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National League and Championship Phase 2026

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5 days ago · edited 5 days ago · History

I've got:

1st: Birkenhead United
2nd: Wellington Olympic
3rd: Eastern Suburbs
4th: Cashmere Technical
5th: Napier City Rovers
6th: Auckland City
7th: Auckland FC Reserves
8th: Miramar Rangers
9th: Auckland United
10th: Ferrymead Bays
11th: Wellington Phoenix Reserves

Birko should finish top after the season they've had, but there's no guaranteeing it.

Next five (Olympic, East Subs, Cashmere, Napier, Akl City) could finish in any order I think, although one or two will disappoint. Could be the first time City don't finish 2nd?

Then you have Squires, Akl Utd & Miramar who I think will be a step off the pace. Ferrymead I expect to struggle.

WeeNix are weird, because they've basically spent the season losing to everybody but only by one goal (except against Olympic). In theory they could be competitive, but I expect they'll struggle, particularly if they lose players to the first team.

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5 days ago

bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

It's really open imo. I understand why Birkenhead and then Auckland City are still favourites. But any of Olympic, Eastern Suburbs, Cashmere Tech and Napier have the form to think they can make a run.

This years CL was not the best for Miramar but they finished 3rd last year and have the quality to challenge anyone. Agree the reserve sides and Ferrymead will struggle.

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5 days ago

LT01 wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!
It's really open imo. I understand why Birkenhead and then Auckland City are still favourites. But any of Olympic, Eastern Suburbs, Cashmere Tech and Napier have the form to think they can make a run.

This years CL was not the best for Miramar but they finished 3rd last year and have the quality to challenge anyone. Agree the reserve sides and Ferrymead will struggle.

If you look at the results between the three teams who had to actually qualify from CL this year it is interesting reading ...

Miramar have 8 points from 4 matches (two wins vs NCR and two draws vs Olympic), NCR have 6 points from 4 matches (two wins vs Olympic and two losses vs Miramar) while Olympic have only 2 points from 4 matches (two draws vs Miramar and 2 losses vs NCR).

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5 days ago

On another note, it's a real shame that Fencibles didn't make it, would have been really interesting.

Played some great football in beating Birko, ACFC and Cashmere in the Chatham Cup, and would've loved to see them compete with the big boys here.

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5 days ago

LT01 wrote:
On another note, it's a real shame that Fencibles didn't make it, would have been really interesting.

Played some great football in beating Birko, ACFC and Cashmere in the Chatham Cup, and would've loved to see them compete with the big boys here.

Could very well being playing with the big boys in 2028 if they keep things up

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5 days ago

bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Rovers losing coaches and some players. I'll go down to the Club and see if Bill has cleared out his office.

Don't piss off old people - the older we get, the less "Life in Prison" is a deterrent

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BiHe

5 days ago

ol'sole wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Rovers losing coaches and some players. I'll go down to the Club and see if Bill has cleared out his office.

Dont worry! Bill still being around has factored into my prediction above.

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5 days ago

Aren’t teams allowed to bring in new players for this league? Any new players turning up at clubs. Might make a difference to positions.

Also…interesting that people rate Olympic high yet they finished behind Napier and only just ahead of Miramar.

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4 days ago · edited 4 days ago · History

Not sure if the rule still applies but teams could bring in two U20 players from other clubs, and are also allowed certain other replacements in event of goalkeeper injury and/or players signing professional deals

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4 days ago

Looks like the U20 rule no longer applies for new signings, teams can only bring in new players to replace either an injured goalkeeper or current player leaving the team to sign a pro deal.

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4 days ago

Tyler wrote:
Aren’t teams allowed to bring in new players for this league? Any new players turning up at clubs. Might make a difference to positions.

Also…interesting that people rate Olympic high yet they finished behind Napier and only just ahead of Miramar.

There's a few reasons for that, I think if the CL season was a few games longer Olympic would have pipped Rovers to the title. Their early season slump was basically because they played the 3 best teams in the league aside from themselves and were adjusting to a new head coach.
Olympic also seem to consistently do well when playing teams outside of the Central region. In the last few National League seasons, they have finished 1st (2025), 6th (2024), 1st (2023), 1st (2022), and 2nd (2021).
Miramar are less dominant when it comes to playing teams outside of the region but admittedly did finish 3rd in last years National League.
Rovers have had a mixed bag in the National League and have finished in 4th (2024), 9th (2023), and 8th (2022).

