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BAZEball - The Darren Bazeley Era

985 replies · 208,118 views

11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History

Hanging out with Bellyache.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/07/21/national-team-coaches-to-see-inner-workings-of-top-australian-sports-clubs/

Members of New Zealand’s national coaching staff will spend three days in Melbourne gaining insights from three of Australia’s most successful sports organisations.

Supported by Oceania Football Confederation, the high-performance study visit will provide access to the inner workings of NRL club Melbourne Storm, and AFC clubs Essendon Bombers and Richmond Tigers.

Visiting staff include All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley, assistant coach Tony Readings, Football Ferns head coach Michael Mayne and men’s and women’s U-17 head coaches Martin Bullock and Alana Gunn.

OFC, a high-performance consultant Dave Wright will lead the trip (July 21-23) and facilitate on behalf of OFC.

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11 months ago

Nothing about Essendon footy club right now is high performance…

coochiee

OFC, a high-performance consultant Dave Wright will lead the trip (July 21-23) and facilitate on behalf of OFC.

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11 months ago

It’s nothing more then a jolly for the boys and Alana. Baze and Readings have surely experienced better in the UK, Europe and North America.

Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites

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11 months ago

Bellamy is a bit of a coaching legend in our part of the world. The Storm have been consistent NRL contenders nearly every year he's been there, and I'm sure their salary infraction days are well over. Lots of different sporting coaches have called into the Storm over the years for a looksee, and maybe a nugget or two.

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11 months ago

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/07/28/national-team-coaches-benefit-from-inside-view-of-top-australian-clubs/

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4 months ago · edited 4 months ago · History

RR posted this elsewhere, but good to see Baze has been upschooling himself between FIFA windows.

Figueira with his shiny new Pro Licence. Assistant role at the Nix with Greeny?
He'll likely become the NZ U19/20s coach if he stays in NZ. Was Greenacre's assistant with the U20s.

Paul Temple on that coaching course as well?

Proud to have completed the @OFCfootball Professional Coaching Diploma (Pro Licence)

Two years of challenge, reflection and growth alongside outstanding people.

Grateful to course partners @NZ_Football @HPSportNZ & my family for the support.

On to the next challenge. 🧠⚽️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/csWivLbMIG
— José Manuel Figueira (@JoseCoaching) February 24, 2026

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23 days ago · edited 23 days ago · History

Steve Corica next in line? Depending on Bazey’s WC performance of course.

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23 days ago

The pattern seems to be J League as the next step, for the best ALM coaches.

The AWs gig ain’t that attractive for the first couple of years of a WC cycle. Just friendly after friendly

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12 days ago

4 games left...

Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites

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11 days ago

Oh dear 4-0.

Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!

The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!

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11 days ago

Marto wrote:
4 games left...

Let's be completely honest, he isn't going anywhere regardless of how well/poor we do at the World Cup. He'll be still around for at least another year or so because of the lack of ambition in the old boys club.

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11 days ago

If we come out of this world cup with 0 points in our games and not much to show for it, I don't see how he survives.

The public interest and profile of football in this country is much bigger than it was in 2010, coupled with direct entry for 2030. There'll be a lot of pressure to make a change.

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10 days ago

durandurante wrote:
If we come out of this world cup with 0 points in our games and not much to show for it, I don't see how he survives.

The public interest and profile of football in this country is much bigger than it was in 2010, coupled with direct entry for 2030. There'll be a lot of pressure to make a change.

Agreed, but who is NZF accountable to? It all depends on what kind of ambitions the national body goes for.
Zero points at WC 2026 would not be pretty to put up on the NZF office wall, but all our opponents are ranked above us in FIFA rankings so it can be explained away. Not winning a single game happens to other teams too, the picture is bigger than that.

How do we perform as a team, and if we lose a game how did we play? Were we competitive? Was our backup team (past the first XI) good enough? Did we adapt to the different opposition teams?
Did we arrive early enough in USA to get ourselves sorted and in a playing shape, with some easy local club team games to go through the motions?

