A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Navua know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Navua know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Navua has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Navua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Chinagorom signs something — a contract at Navua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Navua has been clear about where Sitiveni Kumar stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aporosa Cama, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Ashnil Raju and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ratu Sauturaga is 16, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Ashnil Raju 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Navua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Malakai Tiko has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Navua until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Navua have done the hard part with Nadi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
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 Will Kennedy is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Navua, and both men came out saying it was fine.