Marked for Dane Cacace
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Joel Anasmo 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 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Dane Cacace
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
This league is too small for Noah Maieroni
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Jun 2027
30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Joel Anasmo 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Dane Cacace 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Match14 Apr 2027
Auckland City go through and Waitakere United go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad19 Apr 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Waitakere United have had the benefit of it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Joel Anasmo is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.47 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The golden glove goes to Jake Lewis
7 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tim Singh 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Mar 2027
Oliver Sutton 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mitchell Wilson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Waitakere United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Joel Anasmo 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match18 Nov 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Waitakere United have 5 straight wins of it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Joel Anasmo 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Joel Anasmo 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.84 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Monty Payne 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dane Cacace and Waitakere United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Team Wellington leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market19 Oct 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market19 Oct 2026
He is 17, and nobody at Waitakere United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market19 Oct 2026
He is 16, and nobody at Waitakere United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.