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10 days ago · edited 9 days ago · History

The problem is that unless NZF can somehow score an invite to an expanded 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup or something similar the AWs job is pretty unattractive

Almost 3 years of the WC cycle with no competitive games. Friendly after friendly after friendly

I’d be almost tempted to give it back to Danny Hay. Or some Aussie coach like Rob Stanton for 2 years and review mid cycle. Stanton currently an assistant coach to Arnie with Iraq would be getting some useful international experience at the moment

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9 days ago

I do wonder what this team would look like if Talay had been given the role years ago.

With a full cycle in charge under Talay, this sides playing style could look vastly different. He plays a far more attractive brand of football than Bazeley and importantly, seems much more adaptable tactically. When his teams fall behind he generally finds ways to adjust and influence the game, whereas Bazeley often appears short of answers once momentum swings against his side.

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9 days ago

MannyMuscatsBrother wrote:
I do wonder what this team would look like if Talay had been given the role years ago.

With a full cycle in charge under Talay, this sides playing style could look vastly different. He plays a far more attractive brand of football than Bazeley and importantly, seems much more adaptable tactically. When his teams fall behind he generally finds ways to adjust and influence the game, whereas Bazeley often appears short of answers once momentum swings against his side.

It's not like Talay can import players. We have to get the best out of our boys, I doubt he would do that.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet

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9 days ago

Oi Oi Edgecumbe wrote:
MannyMuscatsBrother wrote:
I do wonder what this team would look like if Talay had been given the role years ago.

With a full cycle in charge under Talay, this sides playing style could look vastly different. He plays a far more attractive brand of football than Bazeley and importantly, seems much more adaptable tactically. When his teams fall behind he generally finds ways to adjust and influence the game, whereas Bazeley often appears short of answers once momentum swings against his side.
It's not like Talay can import players. We have to get the best out of our boys, I doubt he would do that.

He is a more experienced coach than Bazeley.
Though I doubt we’d be playing England in a warm up!

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9 days ago

coochiee wrote:
The problem is that unless NZF can somehow score an invite to an expanded 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup or something similar the AWs job is pretty unattractive

Almost 3 years of the WC cycle with no competitive games. Friendly after friendly after friendly

I’d be almost tempted to give it back to Danny Hay. Or some Aussie coach like Rob Stanton for 2 years and review mid cycle. Stanton currently an assistant coach to Arnie with Iraq would be getting some useful international experience at the moment

Yup I fully agree, I reckon Baze only got the job because not many people out there wanted it. Des could do better and got Oxford up to the championship too.

Same can be said of Michael Mayne

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9 days ago

Regardless of who we have as coach I don't know if I can stomach the same cycle we just had again. Meaningless OFC qualifiers, meaningless friendlies, showing up for a World Cup completely underdone. We have to get involved in Asian qualifying. I don't understand why AFC wouldnt welcome it, they could take OFC's 1.5 spots and only have to compete with 1.0 additional teams (NZ) who could even threaten to actually qualify through Asia. It's win-win.

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auFU

9 days ago

There is NZ14 million reasons unfortunately why NZF don’t want that to happen

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FUob

9 days ago

imanixsupporter wrote:
Regardless of who we have as coach I don't know if I can stomach the same cycle we just had again. Meaningless OFC qualifiers, meaningless friendlies, showing up for a World Cup completely underdone. We have to get involved in Asian qualifying. I don't understand why AFC wouldnt welcome it, they could take OFC's 1.5 spots and only have to compete with 1.0 additional teams (NZ) who could even threaten to actually qualify through Asia. It's win-win.

