Matt Smith

Central Defender - Waitakere United
3 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Matt Smith

18 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Hamza Asrir puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Ben Fenton breaks a bone — 67 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Marco Colvey 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.

Squad

Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Asrir 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.

Match

Waitakere United get the job done against Southern United

A 2‑1 win over Southern United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Joe Barbarouses

At 22 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

Joe Barbarouses was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.19. 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from James Lockyer

Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Matt Smith 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.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Canterbury United 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

Hamza Asrir 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Matt 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.

Squad

Marco Van Hattum signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Van Hattum and Waitakere United agree another 3 years.

Squad

Hamza Asrir still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Waitakere United would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

Market

Cameron Smith runs his contract down

7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Waitakere United money.

In brief

1 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Marco Colvey 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.

Market

Wellington Phoenix watching Clayton Nelson

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Waitakere United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Matt Smith 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.

Squad

This league is too small for Samuel Okon

He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Waitakere United will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Market

Still no ink between Waitakere United and Samuel Okon

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Waitakere United, another week without a signature from Samuel Okon.

Squad

Callum Nelson 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.

In brief