Matt Tuiloma

Goalkeeper - Team Wellington
7 Feb 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Matt Tuiloma

25 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Bill Rufer out for 84 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Team Wellington will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Noah Barbarouses's — 8.24

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

No end in sight to Team Wellington's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Team Wellington has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Adamu Hussaini runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Francis Colvey says Team Wellington went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Team Wellington turn down Hawke's Bay United for Matt Tuiloma

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Noah Barbarouses stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Noah Barbarouses and Team Wellington agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Zolani Nkombelo 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 Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

WaiBOP United take the points off Team Wellington

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

Back issues
24 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Team Wellington sink to position 5

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

Market

Callum Nelson 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 Team Wellington, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A fracture rules Bill Rufer out for 91 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Team Wellington will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Adamu Hussaini runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

No end in sight to Team Wellington's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Team Wellington has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Zolani Nkombelo 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

Noah Barbarouses 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.

Loan watch

Liberato Lewis has seen enough of Auckland City

“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 Team Wellington, and 3 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.

Market

WaiBOP United join the queue for Francis Rufer

Add another name to the list: WaiBOP United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Francis Rufer. The answer from Team Wellington has not changed — yet.

In brief

18 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Adamu Hussaini runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Sam Payne 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 Team Wellington, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Zolani Nkombelo 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

James Barbarouses 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.

Match

Noah Barbarouses sends Team Wellington past WaiBOP United

It finished 1‑0, and it was Noah Barbarouses’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Team Wellington.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Noah Barbarouses

7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Team Wellington had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

In brief

11 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joe Smith damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.

Squad

Adamu Hussaini is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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

Zolani Nkombelo 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 Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

8 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Alex Barbarouses at Team Wellington

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alex Barbarouses is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Market

The Hawke's Bay United deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matt Tuiloma reports back to Team Wellington with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Squad

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Zolani Nkombelo 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

7 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

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.

Market

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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

3 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Zolani Nkombelo 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 Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Michael Lewis signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michael Lewis commits to Team Wellington for another 3 years.

Squad

Words at Team Wellington training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Lewis 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.

In brief