100% agree. I remember one of the Aussie coaches being asked what was the biggest plus for playing qualifiers in Asia. He said it gave the team backbone. They learnt in tough away games, in hostile environments to fight and scrap their way to a result.
The AWs program is way too soft. Friendlies are just that...friendlies. The AW program delivers them to the WC soft and underdone. They are inconsistent. They have a Finland then a Chile then a Haiti.
All the signs are there. They fail to take the scoring opportunities they create then play ok but give up a soft goal. It happens time after time.
By the way we are never going to be in Asia unless FIFA decide to reform the whole Asia conf into two east/west Asia confeds. And there is little chance of that ever happening. Nobody is going to let us leave Oceania and NZF dont want a change anyway

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9 days ago

austin111 wrote:
imanixsupporter wrote:
Regardless of who we have as coach I don't know if I can stomach the same cycle we just had again. Meaningless OFC qualifiers, meaningless friendlies, showing up for a World Cup completely underdone. We have to get involved in Asian qualifying. I don't understand why AFC wouldnt welcome it, they could take OFC's 1.5 spots and only have to compete with 1.0 additional teams (NZ) who could even threaten to actually qualify through Asia. It's win-win.
100% agree. I remember one of the Aussie coaches being asked what was the biggest plus for playing qualifiers in Asia. He said it gave the team backbone. They learnt in tough away games, in hostile environments to fight and scrap their way to a result.
The AWs program is way too soft. Friendlies are just that...friendlies. The AW program delivers them to the WC soft and underdone. They are inconsistent. They have a Finland then a Chile then a Haiti.
All the signs are there. They fail to take the scoring opportunities they create then play ok but give up a soft goal. It happens time after time.
By the way we are never going to be in Asia unless FIFA decide to reform the whole Asia conf into two east/west Asia confeds. And there is little chance of that ever happening. Nobody is going to let us leave Oceania and NZF dont want a change anyway

Honestly, FIFA may re-think it if we end up with 0 pts and a -10 GD

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9 days ago · edited 7 days ago · History

@observerfromuh:
" Honestly, FIFA may re-think it if we end up with 0 pts and a -10 GD"
Not really. FIFA is thinking about many other things than us, a low-ranking team from a small country, losing badly at the WC.
FIFA is not going to abandon OFC as a developmental patch, and OFC will not want to disappear either. Too many cushy jobs and large egos in a place they do not have to do much.

Having a NZ based team / teams in the A-League was already pretty significant change, and it took a lot of convincing the AFC.

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9 days ago · edited 9 days ago · History

Most importantly OFC's 11 votes will likely go to Infantino at the next FIFA Presidential election if he stands again.

He's done OFC a few favours, and he'll want them to keep their 1.5 WC spots.
Helped by New Caledonia actually doing very well in their playoff game against Jamaica (only lost 1-0)

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8 days ago

observerfromuh wrote:
austin111 wrote:
imanixsupporter wrote:
Regardless of who we have as coach I don't know if I can stomach the same cycle we just had again. Meaningless OFC qualifiers, meaningless friendlies, showing up for a World Cup completely underdone. We have to get involved in Asian qualifying. I don't understand why AFC wouldnt welcome it, they could take OFC's 1.5 spots and only have to compete with 1.0 additional teams (NZ) who could even threaten to actually qualify through Asia. It's win-win.
100% agree. I remember one of the Aussie coaches being asked what was the biggest plus for playing qualifiers in Asia. He said it gave the team backbone. They learnt in tough away games, in hostile environments to fight and scrap their way to a result.
The AWs program is way too soft. Friendlies are just that...friendlies. The AW program delivers them to the WC soft and underdone. They are inconsistent. They have a Finland then a Chile then a Haiti.
All the signs are there. They fail to take the scoring opportunities they create then play ok but give up a soft goal. It happens time after time.
By the way we are never going to be in Asia unless FIFA decide to reform the whole Asia conf into two east/west Asia confeds. And there is little chance of that ever happening. Nobody is going to let us leave Oceania and NZF dont want a change anyway
Honestly, FIFA may re-think it if we end up with 0 pts and a -10 GD

pretty sure we werent expected to do anything in 2010, yet we drew 1-1 with two teams and 0-0 with another!Only unbeaten team entire tournament.
If we do something similar this year FIFA will not be unhappy.

Queenslander 3x a year.

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