Harrison Moore

Central Defender - Free Agent
30 Sep 2032
Thursday
Process

Marked for Harrison Moore

266 Edition

The Wellington Phoenix Gazette

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Wellington Phoenix has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Robbie MacDonald breaks a bone — 23 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Wellington Phoenix boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

So close: Cameron Jones’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Macarthur FC moved on, Cameron Jones reports back to Wellington Phoenix, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Tempers go at Wellington Phoenix

Luke Brooke-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.

Squad

The armband comes off Alex Rufer

Wellington Phoenix will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

In brief

Back issues
236 Edition

The Wellington Phoenix Gazette

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Bill Tuiloma

128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wellington Phoenix lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Joshua Oluwayemi

There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Harrison Moore 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 Wellington Phoenix can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Bill Tuiloma signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bill Tuiloma commits to Wellington Phoenix for another 2 years.

Squad

Luke Brooke-Smith in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Pieter Jacobsz in the eights

A performance of 8.99 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Luke Brooke-Smith

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Wellington Phoenix share the spoils with Melbourne City

A 1‑1 draw with Melbourne City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Player ratings

The one thing Luke Supyk could not do

Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

In brief

233 Edition

The Wellington Phoenix Gazette

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Wellington Phoenix

Luke Brooke-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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Luke Supyk

Marked 8.40 — 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ifeanyi Eze at his very best

Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Wellington Phoenix.

Player ratings

Luke Brooke-Smith runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Loan watch

Jake Walsh counts the days

“I watch every Wellington Phoenix game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne Victory runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid

“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.

Match

Wellington Phoenix share the spoils with Sydney FC

A 1‑1 draw with Sydney FC leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Squad

Joshua Oluwayemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Wellington Phoenix will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Sander Kartum is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.22 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief