Marked for Noah Lockyer
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kosta Kirwan 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Waitakere United count the cost of losing a squad player
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Auckland City.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Smith 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Noah Lockyer
“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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Dane Kirwan knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Waitakere United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The step up is real for Marco Waine
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
Sam Waine has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Waitakere United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ryan Kirwan 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Joe McCowatt has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Marco Waine hands in a written request
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Auckland City is saying, and nobody at Waitakere United is enjoying the guessing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eli Johnson 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Josh Shaw 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Noah Lockyer may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noah Sutton, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Kosta Kirwan in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stefan Boxall commits to Waitakere United for another 2 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tim Singh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Noah Lockyer asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Stefan Boxall's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.