Northern League 2022

Welcome aboard Takapuna AFC and Waiheke United for the 2022 Northern League.

Auckland City FC to cake walk it again? I haven't seen squads or who's moved where and whatnot. Anyone in the know who has the time and resources to post these, it would be much appreciated. Will be interesting to see how the new sides go as well - in particular, Waiheke United who took NRFL Div 1 last season (truncated as it may have been) with their foreign legion.

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As noted in their Facebook post from late last year they're on the hunt for Kiwi's - I'm sure they'll be able to get some guys over there who want to show their wares at this level, it will certainly be interesting to see who eventually lines up for them.

Season not far away from kickoff now. Draw ⬇️⬇️

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Won’t be so easy to attract young Kiwis there unless they basically moved over there, or were allowed to train only one night a week on the Island.

Otherwise the routine of 3 trainings a week, catching ferries (with the odd rough crossing in the rain) to and from Waiheke, mid winter late at night will very very quickly wear thin.

Don’t think any of the South American countries are on the NZ Immigration visa waiver list, so no new recruits from there until October???

Anything less than first for Auckland City will be failure I reckon, but to be fair the actual national league is the more important and there’s no seeding for finishing 2nd as opposed to 4th. They still have two NZ international quality keepers, which is weird, and have Adam Mitchell, Brotherton, Kaltack, Howieson, Kilkolly and have managed to add Ryan De Vries as well. They lost Addison Stewart to Suburbs but got Joe Lee from North Shore who’s pretty quality and still U20.

Auckland United will be top 3 as well imo, though they lost Monty Patterson who is pretty elite at this level; he was up top scorer with Alex Grieve and Kilkolly. They still have Mike Den Heijer who was their POTY, and have resigned a few guys on their IG. They did have Hudson-Wihongi but I haven’t seen him resign there yet. Jose Figueira is a good coach so he should help them a bit too, though he hasn’t seemed to be able to take anyway from ACFC with him. Oli Fay who was a key U20 for them was in Denmark trialling a month or so ago, idk if he’s still overseas.

Suburbs the other of the big three you’d expect to see come national league. Fairly sure they still have Hoani as coach, and who knows what Kalvin Kalua is up to as to whether he’s there or not. They’ll probably run pretty young again id imagine, but Stafford Dowling, who is a pretty decent fullback, has gone back down to Melville, and Christian Gray has gone to ACFC. They’ve signed Addison Stewart who is ‘04 and rated, and is in the U20 camps for 03/04, as well as keeper Joe Knowles who’s come back up to Auckland after going to St Peter’s Cambridge, as Ruben Parker has gone to the Nix. They might have lost key U20 defender, another in the NZ camps, as he was in Denmark with the aforementioned Oli Fay.

Fourth is anyone’s guess really. Birko were fourth last year, but have an Alex Grieve sized crater missing from their squad now, so whoever is set to replace him will have to do well. They’ve also lost Sanni Issa, who I personally don’t rate that highly, to Chch Utd, and Nathan Lobo to ACFC. They’ve kept Burfoot and Damo Hirst which is good, they’re quality players at this level, and signed a U20 from Shore in Brynn Sinclair who I don’t know at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop out of top 4, but Hobbo could do stuff with the squad.

Springs are possibly a good shout for top four, they just missed out last year, but of course there were unplayed games, so who knows. They’ve got a lot of guys from their academy, looking at their IG most of the players have been there at least 6 seasons, and up to 17 seasons. Kayne Vincent is decent enough, if not fading, and Dane Schnell is a quality player, bit of a forgotten guy of Des’ U20 World Cup team, even started vs Uruguay. Lots of U20 kids, but Adama Coulibaly is a big one; ‘05 I think, and played a bit last year, but you’d expect a bigger role this time. They’ve lost Danyon Drake who just wants to coach, and Zac Zoricich who has signed a youth contract with the Mariners (AU citizen).

Not sure too much where to rate the Hamilton teams tbh, Wanderers seem to have kept most of the same team, Semmy has gone to Australia, but he wasn’t his best last season, but they’ve added Brock Messenger who was relegated with Northern Rovers. Brock’s a good guy, but had to have knee surgery a couple years back so not what he used to be. They still have Tieku so that’s a big coup for them. Connor Probert is around too, he went to the U20 World Cup in 2017 so has quality, but didn’t really kick on like a lot of the others did.

