39 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.
Marked 7.62. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dane Lockyer commits to Waitakere United for another 4 years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Owen Colvey 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.
WaiBOP United next, and one man in the Waitakere United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Marco Reid
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wellington Phoenix have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Owen Colvey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deal with Hawke's Bay 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.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Rufer. The answer from Waitakere United has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cameron Cacace and Waitakere United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Bell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Oliver Singh