Sam Payne

Central Midfielder - Lautoka
30 Apr 2028
Sunday
Process

Marked for Sam Payne

73 Edition

The Lautoka Herald

20 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Aporosa Yada puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Lautoka, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Lautoka

Sitiveni Cavuilagi 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.

Squad

Rendi Saepul 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

Back issues
72 Edition

The Lautoka Herald

13 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Lautoka

Sairusi Nalaubu 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.

Squad

Sam Payne gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Marco Boxall signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marco Boxall commits to Lautoka for another 2 years.

In brief

  • Squad Monit Chand falls out with a teammate over standards
  • Market Lautoka shop where it costs nothing
68 Edition

The Lautoka Herald

15 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Lautoka

Sairusi Nalaubu 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.

Loan watch

Filipe Nailatikau wants to come home

“I did not go to Navua to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lautoka and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.

Squad

Abhishek Deo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abhishek Deo and Lautoka agree another 3 years.

In brief

54 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Dane Lockyer

55 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.

Market

Waitakere United say no — this time

The offer from Southern United for Michael McCowatt 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.

Squad

Jai Payne is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad

Clayton Garbett 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.

Squad

A late step up for Kristian Popovic

At 26 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.

Market

Sam Bell attracts admirers

The name of Sam Bell has come up in conversations Waitakere United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

16 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Sam Bell

56 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.

Market

Dane Lockyer 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.

Match

Waitakere United sink to position 5

5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

4 matches without a win for Waitakere United

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Waitakere United are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Waitakere United

Clayton Garbett 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.

Squad

Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zach Lisolajski 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.

Squad

Marco Barbarouses gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Clayton Garbett

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Waitakere United share the spoils with Auckland City

A 1‑1 draw with Auckland City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

5 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Waitakere United say no — this time

The offer from Auckland City for Chris Van Hattum 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.

Market

Joe Kirwan puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Zach Lisolajski 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.

Market

Jake Stamatelopoulos moves on

Southern United pay $62.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Zach Lisolajski has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Waitakere United know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

Squad

Jake Kirwan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jake Kirwan commits to Waitakere United for another 3 years.

In brief