Marked for Liberato Tuiloma
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
What a way to start for Ryan De Vries — 7.92
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.92 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Southern United
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match17 Oct 2026
Auckland City left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Southern United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Rufer 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cameron Smith has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market19 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bill Smith has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody at Southern United saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ben De Vries 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 Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jai Colvey is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dane Waine, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Auckland City in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market12 Oct 2026
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Southern United could get for him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The penny has dropped for Jeremy Foo
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Southern United the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Auckland City for Ryan Hughes 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.
Market10 Aug 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 Southern United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Canterbury United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ben De Vries commits to Southern United for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ben De Vries 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Southern United asked and Auckland FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liberato Tuiloma, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ryan De Vries 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Ben De Vries 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 Southern United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Ryan Hughes 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 Southern United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ben De Vries and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Southern United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liberato Stamatelopoulos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chris Waine and Southern United agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Auckland City: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Ben De Vries 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
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ryan Hughes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.