Melville are in the same boat as far as I know. They’ve kept most players I think, bar Joe Knowles, but he wasn’t first choice keeper. Aaron Scott is still around, as is NZ U20 camp member John Oakman from Christchurch. Stafford Dowling is back, and they have Sean Liddicoat who missed all last season injured (he’s another from the 2017 U20 World Cup squad). They’ve signed the Mainland Prem YPOTY in 18yo Oliver Collotly, who bagged 4 in his first pre-season. Hard to judge them yet though, they seem pretty much the same as last year, where they were alright but inconsistent and finished lower-midtable, same as Wanderers.

Olympic got rid of Marshy, who apparently fell out with most of the squad towards the end of last season, and replaced him with his assistant, Liam Mulrooney. Honestly can’t say much more than that, I don’t know who they’ve signed, I don’t know who they’ve lost.

North Shore are pretty much the same. They got rid of McPherson at the back end of last year and replaced him with Valerio Raccuglia, who was most recently DOF at Bay Olympic, and also an analyst in Des’ U20 World Cup team. Player wise I can’t say much, I heard they signed Jaydyn Englefield from Northern Rovers, but aside from that, no social media = no idea.

Manukau are probably aiming higher than last year I’d reckon. They weren’t great under Kev Fallon, but ended up well clear of relegation with Rudy Mozr as coach. They’ve added current NZ U20 Moh Reynolds from Melville, possibly another ex-St. Peter’s Cambridge boarder, and Boon Ozawa from Bay Olympic, and they’ve kept guys like Bobadilla, Contrati, Wong, Khalifa, Khan. Keegan Linderboom is also back, but I didn’t see him last year to know if he’s still got it or not. Pretty decent squad, and Mozr seems to know his stuff, they could be a possible bolter for 4th if they hit form.

I can’t imagine too much from the two promoted sides, but maybe they’ll pull a few surprises. Taka have Millicich who’s a decent coach with experience, but it’s also reliant on players. The northern league forums say there’s a bit of unrest in the squad, but take that with a handful of salt. Player-wise, they don’t post signings so can’t say much. 

Waiheke I predict to struggle, simply because they’ll either have an entirely new squad that fits the rules, or the same squad which doesn’t. There was a lot of talk about them not even being allowed to promote, but they’re here. Of course they’re hindered by the population of the island and the travel times for non-islanders, so recruiting can’t be easy. Pretty sure in the McPherson days they trained on the mainland, so that might be the case again. That being said, if they want to play in the highest level comp in the country, then you have to be prepared to play within the registration rules.

My pick:

Auckland City

Auckland United

Eastern Suburbs

Western Springs

Birkenhead

Manukau

Hamilton 

Melville

Bay Olympic

North Shore

Takapuna

Waiheke

coochiee

Won’t be so easy to attract young Kiwis there unless they basically moved over there, or were allowed to train only one night a week on the Island.

Otherwise the routine of 3 trainings a week, catching ferries (with the odd rough crossing in the rain) to and from Waiheke, mid winter late at night will very very quickly wear thin.

Don’t think any of the South American countries are on the NZ Immigration visa waiver list, so no new recruits from there until October???

They'll certainly have to get creative. But I guess if you've got talented players around who aren't committed to another club and who want to try and push on at this level they may end up making the sacrifice. A chance to shine/a foot in the door so to speak.

It is a massive pain in the ass to get across there though. So somehow they'll probably have to be based there/live there already as it would be extremely cost prohibitive going back and forth.

Looking forward to all the regional leagues kicking off.

carlind

Anything less than first for Auckland City will be failure I reckon, but to be fair the actual national league is the more important and there’s no seeding for finishing 2nd as opposed to 4th. They still have two NZ international quality keepers, which is weird, and have Adam Mitchell, Brotherton, Kaltack, Howieson, Kilkolly and have managed to add Ryan De Vries as well. They lost Addison Stewart to Suburbs but got Joe Lee from North Shore who’s pretty quality and still U20.

Auckland United will be top 3 as well imo, though they lost Monty Patterson who is pretty elite at this level; he was up top scorer with Alex Grieve and Kilkolly. They still have Mike Den Heijer who was their POTY, and have resigned a few guys on their IG. They did have Hudson-Wihongi but I haven’t seen him resign there yet. Jose Figueira is a good coach so he should help them a bit too, though he hasn’t seemed to be able to take anyway from ACFC with him. Oli Fay who was a key U20 for them was in Denmark trialling a month or so ago, idk if he’s still overseas.

