Central League 2023

Probably worth taking the Christmas Tree down and starting a new thread as we are half way through March

Picks for this week

Napier over stop out
Petone over Whanganui
Wests over North Wgtn
Weenix and Karori to draw
Olympic just seem too good for anyone in Central League but it depends where their heads are at after the OFC Qualifier come down.

Weenix and Karori will be the game of the round

489646F7-C6DA-4E82-A3D5-13447A15BEF7.jpeg 337.41 KB

Shambles

Picks for this week

Napier over stop out
Petone over Whanganui
Wests over North Wgtn
Weenix and Karori to draw
Olympic just seem too good for anyone in Central League but it depends where their heads are at after the OFC Qualifier come down.

Weenix and Karori will be the game of the round

489646F7-C6DA-4E82-A3D5-13447A15BEF7.jpeg 337.41 KB

Weenix v Karori game of the round? That's a big call when you have Olympic v Miramar in there
I'd go 

Napier
Draw
Wests
Nix
Olympic

The JourneyFan

Shambles

Picks for this week

Napier over stop out
Petone over Whanganui
Wests over North Wgtn
Weenix and Karori to draw
Olympic just seem too good for anyone in Central League but it depends where their heads are at after the OFC Qualifier come down.

Weenix and Karori will be the game of the round

489646F7-C6DA-4E82-A3D5-13447A15BEF7.jpeg 337.41 KB

Weenix v Karori game of the round? That's a big call when you have Olympic v Miramar in there
I'd go 

Napier
Draw
Wests
Nix
Olympic

I guess its fair to assume that there is a gap between Olympic v Miramar at the moment- so in game terms, it will likely be somewhat a one sided fixture.

zonknz

The JourneyFan

Shambles

Picks for this week

Napier over stop out
Petone over Whanganui
Wests over North Wgtn
Weenix and Karori to draw
Olympic just seem too good for anyone in Central League but it depends where their heads are at after the OFC Qualifier come down.

Weenix and Karori will be the game of the round

489646F7-C6DA-4E82-A3D5-13447A15BEF7.jpeg 337.41 KB

Weenix v Karori game of the round? That's a big call when you have Olympic v Miramar in there
I'd go 

Napier
Draw
Wests
Nix
Olympic

I guess its fair to assume that there is a gap between Olympic v Miramar at the moment- so in game terms, it will likely be somewhat a one sided fixture.

It's a derby though and while you would expect Olympic to be the favourites atm, you never know with this fixture. The last 9 clashes have produced 41 goals.
Also think Miramar have probably been written off by many (myself included) too early. Anyway I know which game I'll likely be watching

How many players will Nix be missing due to NZ U23s? Could be advantage Karori as a result

The weenix do this weird pipeline thing where players train to do a job, even if the u23’s are off somewhere I think their replacements will be more than capable. 

Has anyone seen a live stream schedule from NZF? 

OnTheDownLow

Has anyone seen a live stream schedule from NZF? 

I don’t even think they will have sorted it yet 

Are there squad lists anywhere? Wanting to find who NCR have but they aren't the greatest with social media etc.

Well I guess I'm gonna have to cheer for both Petone sides this year since my missus is playing for them so... err... go Petone?

Maybe Leo Villa to Karori….. a little birdie told me

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Well in fairness they did have to deal with a once in a lift time weather event 😂 

Shots fired from the new boys Whanganui Athletic.

Screenshot_2023-03-24-19-36-02-69_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg 276.32 KB

👀

I farking love this game! 😆

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Your comment about "splashing out" shows your lack of financial knowledge and how travelling away really works.  The cost of a hotel for the night before, and two vans to travel, roughly works out at the same as taking a bus down and back on the same day.  The necessity for two bus drivers puts the cost up as it is a long day.  With a minimum of 9 trips away each season anything that makes life a bit easier for everyone involved is worthwhile.

watching_from_far

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

ol'sole

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Your comment about "splashing out" shows your lack of financial knowledge and how travelling away really works.  The cost of a hotel for the night before, and two vans to travel, roughly works out at the same as taking a bus down and back on the same day.  The necessity for two bus drivers puts the cost up as it is a long day.  With a minimum of 9 trips away each season anything that makes life a bit easier for everyone involved is worthwhile.

watching_from_far

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

Found the napier city fan.

