Wonder if Olympic's reign of terror is coming to an end? They didn't exactly have a good National League campaign, maybe we'll see Napier take the top position 🤷
Wonder if Olympic's reign of terror is coming to an end? They didn't exactly have a good National League campaign, maybe we'll see Napier take the top position 🤷
Napier will have to recruit really well to replace Faulds goals, and Tønning in between the sticks.
Sounds like Miramar have been recruiting well though, and Olympic have a couple of imports lined up too apparently.
Louie Fenton in at Miramar Josh Rogerson has gone to Chch Utd, big loss. I think he was their player of the season last season? van Rijsel's gone to chch too Martin Bueno retired, DoF at Scots now
edit, just seen, already posted by football tragic in the 2024 thread
Wellington Olympic have signed former Cyprus U18 and U21 international centre-half Alex Solomon.
English-born and raised and went through the youth systems at Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient before moving into the National League system with Enfield Town and Hampton & Richmond Borough. Last played for Wingate in the Isthmian League and has also had a spell in Swedish football.
Nguyen from Olympic to wests. Ole/Wests have loads of newbie player/coaches by the looks, who are the most underwhelming coaches an academy has ever had. Disappointing to see them lower their standards. They must have taken a hit from the Nix.
Scrolling through social media at work while waiting to go home in a few hours. Found this.
The club would like to wish Joel Auty all the best on his next football adventure, as the standout midfielder signed ✍🏻 a contract to play for Wellington Olympic AFC in the New Zealand 🇳🇿 Central-National League 👏🏻 Go smash 💥 it Joel 👊🏻 #UTP@lincsleaguepic.twitter.com/CbcdD7UMIw
Thought that I would go in and download the draw for the Central League so that I can get myself organised for the season. Went through the draw marking off NCR's games. Seemed to be a few so I counted them up - should have been 18 games for a 10 team league - the total was 22. It seems that in the draw for the Central and Southern Leagues there is a double up July and August. Does anyone actually check anything these days before it goes out?
Don't piss off old people - the older we get, the less "Life in Prison" is a deterrent
A week out and based off of preseason and vibes here goes my 2 cents
1) Olympic (5 peat) 2) Wests (strong start but a late fall off, they spent all of the Hilton Petone fouling teams out of possession, I didn’t love it, but it works) 3) Napier (Consistent performers not sure how well they will do without failds but one man doesn’t make a team) 4) Petone (wildcard) 5) Miramar (solid squad but hit and miss performances if last year is anything to go by) 6) Karori (I’m probably wrong but I’m sticking to my guns) 7) Weenix (give them another season and they will be back up qualifying in their own right) 8) Island Bay (three or four good signings) 9) Upper Hutt (they will do enough to stay up) 10) North Wellington (have been there or there abouts for a while)
I reckon every team has strengthened huh including Upper Hutt who seem to have recruited well. Maybe except Nth Wellington who lost a couple of players to Tawa.
I suspect Miramar will be stronger than 5th place tho. Will be interesting to see how Napier go without Faulds
Have been to Miramar games at David Farrington a few times and Olympic at Wakefield before and liked them both, but not seen many of the others.
WeeNix get much of a crowd?
The weenix crowd consists of other academy players and their parents. It’s okay but because it’s a youth team not much of a football atmosphere.
The best game to attend Olympic v Miramar at Wakefield. They used to do it on Friday nights but legend has it the refs said no more because it would get too heated.
Petone can have a good crowd come along and generally the crowds are better if it’s a Hutt rival, so maybe watch out for their home game against Upper Hittt. Prices at the bar are good too, I went a HP game two weeks ago and four bottles of Heineken were $20.
Best food and best hospitality are Olympic hands down. The little beef sausages are next level.
Miramar used to be a great time (8+ years ago) but teams don’t hang about much after match, and they only ever sell sausages at the game.
Wests have a good set up and this year I think they will go well, so home games against the big clubs would be a good shout.
I’d love for more clubs to focus on hospo. The Greeks have a good set up and point of difference food wise. It would be nice for each team to have a niche.
I’d say NCR and the rest are average. Not Wakefield. Upper Hutt could be a shout. We need to wait til Whanganui get their new setup going and come up to CL.
A week out and based off of preseason and vibes here goes my 2 cents
1) Olympic (5 peat) 2) Wests (strong start but a late fall off, they spent all of the Hilton Petone fouling teams out of possession, I didn’t love it, but it works) 3) Napier (Consistent performers not sure how well they will do without failds but one man doesn’t make a team) 4) Petone (wildcard) 5) Miramar (solid squad but hit and miss performances if last year is anything to go by) 6) Karori (I’m probably wrong but I’m sticking to my guns) 7) Weenix (give them another season and they will be back up qualifying in their own right) 8) Island Bay (three or four good signings) 9) Upper Hutt (they will do enough to stay up) 10) North Wellington (have been there or there abouts for a while)
Not sure Olympic will win it. A lot of the key players are a year older, close to the end and have pretty much won it all domestically. Wests are looking really good...very organised, well coached (ex MLS coach) and good squad depth. Their new number 9 (played USL) is very good and as long as he stays fit reckon they could win it. Miramar look decent but still to be convinced about Kale Herbert. Plenty of depth going forward but may battle defensively. NCR will be NCR...very tough at home and really difficult to break down. Nix a year older and for most of the players will be their 2nd or 3rd year of CL. Will also have boys in the first team environment dropping down. For me those are the top 5 but trying to work out in which order is really tough...but here goes!
Wests NCR Olympic Nix Miramar Karori IBU UH Petone North Wellington
Weenix will have to juggle U20 WC buildup and tourney itself which starts in September. Should be around 8-11 Phoenix players in the WC squad.
AKH, Matt Foord, Jayden Smith, Dylan Gardiner, LKH, Fergus Gillion, Lachlan Candy, GSR, Luke Supyk, Nathan Walker, LBS, Daniel Makowem, Anaru Cassidy and Ryan Watson all likely in the mix.
Most of them have had some ALM mins, and the NZ U20s is likely to be heavily Nix dominated.
Wests v NCR was terrific game. Wests down to 10 after about 20, but got one back just before halftime. Both looked very good imho. 11 v 11 would have been very, very entertaining