Marked for Taniela Waqa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Nadroga
Barrie Limoki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Apisai Sesewa and Nadroga agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Abishek Goundar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Nadroga expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Abishek Goundar.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Yash Kumar
“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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Barrie Limoki gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Barrie Limoki is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Mar 2028
9 unbeaten for Nadroga
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Nadroga did not have in the autumn.
Market6 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nadroga they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Barrie Limoki commits to Nadroga for another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Nadroga
Samuel Navoce and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Nadroga
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match4 Mar 2028
A 2‑0 win over Labasa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market6 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simione Waqa has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market6 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Epeli Kaumaitotoya has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Taniela Waqa 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.