Round 1 results:
Stop Out 1 (Neil 2'), Napier 3 (Leopard 42', Mort 61', McNamara 77')
Whanganui 2 (Farmer 7', O'Halloran 42'), Petone 3 (Brazier 2', Eglinton 38' 60')
North Welly 1 (Solar 37'), Wests 3 (Delaney 17', Coore 57' 64')
Nix Reserves 3 (Nguyen 20' Beale 24' Tollervey 35'), Karori 2 (Akers 3' Agalawatta 78')
Olympic 3-1 Miramar

Plenty of close games but no shocks

ol'sole

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Your comment about "splashing out" shows your lack of financial knowledge and how travelling away really works.  The cost of a hotel for the night before, and two vans to travel, roughly works out at the same as taking a bus down and back on the same day.  The necessity for two bus drivers puts the cost up as it is a long day.  With a minimum of 9 trips away each season anything that makes life a bit easier for everyone involved is worthwhile.

watching_from_far

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

I'll admit I've never organised a long away trip myself (been on a few though!), but are you genuinely claiming that putting a squad of at least 14 players, coaches, and a bus driver into a hotel overnight is cheaper than just hiring two bus drivers for the day?

Honestly, anything other than two vans and going there and back in a day is splashing out imo.

20 Legend

ol'sole

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Your comment about "splashing out" shows your lack of financial knowledge and how travelling away really works.  The cost of a hotel for the night before, and two vans to travel, roughly works out at the same as taking a bus down and back on the same day.  The necessity for two bus drivers puts the cost up as it is a long day.  With a minimum of 9 trips away each season anything that makes life a bit easier for everyone involved is worthwhile.

watching_from_far

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

I'll admit I've never organised a long away trip myself (been on a few though!), but are you genuinely claiming that putting a squad of at least 14 players, coaches, and a bus driver into a hotel overnight is cheaper than just hiring two bus drivers for the day?

Honestly, anything other than two vans and going there and back in a day is splashing out imo.

I suppose they might not go the hotel route, could be a couple of air b&bs which might actually be cheaper.

Well according to Bill it's a big contribution from the club financially... not sure why he would say that if it wasn't much more then every other season.  But obviously not really any different to any other season.

Having had some involvement in Central League football many years ago (Nelson and Gisborne were both in the league ) it is very hard to expect players to leave home at 7am on a Saturday morning , sit in a bus for 4-5 hours , and then perform on the same day. If Napier are serious about the league then they have to look at the overnight stays.Wellington sides only have to do it twice , Napier and wanganui 9 times.Totally agree with Napier looking after their players better. I think the top Wellington Central Laegue sides often stay overnight in Napier.

chubbs

Having had some involvement in Central League football many years ago (Nelson and Gisborne were both in the league ) it is very hard to expect players to leave home at 7am on a Saturday morning , sit in a bus for 4-5 hours , and then perform on the same day. If Napier are serious about the league then they have to look at the overnight stays.Wellington sides only have to do it twice , Napier and wanganui 9 times.Totally agree with Napier looking after their players better. I think the top Wellington Central Laegue sides often stay overnight in Napier.

They might - but it doesn’t mean they will perform better. I think there is actually a benefit in a day trip v overnight. Mainly mentality wise

I think everyone understands why they are doing it. 

Monto

20 Legend

ol'sole

watching_from_far

NCR splashing out and sending team down night before for away games in Wellington. No excuses now Billy.

Your comment about "splashing out" shows your lack of financial knowledge and how travelling away really works.  The cost of a hotel for the night before, and two vans to travel, roughly works out at the same as taking a bus down and back on the same day.  The necessity for two bus drivers puts the cost up as it is a long day.  With a minimum of 9 trips away each season anything that makes life a bit easier for everyone involved is worthwhile.

watching_from_far

NCR can't pull the under resourced over achieving BS now. 
As a club anything less then a top 3/4 finish in Central league has been a failure for the past 30 years! So to finish 4th a scrap in last year was minimum. And then they pull out the 1st time in 20 years comment about playing national league... umm because you weren't able to. PR bs

I'll admit I've never organised a long away trip myself (been on a few though!), but are you genuinely claiming that putting a squad of at least 14 players, coaches, and a bus driver into a hotel overnight is cheaper than just hiring two bus drivers for the day?

Honestly, anything other than two vans and going there and back in a day is splashing out imo.

I suppose they might not go the hotel route, could be a couple of air b&bs which might actually be cheaper.

Soley is the NCR Finance Manager (and Chairman) and if he says that it is roughly the same, I believe him.  I know that he would have done the math.

Went to watch SO vs NCR on the weekend. SO are in for a very, very long season. Score line flattered them in the end as Napier missed a penalty and another half a dozen decent chances. 

SO struggled to have any decent possession and when they did they lost it far too easily, also very poorly disciplined and will struggle once they lose players to red cards and injuries as there didn't seem to be much depth off their bench. The two English lads Cunniff and Gaul pretty much spent the whole game gobbing off to the opposition, they'd be handy players if they could keep their mouths shut.

NCR looked decent but nothing spectacular, definitely showed their experience at this level though.

