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sairusi Nalaubu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Shiva Pillay asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Lautoka say no — this time
The offer from Rewa for Atunaisa Naucukidi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market14 Sep 2026
As if he never left: Leisari Qalica returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Leisari Qalica is a Lautoka player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Junior Anand 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Sekove Luma 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Lautoka until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Atunaisa Naucukidi has come up in conversations Lautoka were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Junior Anand in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saula Matarai slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Saula Matarai is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Shivam Naidu moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lautoka than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Saula Waqa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Sairusi Nalaubu obliged against Labasa. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Lautoka.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Melbourne Victory have kept their man, and Lautoka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Poasa Bainivalu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 Lautoka players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
7.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lautoka had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Lautoka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Lautoka march on in the cup
Tailevu Naitasiri are out and Lautoka go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Epeli Verevou and Lautoka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marlon Singh on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Shivam Naidu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nasinu will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Savenaca Nakalevu has pre-agreed a move to Lautoka, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nadi have kept their man, and Lautoka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rusiate Jale has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Epeli Verevou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Josaia Tiko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sairusi Nalaubu and Lautoka agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mohammed Alam 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Lautoka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Leisari Qalica is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lautoka has been clear about where Leisari Qalica stands, which is more than many ever get.