Suburbs the other of the big three you’d expect to see come national league. Fairly sure they still have Hoani as coach, and who knows what Kalvin Kalua is up to as to whether he’s there or not. They’ll probably run pretty young again id imagine, but Stafford Dowling, who is a pretty decent fullback, has gone back down to Melville, and Christian Gray has gone to ACFC. They’ve signed Addison Stewart who is ‘04 and rated, and is in the U20 camps for 03/04, as well as keeper Joe Knowles who’s come back up to Auckland after going to St Peter’s Cambridge, as Ruben Parker has gone to the Nix. They might have lost key U20 defender, another in the NZ camps, as he was in Denmark with the aforementioned Oli Fay.

Fourth is anyone’s guess really. Birko were fourth last year, but have an Alex Grieve sized crater missing from their squad now, so whoever is set to replace him will have to do well. They’ve also lost Sanni Issa, who I personally don’t rate that highly, to Chch Utd, and Nathan Lobo to ACFC. They’ve kept Burfoot and Damo Hirst which is good, they’re quality players at this level, and signed a U20 from Shore in Brynn Sinclair who I don’t know at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop out of top 4, but Hobbo could do stuff with the squad.

Springs are possibly a good shout for top four, they just missed out last year, but of course there were unplayed games, so who knows. They’ve got a lot of guys from their academy, looking at their IG most of the players have been there at least 6 seasons, and up to 17 seasons. Kayne Vincent is decent enough, if not fading, and Dane Schnell is a quality player, bit of a forgotten guy of Des’ U20 World Cup team, even started vs Uruguay. Lots of U20 kids, but Adama Coulibaly is a big one; ‘05 I think, and played a bit last year, but you’d expect a bigger role this time. They’ve lost Danyon Drake who just wants to coach, and Zac Zoricich who has signed a youth contract with the Mariners (AU citizen).

Not sure too much where to rate the Hamilton teams tbh, Wanderers seem to have kept most of the same team, Semmy has gone to Australia, but he wasn’t his best last season, but they’ve added Brock Messenger who was relegated with Northern Rovers. Brock’s a good guy, but had to have knee surgery a couple years back so not what he used to be. They still have Tieku so that’s a big coup for them. Connor Probert is around too, he went to the U20 World Cup in 2017 so has quality, but didn’t really kick on like a lot of the others did.

Melville are in the same boat as far as I know. They’ve kept most players I think, bar Joe Knowles, but he wasn’t first choice keeper. Aaron Scott is still around, as is NZ U20 camp member John Oakman from Christchurch. Stafford Dowling is back, and they have Sean Liddicoat who missed all last season injured (he’s another from the 2017 U20 World Cup squad). They’ve signed the Mainland Prem YPOTY in 18yo Oliver Collotly, who bagged 4 in his first pre-season. Hard to judge them yet though, they seem pretty much the same as last year, where they were alright but inconsistent and finished lower-midtable, same as Wanderers.

Olympic got rid of Marshy, who apparently fell out with most of the squad towards the end of last season, and replaced him with his assistant, Liam Mulrooney. Honestly can’t say much more than that, I don’t know who they’ve signed, I don’t know who they’ve lost.

North Shore are pretty much the same. They got rid of McPherson at the back end of last year and replaced him with Valerio Raccuglia, who was most recently DOF at Bay Olympic, and also an analyst in Des’ U20 World Cup team. Player wise I can’t say much, I heard they signed Jaydyn Englefield from Northern Rovers, but aside from that, no social media = no idea.

Manukau are probably aiming higher than last year I’d reckon. They weren’t great under Kev Fallon, but ended up well clear of relegation with Rudy Mozr as coach. They’ve added current NZ U20 Moh Reynolds from Melville, possibly another ex-St. Peter’s Cambridge boarder, and Boon Ozawa from Bay Olympic, and they’ve kept guys like Bobadilla, Contrati, Wong, Khalifa, Khan. Keegan Linderboom is also back, but I didn’t see him last year to know if he’s still got it or not. Pretty decent squad, and Mozr seems to know his stuff, they could be a possible bolter for 4th if they hit form.

I can’t imagine too much from the two promoted sides, but maybe they’ll pull a few surprises. Taka have Millicich who’s a decent coach with experience, but it’s also reliant on players. The northern league forums say there’s a bit of unrest in the squad, but take that with a handful of salt. Player-wise, they don’t post signings so can’t say much. 

Waiheke I predict to struggle, simply because they’ll either have an entirely new squad that fits the rules, or the same squad which doesn’t. There was a lot of talk about them not even being allowed to promote, but they’re here. Of course they’re hindered by the population of the island and the travel times for non-islanders, so recruiting can’t be easy. Pretty sure in the McPherson days they trained on the mainland, so that might be the case again. That being said, if they want to play in the highest level comp in the country, then you have to be prepared to play within the registration rules.

