The Waitakere United Sentinel
Market4 Jun 2029
Noah Kirwan attracts admirers
The name of Noah Kirwan has come up in conversations Waitakere United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Waitakere United
Kurai Musanhi 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
One of our own: Matt Boxall joins the Waitakere United first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matt Boxall is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Jun 2029
Matt Tuiloma steps up from the Waitakere United academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matt Tuiloma 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
One of our own: Tim Rufer joins the Waitakere United first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tim Rufer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
A loan move for Makai Welch is in the works
Waitakere United have made the call to Hawke's Bay United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
Jackson Manuel is still paying for one afternoon at Waitakere United
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
Jake Barbarouses has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Waitakere United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Noah Kirwan
“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.
In brief
- Squad Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
- The dugout Deklan Kirwan knocks on the manager's door
- Squad Francis Okoli loses the armband