Sam De Vries

Striker - Waitakere United
6 Feb 2027
Saturday
Process

Marked for Sam De Vries

24 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Team Wellington come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Waitakere United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matt Bell 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Waitakere United

Monty McCowatt 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.

In brief

Back issues
17 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ryan Lockyer sends Waitakere United through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ryan Lockyer obliged against Southern United. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Waitakere United.

Player ratings

A debut Ryan Lockyer will not forget — 8.08

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.08 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Market

Kosta McCowatt asks to leave Waitakere United

“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.

Squad

Dane Boxall signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dane Boxall commits to Waitakere United for another 4 years.

Squad

Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cameron 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.

Squad

Monty McCowatt 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 Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Ryan Lockyer

At 16 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.

Player ratings

Sam De Vries was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Tommy Smith

“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.

In brief