Ryan Lockyer

Defensive Midfielder - Waitakere United
6 Dec 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Ryan Lockyer

12 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Waitakere United taken apart

0‑3 to Team Wellington, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

The terraces

The boos come down from three sides

“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.

Squad

The step up is real for Alex Van Hattum

At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Callum Smith 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

A late step up for Jake Colvey

At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at Waitakere United

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Squad

A row about effort at Waitakere United

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bill Waine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

One of our own: Callum Waine joins the Waitakere United first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Callum Waine is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Owen Just joins the Waitakere United first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Owen Just is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

Back issues
8 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Alex Van Hattum

At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Callum Smith 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

Jake Colvey has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

In brief

2 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bill Waine breaks a bone — 27 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Bill Waine signs on for more

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

Squad

A falling-out at Waitakere United

Callum Smith and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Waitakere United rebuffed over Lorenz Ferdinand

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brighton have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

Dane Rufer 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Waitakere United

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Lockyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

  • The dugout Bill Waine asks for a word with the manager
  • Market Sam Nelson is free to find somewhere else