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4 days ago · edited 4 days ago · History

ol'sole wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Rovers losing coaches and some players. I'll go down to the Club and see if Bill has cleared out his office.

Hey Fudgey ... sounds like your sources/sauces might by soya and tomato ... wild and unfounded suggestion

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4 days ago · edited 4 days ago · History

Hearty wrote:
ol'sole wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Rovers losing coaches and some players. I'll go down to the Club and see if Bill has cleared out his office.
Hey Fudgey ... sounds like your sources/sauces might by soya and tomato ... wild and unfounded suggestion

If you would call information directly from some Rovers players unfounded, then sure. Bill was not the coach I heard was leaving.

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4 days ago

Olympic did draw with Petone in the second to last week. I think Miramar did stumble and I don’t expect much from them but do expect more from Napier…. Unless players have left as noted somewhere on here

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3 days ago

bigfudge wrote:
Hearty wrote:
ol'sole wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
Any predictions for the summer NL starting next week? Here's my league prediction for the season, this is probably horrible as I haven't seen many of the teams play in person, but my bold predictions are that Rovers drop off from their Central League form (heard a few rumors of coaches and some players leaving), Birkenhead United continue on their Northern League dominance, and Auckland City win the grand final.

1. Birkenhead United
2. Auckland City
3. Wellington Olympic
4. Eastern Suburbs
5. Auckland United
6. Cashmere Technical
7. Napier City Rovers
8. Auckland FC Reserves
9. Miramar Rangers
10. Ferrymead Bays
11. Nix Reserves

Would love to hear some people's thoughts or insight as we near the final stage of the 2027 NZ season!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Rovers losing coaches and some players. I'll go down to the Club and see if Bill has cleared out his office.
Hey Fudgey ... sounds like your sources/sauces might by soya and tomato ... wild and unfounded suggestion
If you would call information directly from some Rovers players unfounded, then sure. Bill was not the coach I heard was leaving.

Which players and coaches are leaving?

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3 days ago

Just my thoughts, many hard to guess and a few teams could easily overperform my expectations.

1. Birko (best form to date)
2. ACFC (good squad)
3. Cashmere (dark horse if they take the learnings from CC final loss)
4. Olympic (experienced but not as good this year)
5. Eastern Suburbs (decent all round team)
6. Napier (did impressively to win CL but NL is a serious step up)
7. Auckland FC (can surprise again)
8. Auckland United (decent but not a contender)
9. Miramar (similarly decent but not a contender)
10. Phoenix (going to be tough, first teamers dropping down may help)
11. Ferrymead (outstanding season to qualifying, but up against it on first attempt)

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3 days ago

I feel like Cashmere are being written off too easily here. They completely steamrolled the Southern League and made the Chatham Cup final, beating Miramar and Napier to get there. The loss to Fencibles was pretty surprising but I reckon they can come back and surprise a lot of people here.

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3 days ago

Noah4thenix wrote:
I feel like Cashmere are being written off too easily here. They completely steamrolled the Southern League and made the Chatham Cup final, beating Miramar and Napier to get there. The loss to Fencibles was pretty surprising but I reckon they can come back and surprise a lot of people here.

It's always difficult when comparing clubs between the top leagues.

I put Cashmere about middle of the pack cause of their strong form in the Southern League and also their cup run, but the overall quality of the Southern League wouldn't of prepared them brilliantly for playing teams from Northern. The one Northern side they did face was this season was Fencibles.

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3 days ago

BigRed49 wrote:
Which players and coaches are leaving?

I heard that assistant coach Chris Greatholder wasn't staying on for National League.

It's one of the worst kept secrets in Hawkes Bay football that Rovers players often get frustrated with Bills sessions and some of his man management styles. Take Liam Schofield dropping down to play/coach the Fed League a few years back after a nasty falling out in training. The player I talked to didn't mention names but said some players were unsure about committing to another few months of football.

There's no doubting the squads obvious quality but will be interesting to see if they can maintain their strong CL form.

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3 days ago

bigfudge wrote:
BigRed49 wrote:
Which players and coaches are leaving?
I heard that assistant coach Chris Greatholder wasn't staying on for National League.

