The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Joe Lockyer has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Chris Kirwan. The answer from Hawke's Bay United has not changed — yet.
Hawke's Bay United have gone to Canterbury United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Kosta Lockyer 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Something was said to Kosta Boxall and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Callum Kirwan exposed
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kosta Lockyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kosta Lockyer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 The request is on a desk at Hawke's Bay United, and it is not being withdrawn.
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Kosta 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.
Canterbury United pay $3.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Michael Bell 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.
Hawke's Bay United have made the call to Rosario Central. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Southern United 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.
Kosta Waine 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.
Auckland City left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Kosta Lockyer 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joe Tuiloma and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joe Lockyer after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Callum Kirwan
Player ratingsThe one thing Chris Kirwan could not do
The dugoutKosta Boxall asks for a word with the manager
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hawke's Bay United and Waitakere United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael Bell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joe Lockyer after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Hawke's Bay United and Waitakere United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chris Kirwan and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kosta Lockyer 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.