The Wellington Phoenix Gazette
Squad26 Oct 2026
The knee: Rafael Durán out for 84 days
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wellington Phoenix lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
9 saves: Nikos Grammatikakis was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Wellington Phoenix — 7.83
1 for Alex Rufer, marked 7.83, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Matt Sheridan
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Wellington Phoenix
Nikos Grammatikakis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
Graduation day at Wellington Phoenix
3 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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Nikos Grammatikakis
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Bill Tuiloma
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bill Tuiloma, and the manager let it.
Market26 Oct 2026
One of our own: Darren Russell joins the Wellington Phoenix first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Darren Russell is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Jordan McLaren steps up from the Wellington Phoenix academy
- Market One of our own: Kai Riley joins the Wellington Phoenix first team
- Match Wellington Phoenix refuse to lose to Sydney FC