“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 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Hawke's Bay United 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.
Liberato Tuiloma 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Auckland City have kept their man, and Hawke's Bay United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Joe Fenton is 32, with 0 appearances behind him, and Hawke's Bay United will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
“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.
Jake Lockyer 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Hawke's Bay United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Jake Lockyer has come up in conversations Hawke's Bay United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Jake Lockyer 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Lockyer and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
The offer from Auckland City for Liberato Tuiloma 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hawke's Bay United have done the hard part with Waitakere United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Oliver Stamatelopoulos’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
In brief
The dugoutSam Lockyer knocks on the manager's door
Jake Lockyer 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Canterbury United have kept their man, and Hawke's Bay United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Nelson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Owen Stamatelopoulos and Hawke's Bay United agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Nelson 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 name of Ben McCowatt has come up in conversations Hawke's Bay United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Auckland City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutJake Lockyer knocks on the manager’s door