Marked for Connor Beath
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Sekove Luma
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sekove Luma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match13 May 2028
Still nobody has beaten Lautoka
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Lautoka
Shainal Lal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Both jobs done by Shainal Lal — 6.73
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout15 May 2028
Connor Beath 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.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Isikeli Kaumaitotoya was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lautoka dressing room was either.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Barrie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 May 2028
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match13 May 2028
Lautoka and Rewa cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Rewa came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Apr 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Sairusi Nalaubu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lautoka.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Shainal Lal 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 ratings3 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes of Saula Waqa at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lautoka.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Barrie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Apr 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Connor Beath, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Market3 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maciu Tuinuku has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lautoka.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sairusi Nalaubu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at Lautoka
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market27 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Epeli Vunibola
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Epeli Vunibola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Shemen Orakwe Unegbu 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
Market27 Mar 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Senirusi Bokini has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lautoka.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sairusi Nalaubu is on it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Labasa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lautoka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Sekove Luma
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sekove Luma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Kurai Musanhi 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Samuela Nabenia, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Nathan Barrie 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Lautoka are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Lautoka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Lautoka close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Lautoka asked and Navua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Shemen Orakwe Unegbu 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The formation has left Connor Beath behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lautoka will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market7 Feb 2028
Connor Beath is 17, and Lautoka have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jake Brimmer commits to Auckland FC for another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Auckland FC asked and Perth Glory said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Flynn Hill 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Connor Beath 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Noah Beath is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Chris Ferguson 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jake Brimmer, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Sandali Condé is in the works
Auckland FC have made the call to Admira Wacker. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Mick Crnac behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Auckland FC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.