Marked for Stefan Sutton
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Dec 2026
Position 1, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Jake Bell takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jake Bell provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market7 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Oliver Kirwan goes up and wins it — 7.39
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.39 for the rest of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Oliver 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jake Bell. 3‑1 against Team Wellington, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Joe 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 terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Oliver Kirwan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Stefan Sutton damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Deklan Lockyer had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Southern United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market30 Nov 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 Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Joel Obi 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joe De Vries 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Joe De Vries was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Stefan Sutton damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Match18 Nov 2026
2‑3 against Southern United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Michael Garbett could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.99
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.99, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Joel Obi 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Jai Van Hattum has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jake Bell 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 watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Team Wellington to sit and watch. I want to come back to Waitakere United and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sutton
30 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Waitakere United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Joel Obi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joe De Vries 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sutton
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.
Match9 Nov 2026
Position 1 and 12 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Canterbury United, and it could have been more.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Both of them Jai Cacace's — 8.81
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match7 Nov 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Waitakere United have 4 straight wins of it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Joel Obi 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Joe 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sutton
46 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against WaiBOP United, and it could have been more.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jai Cacace takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jai Cacace provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tommy Lockyer 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Joel Obi 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Tommy Lockyer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Joe De Vries was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Callum Waine from Team Wellington for $14.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joe De Vries 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.