148 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.
Alex De Vries 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dale Edwards. 2‑1 against WaiBOP United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Newcastle Jets to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hawke's Bay United and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Dale Edwards in the middle of it, and WaiBOP United unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Clayton Waine and Hawke's Bay United agree another 2 years.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Francis De Vries has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hawke's Bay United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hawke's Bay United can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dale Edwards 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 Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hawke's Bay United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Hawke's Bay 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.
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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hawke's Bay United can pretend not to have heard.
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.92, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
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.
At 23 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 8.42 — 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.
Alex De Vries had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Waitakere United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Alex De Vries takes the afternoon — 8.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alex De Vries provided it, and the 8.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“I watch every Hawke's Bay United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cameron Reid and Hawke's Bay United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.