Marked for Alexander Pearson
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Waitakere United had the best player on the pitch.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“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 Waitakere United, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dane Rufer 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.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Jake Just, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tommy Just 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Noah Stamatelopoulos, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” WaiBOP United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wrexham have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dane Rufer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexander Pearson has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Just 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
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Hawke's Bay United for Max Wilson 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Pearson and Waitakere United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Max Wilson 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Naxxar Lions have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Liberato Sutton 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Max Wilson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Just 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alex Garbett commits to Waitakere United for another 1 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Waitakere United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to WaiBOP United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.