Marked for James Sutton
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hawke's Bay United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Supporters turn on the $28.0K sale of Oliver Sutton
He is going to WaiBOP United, the club has $28.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Sani Mubarak 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Oliver Sutton has left for WaiBOP United in a $28.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Hawke's Bay United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Fenton 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for James Sutton, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Apr 2027
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sani Mubarak 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 Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Oliver Tuiloma 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Mar 2027
Position 1, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Kosta Boxall, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mason Cummings 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chris Fenton commits to Hawke's Bay United for another 3 years.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I watch every Hawke's Bay United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Feb 2027
Position 1, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
67 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Sani Mubarak 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 Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Oliver Tuiloma 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Deklan Sutton and Hawke's Bay United agree another 1 years.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
Kosta Boxall hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hawke's Bay United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matt Tuiloma: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hawke's Bay United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hawke's Bay United will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 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 Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” James Singh and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Oliver Tuiloma at his very best
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hawke's Bay United.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hawke's Bay United, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Dec 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 Hawke's Bay United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Hawke's Bay United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Tuiloma 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ben Tuiloma 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matt Tuiloma and Hawke's Bay United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Hawke's Bay United scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Oliver Tuiloma at 21 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oliver Tuiloma did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Sani Mubarak 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 Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Matt Tuiloma pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad2 Nov 2026
James Singh 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Hawke's Bay United who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hawke's Bay United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 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 Hawke's Bay United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sani Mubarak and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alex Kirwan has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Willem Ebbinge 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Auckland City would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.