From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mohammed Alam 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Poasa Bainivalu, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Mohammed Alam 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 Mohammed Alam is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Sailasa Ratu knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sailasa Ratu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Epeli Vunibola out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Yash Kumar 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Savenaca Nakalevu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Sekove Luma gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kayne Razmovski’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Savenaca Nakalevu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Savenaca Nakalevu commits to Lautoka for another 1 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Saula Waqa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Saula Waqa 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Savenaca Nakalevu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Nov 2026
Lautoka bow out of the cup
Ba go through and Lautoka go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Kayne Razmovski 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Alam, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Savenaca Nakalevu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Beniamino Tiko to a room that had heard them before.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kayne Razmovski’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Sairusi Nalaubu is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Savenaca Nakalevu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A quiet fortnight at Lautoka
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Saula Waqa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Yash Kumar 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Savenaca Nakalevu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Sekove Luma gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Poasa Bainivalu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Saula Waqa 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Savenaca Nakalevu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Oct 2026
Sailasa Ratu has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Saula Waqa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kayne Razmovski commits to Lautoka for another 3 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Kayne Razmovski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
International break empties Lautoka
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 88% of everything Lautoka earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Mohammed Alam has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
88 days out for Atonio Tuivuna after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Savenaca Nakalevu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Sep 2026
30 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lautoka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Atonio Tuivuna out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Savenaca Nakalevu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sairusi Nalaubu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lautoka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lautoka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market14 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Sailasa Ratu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sailasa Ratu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sailasa Ratu has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Lautoka
Yash Kumar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lautoka are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lautoka are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Saula Waqa 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 Saula Waqa is on it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Sekove Luma gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lautoka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Lautoka close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Lautoka will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yash Kumar 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Mohammed Alam has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Nadi are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Lautoka will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Lautoka march on in the cup
Nadi are out and Lautoka go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Setareki Sauturaga damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market31 Aug 2026
Rewa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Lautoka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Lautoka paid $4.0K
Yash Kumar was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $4.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Saula Waqa 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Saula Waqa
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The formation has left Yash Kumar behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lautoka will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
4 Lautoka players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Lautoka march on in the cup
Tailevu Naitasiri are out and Lautoka go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Labasa wanted more than $43.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Savenaca Nakalevu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lautoka have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Beniamino Tiko could afford to be generous.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.6K — a club that wants Aporosa Yada enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$43.0K on the table at Labasa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Aporosa Yada has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lautoka have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Market17 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joela Biuvanua signs something — a contract at Lautoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Leisari Qalica may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anare Naranayanan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maleli Prasad is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Josaia Begg 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Amani 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lautoka are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
An unwelcome headline for Saula Waqa
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sairusi Nalaubu and Lautoka agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mohammed Alam 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Voices raised on the Lautoka training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.