The National League is looking pretty interesting this year. Obviously there's qualification into next years NL, but even besides that we have some pretty interesting standings so far.
Northern League
Birkenhead is sitting at the top right now with a 2 point lead which isn't that particularly crazy but bellow them is East Coast Bays and Fencibles United which is somewhat surprising. ECB have spent their time sitting mid to low table since getting promoted and Fencibles nearly got relegated last season, yet here they are now sitting near the top. Who knows if they can maintain this against the perennial top contenders but that's whole other topic.
But then there's the elephant in the room, Auckland City struggling early on. Controversial as this has been so far I'd argue it's adding more intrigue to the league to have such a dominant force not fulling ahead as the clear favourite to win it all. But they're not even the only big club struggling either, Western Springs are currently sitting 10th on the ladder despite winning the Northen League last year and finishing 5th in the National League. Looking back at Voerman's ranking this could mean Birkenhead are primed to leapfrog Western Springs into NT 2027!
Central League
Similar thing to the Northern League, Miramar Rangers (A perennial big club) are currently top of the ladder and bellow them you have Upper Hutt City and Petone. Petone being up here isn't that weird I suppose. Never consistantly near the top but never relegated so it's nice to see them having some success. Upper Hutt City though is pretty surpising though, there were promoted in 2024 and in 2025 finished 8th near the relegation zone, so I'd say that them being 2nd is nice to see. They had to beat Petone and Karori to get here, which with Petone 3rd so far is quite a nice win. That said we are only 3 rounds in so can't be too excited yet.
That said however Olympic certainly aren't having a fun time so far. 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, the true trifecta. They haven't suffered as much as ACFC by any means, but by previous seasons standards this is objectively poor. Given they're recent dominance I can see them clawing their way back into title contention soon enough but again, the fact that the usual giant isn't running through the league like normal at least makes the Central League feel more open and exciting.
Southern League
Yeah... Not really the same story down south lol
Calling a winner so early into the season is usually a premature thing to do but we all agree it'll be Cashmere Technical right? 4 games in they've won all games and are averaging over 5-6 goals a game. Hell, they just got done bully Wanaka 9-0. Out of all the perennial big clubs they are the most in form and are just trampling the league. So yeah unless something really tragic happens to the club the title is probably theirs.
EDIT: I would just like to add onto this by pointing out the the top 3 goal scorers thus far are all CashTech players - Garbhan Coughlan with 7 - Zander Edwards with 5 - Rory Herbert with 4 tied with Lennon Whewell over at Nelson Bays. Y'know, if you weren't convinced Cashtech were gonna run away with it yet.
But hey, Northern and Ferrymead Bays are doing pretty good right? Out of all the newly promoted clubs Northern are by far doing the best considering they're sitting 2nd on the ladder behind Cashmere. Will they be challenging CashTech for the title? Probably not. But you can't be upset with challenging for NL 2026 qualifications right after getting promoted. The only thing that's a bit worrisome is that the teams they've beaten so far are all sitting at the bottom of the ladder which isn't a great sign. They play back to back in Christchurch facing CashTech and Christchurch United so this could either be when they get exposed or prove themselve via trial by fire.
Speaking of Christchurch United they're not really struggling as much as City or Olympic but still not a great start. 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses for a club that has always finished within the top 3 ain't what you would call the ideal start. That said they are 5th right now and still early in the season so lots could change, especially if they get Pro League reinforcements halfway through the season.
