Marked for Stefan Smith
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Deklan Reid 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Sanele Radebe 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.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 ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Stefan Smith takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefan Smith provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ben Lewis 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over WaiBOP United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Owen Reid 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Alex Colvey
“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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“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 Waitakere United, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Sanele Radebe 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Stefan Smith 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Chris Nelson breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Deklan Reid 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.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dane Van Hattum, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Smith 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
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Chris Nelson breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Matt Wood keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Waitakere United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Chris Nelson breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joe Colvey
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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $24.0K sale of Clayton Just
He is going to Southern United, the club has $24.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market31 Aug 2026
Alex Kirwan 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 Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Clayton Just has left for Southern United in a $24.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanele Radebe 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sanele Radebe gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sanele Radebe has just signed for Waitakere United, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sanele Radebe and Waitakere United agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Deklan Reid 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.