It's one of the worst kept secrets in Hawkes Bay football that Rovers players often get frustrated with Bills sessions and some of his man management styles. Take Liam Schofield dropping down to play/coach the Fed League a few years back after a nasty falling out in training. The player I talked to didn't mention names but said some players were unsure about committing to another few months of football.

There's no doubting the squads obvious quality but will be interesting to see if they can maintain their strong CL form.

I'm not as close to things as I used to be, but I can assure you of the following facts.
CG is too bloody busy to commit to the National League this year. He has his academies and is away from Napier a lot of the time and has just come back from Samoa from some Oceania business. He's doing his pro-license and as such will miss at least 4 of our games. I am really astounded that he has any time for us at all.

Anyone who has played at any serious level will know that there will be ups and downs with coaches. Bill must be a crap coach as he has qualified us for National League and won the Central League. As for Liam Schofield - he has just had a great season and was voted the MVP for the year.

We will be short a couple of players. Ben Stanley is away on holiday and George Andrew is making his way back. Cooke is still suspended and I know that there are a few niggly injuries. I don't know of any other players who have left.
Hope this clears a few things up.

Don't piss off old people - the older we get, the less "Life in Prison" is a deterrent

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biHe

2 days ago

ol'sole wrote:
bigfudge wrote:
BigRed49 wrote:
Which players and coaches are leaving?
I heard that assistant coach Chris Greatholder wasn't staying on for National League.

It's one of the worst kept secrets in Hawkes Bay football that Rovers players often get frustrated with Bills sessions and some of his man management styles. Take Liam Schofield dropping down to play/coach the Fed League a few years back after a nasty falling out in training. The player I talked to didn't mention names but said some players were unsure about committing to another few months of football.

There's no doubting the squads obvious quality but will be interesting to see if they can maintain their strong CL form.

I'm not as close to things as I used to be, but I can assure you of the following facts.
CG is too bloody busy to commit to the National League this year. He has his academies and is away from Napier a lot of the time and has just come back from Samoa from some Oceania business. He's doing his pro-license and as such will miss at least 4 of our games. I am really astounded that he has any time for us at all.

Anyone who has played at any serious level will know that there will be ups and downs with coaches. Bill must be a crap coach as he has qualified us for National League and won the Central League. As for Liam Schofield - he has just had a great season and was voted the MVP for the year.

We will be short a couple of players. Ben Stanley is away on holiday and George Andrew is making his way back. Cooke is still suspended and I know that there are a few niggly injuries. I don't know of any other players who have left.
Hope this clears a few things up.

I appreciate the clarification Ol'Sole, best of luck this National League season.

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about 18 hours ago

Ferrymead vs Eastern Suburbs has audio but no footage...

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about 16 hours ago

FT Ferrymead Bays 0 Eastern Suburbs 0

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about 16 hours ago

Went to Phoenix vs Auckland Utd at NZCIS. 1-1 draw.

It was not a great game. Auckland United started the first half well but Phoenix went ahead with a penalty tucked away by Jack Clegg. Phoenix took confidence and dominated for about 10 minutes, before then ceding control and Auckland Utd finally created more freely, tidy equaliser from Will Mendoza from outside the box.

The second half was more one-way traffic, with the Phoenix having to defend deep. To their credit, this was effectively done, a lot of good challenges and hard work to keep AU out. Problem was... they'd often get the ball and give it straight back to AU again, the counterattack was dysfunctional. Holding on for the draw is a decent result but not sure they'll take a lot of points in this comp.

For AU - they were just too slow and pedestrian at times, when they showed urgency and made adventurous passes they were good, but a lot of the time took too many touches and passed it back a lot. Still, they were unlucky not to win from their second half momentum, stopped by some great defending in the box and a strong performance from Nix GK Joseph Chalabi. Concerning game for them tbh - kind of game you need to be winning to be up there in this league, it doesn't get easier from here.

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about 16 hours ago · edited about 16 hours ago · History

AllWhites82 wrote:
FT Ferrymead Bays 0 Eastern Suburbs 0

A very enjoyable afternoon at Ferrymead Park. What a great venue and backdrop on a brisk Christchurch afternoon!
Kudos to Ferrymead, extremely well run afternoon, a decent crowd and good game of footy from different aspects..
Bays, as they've done all SL, showed they're very difficult to break down and dangerous on the counter and set pieces. Thought Suburbs would show a bit more but in due respect were dealt with well by Bays.
Well done to Bays on their first NL point and an enjoyable afternoon out

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