Marked for Michael Cacace
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Nathan Garrow 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alex Van Hattum 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Tommy Garbett, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.79. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Team Wellington runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 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.” Liberato Lockyer, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Alex Van Hattum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Waitakere United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Noah Singh
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Team Wellington runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Liberato Lockyer was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Waitakere United dressing room was either.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alex Cacace 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Bill McCowatt knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waitakere United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Cacace is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alex Van Hattum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nathan Garrow is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Clayton Payne, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Team Wellington runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liberato Stamatelopoulos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tim Reid is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nathan Garrow 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Waitakere United asked and Canterbury United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chris Boxall 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
Alex Cacace hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Waitakere United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Cacace is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nathan Garrow 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Marco Colvey deal
Waitakere United ran out of time with Southern United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nathan Garrow has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Waitakere United know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chris Just commits to Waitakere United for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
James Lewis 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Callum Rufer commits to Waitakere United for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Monty McCowatt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.