There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Makai Welch is living that version at Hawke's Bay United, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marc Castells and Hawke's Bay United agree another 1 years.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kabia 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.
“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 8 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
The offer from Waitakere United for Ryan Van Hattum 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.
The chase for Nathan Lobo ended with $380.0K changing hands and Auckland City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Marc Castells 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.
Canterbury United next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“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 7 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
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.
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Clayton Barbarouses left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alex Sutton
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Winston Nelson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hawke's Bay United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marc Castells 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.” Jake Barbarouses and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Position 2, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Clayton Barbarouses, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jake Barbarouses, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Marc Castells is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alex Sutton is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Clayton Barbarouses was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hawke's Bay United dressing room was either.
Marked 4.78. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Canterbury United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marc Castells 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Michael Lockyer has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 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.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
The goal that put Canterbury United ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Hawke's Bay United equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
“I watch every Hawke's Bay United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne Victory runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Clayton Barbarouses after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Alex Sutton
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alex Sutton has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hawke's Bay United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Joe Sutton was the best thing in any of them.
Nobody at Hawke's Bay United is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.