The Nadi Sentinel
Squad6 Mar 2028
Sphesihle Hlongwa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sphesihle Hlongwa has just signed for Nadi, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Stanley Skipper goes up and wins it — 7.41
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.41 for the rest of it.
Market6 Mar 2028
Jonasa Ravukitiliva is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The Nadi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Rocky Junior signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rocky Junior and Nadi agree another 3 years.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Jimson Abana faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Nadi expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Jimson Abana.
Market6 Mar 2028
Sphesihle Hlongwa is a Nadi player again
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Sphesihle Hlongwa 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 Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Nadi
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.
In brief
- Squad A row about effort at Nadi
- Market Nadi promote Peni Singh from within
- Market Taniela Drudru steps up from the Nadi academy