The Team Wellington Gazette
Market14 Sep 2026
Matt Tuiloma 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 Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Sep 2026
The WaiBOP United deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alex Lewis reports back to Team Wellington with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Team Wellington
Adamu Hussaini 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Real improvement from Bill Rufer at Team Wellington
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bill Rufer is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A late step up for Tim Smith
At 24 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Francis De Vries signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francis De Vries commits to Team Wellington for another 3 years.
In brief
- Loan watch Francis Garbett has seen enough of WaiBOP United
- Market The window shut and Tim Smith is still in the building
- Market The clock does Cameron Boxall’s negotiating for him