The Wellington Phoenix Gazette
Squad10 Aug 2026
The knee: Jack Sullivan out for 35 days
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wellington Phoenix lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Aug 2026
Terms done: Jayden Smith is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Southern United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Wellington Phoenix is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bill Tuiloma signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bill Tuiloma and Wellington Phoenix agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Wellington Phoenix
Bill Tuiloma 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sunderland tell Wellington Phoenix: Ahmed Abdullahi is not for sale
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Bill Tuiloma 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Wellington Phoenix promote Tristan Bennett from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tristan Bennett 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
Simon O'Neill steps up from the Wellington Phoenix academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon O'Neill 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Cameron Davis joins the Wellington Phoenix first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cameron Davis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Squad No place for Michael Ruhs in the new shape
- The dugout James McGarry asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout The manager plants his flag on Manjrekar James