The Labasa Post
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Jimson Abana, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Joji Vuakaca signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joji Vuakaca and Labasa agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A move Ben Lockyer would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ben Lockyer is living that version at Labasa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Labasa
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match6 Mar 2027
Labasa find a way past Nadroga
Nadroga made Labasa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Joji Vuakaca 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Labasa
Sekove Naivakananumi 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 terraces8 Mar 2027
Labasa supporters have found a favourite in Jimson Abana
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jimson Abana 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Epeli Baledrokadroka steps up from the Labasa academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Epeli Baledrokadroka 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.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Filipe Tiko joins the Labasa first team
- Market One of our own: Dave Krishna joins the Labasa first team
- Market Labasa promote Rusiate Lal from within