“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Southern United for Liberato Sutton 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Morcillo 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.
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.
Waitakere United have made the call to Canterbury United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The loan was meant to give him football. 3 games and 0 goals later he is back at Waitakere United no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Noah Van Hattum is on it.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aitor Morcillo 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.
Waitakere United asked and Auckland City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 3 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Waitakere United is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Max Wilson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Waitakere United.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Max Wilson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilisoni Lolaivalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Ilisoni Lolaivalu 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Just was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A brace, and Max Wilson takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Wilson provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 goals in one match, Max Wilson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Waitakere United and WaiBOP United.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Stefan Stamatelopoulos is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jake Just chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
The captaincy has been taken off Francis Colvey. Waitakere United will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Marco Kirwan
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alex Garbett and Waitakere United agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Ilisoni Lolaivalu 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.
“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 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southern United have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ilisoni Lolaivalu 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.
“I did not go to Team Wellington to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Callum Nelson and Waitakere United agree another 3 years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francis Colvey trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Port Vale have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
The offer from Canterbury United for Francis Colvey 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.
Max Wilson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Just was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Canterbury United for Dane Rufer 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.
Waitakere United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Auckland City, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Just was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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.
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 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.