Marked for Christopher Tuisese
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Jun 2027
17 unbeaten for Lautoka
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 17 matches without defeat is a foundation Lautoka did not have in the autumn.
Match7 Jun 2027
Lautoka up to position 1
36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match5 Jun 2027
Lautoka make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Match5 Jun 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Shivam Naidu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lautoka.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“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 Lautoka, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 14-year-old it feels ownership of. Rusiate Kalounaiwai has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Sairusi Nalaubu takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sairusi Nalaubu provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match15 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Lautoka right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match15 May 2027
The run at home goes on for Lautoka
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad17 May 2027
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match15 May 2027
Nasinu made Lautoka work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 May 2027
“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.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I watch every Lautoka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Labasa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
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Squad
A Lautoka teenager takes the young player award
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Market
The Saula Waqa story refuses to die
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 May 2027
Whatever happens, Lautoka do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad3 May 2027
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match1 May 2027
Lautoka make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match1 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Tailevu Naitasiri, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 May 2027
The young player of the month award goes to a 15-year-old at Lautoka who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Lautoka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nasinu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Saula Waqa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saula Waqa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lautoka have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad3 May 2027
Isikeli Begg 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Apr 2027
Lautoka make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lautoka have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every Lautoka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nasinu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match3 Apr 2027
Three points for Lautoka, 1‑0 the final word against Nadroga in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Christopher Tuisese is the division's best young player this month
At 15 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Lautoka will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 7.71. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ilimotama Jese named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ilimotama Jese is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Epeli Vunibola, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Mar 2027
Lautoka make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lautoka have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Christopher Tuisese’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lautoka.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Isikeli Begg 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Three points for Lautoka, 2‑0 the final word against Nasinu in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Suva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lautoka and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Mar 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sitiveni Cavuilagi and Lautoka agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“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 Lautoka, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
7.60, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lautoka had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
No investment in the facilities at Lautoka
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Lautoka
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Loan watch14 Sep 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 Lautoka, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market14 Sep 2026
Christopher Tuisese is 14, 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Saula Waqa has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Saula Waqa keeps the shirt for now, at Lautoka's convenience rather than his own.