Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
Marked 9.30 — 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.
Marked 9.23 — 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wellington Phoenix is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wellington Phoenix they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Wellington Phoenix know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
Add another name to the list: Newcastle Jets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Simon Phillips. The answer from Wellington Phoenix has not changed — yet.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Will Firth and Wellington Phoenix agree another 4 years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wellington Phoenix have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Newcastle Jets for Simon Phillips was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
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.
The offer from Central Coast Mariners for Simon Phillips was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Isaac Hughes 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 phone has started ringing about Paul Green again, and this time the name on the line is Macarthur FC. Wellington Phoenix are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Wellington Phoenix are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luke Brooke-Smith and Wellington Phoenix agree another 5 years.
Bill Tuiloma 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Gordon has his answer from Wellington Phoenix; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hamza Shibli has his answer from Wellington Phoenix; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The captaincy has been taken off Bill Tuiloma. Wellington Phoenix will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mpho Mathekgane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Alby Kelly-Heald, on 6 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wellington Phoenix they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I did not go to Newcastle Jets to sit and watch. I want to come back to Wellington Phoenix and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 46 matches say the rest.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wellington Phoenix they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Wellington Phoenix, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wellington Phoenix they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
A 2‑1 win over Adelaide United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wellington Phoenix is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Hamza Shibli will call it something else in private.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luke Supyk. 1‑0 against Auckland FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
“I did not go to Newcastle Jets to sit and watch. I want to come back to Wellington Phoenix and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Wellington Phoenix, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Marked 9.25 — 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.
Marked 8.68 — 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.
“I watch every Wellington Phoenix game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Newcastle Jets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Auckland FC go through and Wellington Phoenix go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
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.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luke Supyk and Wellington Phoenix agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“I watch every Wellington Phoenix game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Newcastle Jets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wellington Phoenix, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wellington Phoenix have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
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.
“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 Wellington Phoenix, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“I watch every Wellington Phoenix game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Newcastle Jets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Rhaka Syafaka is 20, and Wellington Phoenix 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.
The offer from Central Coast Mariners for Alex Nassiep was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Xavier Bertoncello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wellington Phoenix pay $330.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
A new face in his position, and Nikos Vergos suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Newcastle Jets have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.