The Hawke's Bay United Courier
Match17 Oct 2026
Marco Just leads the rout of WaiBOP United
6‑3, and Marco Just took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hawke's Bay United tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
What a way to start for Marco Just — 9.29
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 9.29 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jake McCowatt damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Clayton Nelson scores twice — 9.74
Two goals and a mark of 9.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Liberato Tuiloma, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Clayton Bell pops up at the right end — 7.80
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Hawke's Bay United
Jake Lockyer 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
9 goals as Hawke's Bay United and WaiBOP United go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Hawke's Bay United and WaiBOP United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
5 academy graduates step up at Hawke's Bay United
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
- The terraces The crowd has taken to Clayton Bell
- Market Hawke's Bay United promote Monty Van Hattum from within
- Market One of our own: Stefan Fenton joins the Hawke's Bay United first team