27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Team Wellington lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$18.0K on the table at Hawke's Bay United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Marco Just 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.
Everybody at Team Wellington saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Team Wellington lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Team Wellington have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$20.0K on the table at Hawke's Bay United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$18.0K was the most the club would pay and Hawke's Bay United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Corey Hollman 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.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Hawke's Bay United wanted more than $18.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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 phone has started ringing about Callum Yam again, and this time the name on the line is Hawke's Bay United. Team Wellington are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Team Wellington lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brett Lloyd will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Team Wellington the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Team Wellington have gone to Hawke's Bay United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willem Ebbinge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Canterbury United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Just trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$18.0K on the table at Hawke's Bay United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corey Hollman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah James signs something — a contract at Team Wellington or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Walter Scott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willem Ebbinge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Willem Ebbinge is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Just trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Willem Ebbinge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Corey Hollman 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.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Willem Ebbinge signs something — a contract at Team Wellington or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Mamadou Sidibé on the training pitch
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willem Ebbinge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chris Russell is 18, and Team Wellington have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chris Russell and Team Wellington agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Nikola Leković is on it.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Auckland City are out and Team Wellington go through, 3‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A season's verdict on Marco Just: the best of his age
Team Wellington have a 19-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Team Wellington will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marco Just 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Bertolissio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joe Tuiloma is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Bubanja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Team Wellington, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Willem Ebbinge signs something — a contract at Team Wellington or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Corey Hollman 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Just trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Team Wellington know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Team Wellington will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Team Wellington, and both men came out saying it was fine.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Team Wellington lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Marco Just 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 had been thinking. Joel Bertolissio 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.
He is 18, and nobody at Team Wellington signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Team Wellington lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Team Wellington close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Walter Scott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corey Hollman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Marco Just is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Team Wellington will try very hard not to make too much of it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Team Wellington, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Team Wellington asked and WaiBOP 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Just. 1‑0 against WaiBOP United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Bubanja 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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Noah Reid kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Team Wellington pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Team Wellington, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marco Just did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Walter Scott 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 had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Noah Reid kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Leković and Team Wellington agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Walter Scott 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. Auckland City have kept their man, and Team Wellington go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Just. 2‑0 against Southern United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Bubanja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Brett Lloyd
Transfer targetsA loan move for Callum Sutton is in the works
Marco Just 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 had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
Southern United next, and one man in the Team Wellington dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Team Wellington know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kingsford Boakye trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marco Just did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
Something was said to Christian Bracco and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
SquadMarco Just, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Everybody at Team Wellington saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Walter Scott 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.
Everybody at Team Wellington saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladimir Bubanja and Team Wellington agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ryan Wood has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Walter Scott 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 had been thinking. Marco 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Team Wellington know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.34 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutDan Edwards has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
Marco Just is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ryan Wood’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Team Wellington needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Team Wellington have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marco Just 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.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Willem Ebbinge was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” James Donachie and Team Wellington agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Willem Ebbinge 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 had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Bubanja 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Clayton Singh and Team Wellington agree another 3 years.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Francis Gyimah is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Bubanja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 6 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Noah Reid has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Walter Scott 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 had been thinking. Vladimir Bubanja 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Willem Ebbinge 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Vladimir Bubanja's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Matt Barbarouses leaves Team Wellington the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Josh Damevski is still in the building
Walter Scott 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 had been thinking. Vladimir Bubanja 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sylvester Siaw and Team Wellington agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
6 new faces, and Team Wellington are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Team Wellington, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corey Hollman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bill Lockyer 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.
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 Dan Edwards is on it.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Marco Just's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
In brief
The dugoutCorey Hollman knocks on the manager’s door
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.
Walter Scott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Bubanja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Just and Team Wellington agree another 3 years.
Walter Scott 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Corey Hollman 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
$120.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
He is going to Team Wellington, the club has $120.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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.
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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Noah Reid has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Team Wellington is running low.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Team Wellington have done the hard part with Waitakere United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nikola Leković 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 Vladimir Bubanja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Auckland City have kept their man, and Team Wellington go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Vladimir Bubanja was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Waitakere United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Team Wellington waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Waitakere United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Hawke's Bay United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilisoni Lolaivalu 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Team Wellington have done the hard part with Canterbury United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Walter Scott 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 chase for Bill Lockyer ended with $43.0K changing hands and Waitakere United out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Team Wellington offered $4.0K; Auckland City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Team Wellington asked and Waitakere 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corey Hollman 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.
Team Wellington have made the call to Auckland City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Team Wellington arrived with $43.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Bill Lockyer has gone, the accounts have $43.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Everything was agreed with Hawke's Bay United and then the doctor spoke. Waitakere United have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Aitor Morcillo 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 gone to Canterbury United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sam Lewis is living that version at Waitakere United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Waitakere United asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilisoni Lolaivalu 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.
Canterbury United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bill Lockyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waitakere United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Just trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Waitakere United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waitakere United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hawke's Bay United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joe Lewis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Waitakere United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Waitakere United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Aitor Morcillo 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 did not go to Hawke's Bay United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 34 matches say the rest.
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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Waitakere United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aitor Morcillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Southern United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Liberato Garbett trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
24 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
“I did not go to Hawke's Bay United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
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 Max Wilson is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Waitakere United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Connolly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bill Lockyer has his answer from Waitakere United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bill Lockyer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Aitor Morcillo 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.
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.
“I did not go to Hawke's Bay United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 26 matches say the rest.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hawke's Bay United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Joe Fenton has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Jake Lockyer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Monty Wood 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hawke's Bay United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Hawke's Bay United spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
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.
3 goals in 6 games at Hawke's Bay United — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Waitakere United updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Waitakere United opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Joe Tuiloma stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“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.
The offer from Canterbury United for Joe Tuiloma 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.
Add another name to the list: Team Wellington have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bill Lockyer. The answer from Waitakere United has not changed — yet.
Aitor Morcillo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joe Tuiloma. 2‑0 against Southern United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
“I did not go to Hawke's Bay United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
“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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hawke's Bay United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Liberato Tuiloma 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
18 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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.
Ilisoni Lolaivalu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Bill Lockyer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.78. 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.
“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hawke's Bay United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jake Just on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutMax Wilson has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 3, 13 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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.
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.
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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hawke's Bay United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Half the programme played, position 1, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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. Hawke's Bay United will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jake Stamatelopoulos and Hawke's Bay United agree another 2 years.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutClayton Nelson has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jai Kirwan
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marco Just did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Liberato Tuiloma 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.
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.
“I watch every Hawke's Bay United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne Victory runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Southern United go through and Waitakere United go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.76 beside his name.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kosta Van Hattum and Waitakere United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hawke's Bay United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marco Just 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 young player of the month award goes to a 17-year-old at Hawke's Bay United who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I did not go to Team Wellington to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hawke's Bay United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Monty Wood 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Owen Stamatelopoulos 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.