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.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.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.
Position 5 and 8 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 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waitakere United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Squad14 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.
In brief
The dugoutCallum Nelson knocks on the manager's door
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.
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.