Steven Lustica 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Team Wellington training over how hard people work
“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.
Steven Lustica 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.
Steven Lustica 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tommy Lewis 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
Squad5 new faces, and Team Wellington are still learning each other
Team Wellington have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Matt Cacace. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
Steven Lustica 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. Simon Sullivan 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 easiest signature of my career.” Matías Fuentes and Team Wellington agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I did not go to Canterbury United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Team Wellington and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Team Wellington for Liberato Boxall 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” WaiBOP United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
“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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Team Wellington have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liberato Boxall. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis De Vries 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.
Team Wellington have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Matt Cacace. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Van Hattum and Team Wellington agree another 3 years.
Steven Lustica 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Noah Boxall has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Team Wellington have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Stefan Smith 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.
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 WaiBOP United have had the benefit of it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Noah Boxall 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Boxall 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 WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Van Hattum. 2‑1 against Canterbury United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Chris Fenton was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Boxall 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.
“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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at WaiBOP United has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Marco Just takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marco Just provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
At 21 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WaiBOP United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 WaiBOP United, 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 WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marco Just, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Noah Boxall 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and WaiBOP United 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 easiest signature of my career.” Michael Fenton and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thapelo Ngcongo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
In brief
SquadBen Tuiloma has improved at 29, which nobody expected
“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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. WaiBOP United will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I did not go to Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Liberato Boxall is still in the building
MarketThe clock does Noah Boxall’s negotiating for him
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Noah Boxall reports back to WaiBOP United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thapelo Ngcongo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco De Vries and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
SquadWords at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Newcastle Jets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liberato Boxall. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
In brief
SquadNoah Boxall falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.