WallyWilliams

Went to watch SO vs NCR on the weekend. SO are in for a very, very long season. Score line flattered them in the end as Napier missed a penalty and another half a dozen decent chances. 

SO struggled to have any decent possession and when they did they lost it far too easily, also very poorly disciplined and will struggle once they lose players to red cards and injuries as there didn't seem to be much depth off their bench. The two English lads Cunniff and Gaul pretty much spent the whole game gobbing off to the opposition, they'd be handy players if they could keep their mouths shut.

NCR looked decent but nothing spectacular, definitely showed their experience at this level though.

Why am I not surprised by Stop Out? Are lucky to be in Central League....Cap Prem was actually won on the field by Island Bay if you disregard the points reallocation for the Nix playing underage players. Would not have thought so looking at the posts on their social media! Passion will only take you so far at this level and they make the same mistake every year of paying ageing mercenaries instead of paying decent coaches to really develop their younger players....really shortsighted!

U20 Minutes Round 1

Nix 100%
Stop Out 55%
Petone 50%
Wests 48%
Wharfies 26%
Miramar 24%
Napier 19%
NW 12%
Whanganui 10%
Olympic 8%

Ageing mercenaries etc. 

JayJay

U20 Minutes Round 1

Nix 100%
Stop Out 55%
Petone 50%
Wests 48%
Wharfies 26%
Miramar 24%
Napier 19%
NW 12%
Whanganui 10%
Olympic 8%

Ageing mercenaries etc. 

Can you do this for NL & SL threads too?

JayJay

U20 Minutes Round 1

Nix 100%
Stop Out 55%
Petone 50%
Wests 48%
Wharfies 26%
Miramar 24%
Napier 19%
NW 12%
Whanganui 10%
Olympic 8%

Ageing mercenaries etc. 

 Don't dispute the stat for this game but would be interested if you did a similar stat for Stop Out's season last year. They have no option but to rely on youth as they have been unable to attract decent players this year. This lack of development i.e. relying on older players to get them promotion will come back to haunt them as the kids they are now playing should have been blooded last year as most of them are not ready for CL. Contrast this with Petone who have a real focus on decent coaching and equipping the players technically and they now have real depth in their squad, even if it came at the expense of results last year. 

JayJay

U20 Minutes Round 1

Nix 100%
Stop Out 55%
Petone 50%
Wests 48%
Wharfies 26%
Miramar 24%
Napier 19%
NW 12%
Whanganui 10%
Olympic 8%

Ageing mercenaries etc. 

It is interesting to see Wests with 52% over 20 given they are meant to be an outlet for the Ole academy. North Wellington and Karori have had big junior numbers for years and it seems odd that kids do not seem make it through to senior football. 

Wests (Ole) have bought in a couple of imports 
also another fault in this rule is that the players you had last season that were U20 may not be now, what are the clubs supposed to do drop them? 

I would say a lot of North Wellington and Waterside Karori kids do make it through to senior football just not necessarily with those clubs. 

Predictions for the weekend?

Good win for Petone today, plenty of goals in that game

Though this might be interesting for any Taranaki lads - Georg Niedermeier, ex-Bayern and Stuttgart CB and German youth international, has joined New Plymouth Rangers for the upcoming Fed Premier season. Might remember him from his season at Victory in 18/19. Still only 37

mrsmiis

Though this might be interesting for any Taranaki lads - Georg Niedermeier, ex-Bayern and Stuttgart CB and German youth international, has joined New Plymouth Rangers for the upcoming Fed Premier season. Might remember him from his season at Victory in 18/19. Still only 37

What crimes did he commit to end up in New Plymouth?

mrsmiis

Though this might be interesting for any Taranaki lads - Georg Niedermeier, ex-Bayern and Stuttgart CB and German youth international, has joined New Plymouth Rangers for the upcoming Fed Premier season. Might remember him from his season at Victory in 18/19. Still only 37

Funny club to join for the Fed season.
NPR don’t seem to be playing in it!

5BACB6F1-0DA9-4A82-AFF0-3F344EB6A721.jpeg 384.43 KB

Football is dead in Taranaki. Even the Taranaki Premier League only has 6 teams.

mrsmiis

Though this might be interesting for any Taranaki lads - Georg Niedermeier, ex-Bayern and Stuttgart CB and German youth international, has joined New Plymouth Rangers for the upcoming Fed Premier season. Might remember him from his season at Victory in 18/19. Still only 37

Will have a chat to my workmate who's on the committee at Rangers to see how that's come about. Good effort for the tier of football we'll be playing in...

Rangers aren't playing Federation football this year, only playing the Taranaki Premiership after Cyclone Gabrielle made it untenable regarding travel arrangements to commit to a Federation League campaign.