My pick:

Auckland City

Auckland United

Eastern Suburbs

Western Springs

Birkenhead

Manukau

Hamilton 

Melville

Bay Olympic

North Shore

Takapuna

Waiheke

Fantastic summation mate. Completely agree with your table, too.

Think Addison Stewart and Adama Coulibaly are likely the best non-academy '04 and '05 talents in the country respectively.

Liam Gillion (good player for Western Suburbs last season) has also gone to ACFC - scored a rocket in his first preseason game - and Andrew Blake has joined Jose at AU.

Not sure what to think of Melville, think that if healthy they can usurp Wanderers. They've lost Lachie McIsaac to Cashmere Tech which is a blow, but gives more game time at LB to Campbell Brown who's a big local talent. Replaced Reynolds with Colloty which is an upgrade right now, and ofc adding Liddicoat, Dowling and Searle like you mentioned

Taka and Waiheke are still complete mysteries lol. Milicich might work his magic again with another undermanned squad, and who knows what Waiheke will look like

I've heard about this kid a little bit, so Is Addison Stewart the next big thing coming out of the domestic game?

YoungHeart

I've heard about this kid a little bit, so Is Addison Stewart the next big thing coming out of the domestic game?

 Certainly up there in terms of attackers. Got a run of a few starts for a stacked ACFC squad near the end of last season, beating out other talented players for those required U20 spots. Bagged three goals too

Marshy had to go and to be honest, his time is done at that level.
His style of coaching, where he literally coaches the entire game and all the passes, give the players no space to play themselves. Not knocking his coaching ability, just don't think he is suited for that level of football anymore, especially not when you are on your feet for 90 and a running commentary. Its easy to defend cause the players just do as Marshy tells them so just listen to his calls and you can pick them off.

Gerard Garriga to Auckland City. Huge loss for Springs

Bay Olympic I think have lost two of their strikers - Jared Colligan back to MAP is what I hear and the korean lad has gone back to Metro - which is a massive signing for the Black and Red as he is waaaay too good for Div 1 (gigantic grub though).

Marshy for those who don't know is now at promoted Onehunga Mangere and they are doing 4 nights a week in pre-season with a pretty new team from the one that got promoted - will be interesting to see what they can do.

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

We don't want the top local leagues full of foreign players though - how does that help the game in NZ?

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

kinda disagree on this one - Waiheke apart from being very colourful and vibrant off the pitch don't bring anything to the NRFL in a development sense - and let's not kid ourselves it is a development league.
When every other club in Auckland is grappling with the idea of TDP and club licencing the idea that Waiheke can just skip all of that doesn't seem very fair.
Be an awesome ASFA team and have a deep cup run instead.

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

Can't agree, if you wanna play with the big boys, you gotta play by the rules. If Waiheke aren't keen for that then they should have turned down promotion. We can't be having exceptions handed out at will just because particular teams are slack in developing NZ players. 

just FYI - good timing for this debate:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/voices/audio/2018832789/it-s-ironic-not-inclusive-footballers-on-the-foreign-player-regulation

very tough indeed, I get what they're trying to do with the rule - stop clubs importing foreign players to better their squad as well as encouraging the development of NZ youth. Sucks if you're a club like Waiheke whose footballing community is essentially made up of immigrants or people travelling on working visas and the like. Maybe the rule needs to be fleshed out better and rather than setting a limit for non-NZ born players set a limit on non-resident players.

chopah

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

kinda disagree on this one - Waiheke apart from being very colourful and vibrant off the pitch don't bring anything to the NRFL in a development sense - and let's not kid ourselves it is a development league.
When every other club in Auckland is grappling with the idea of TDP and club licencing the idea that Waiheke can just skip all of that doesn't seem very fair.
Be an awesome ASFA team and have a deep cup run instead.

Absolutely fair enough. Just disagree with the rule, is all. Waiheke gambled on calling NZF's bluff and failed

Is there any prestige in winning this anymore or is it all about finishing top four?

Buffon II

Is there any prestige in winning this anymore or is it all about finishing top four?

I see it as similar to the conferences in MLS, where it’s still an achievement to win, and you get a trophy for doing so, but it’s more a mean to an end rather than the end. If Auckland City won Northern League, but Springs won the National League after finishing fourth, Springs would have had the more successful season. 

mrsmiis

chopah

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

kinda disagree on this one - Waiheke apart from being very colourful and vibrant off the pitch don't bring anything to the NRFL in a development sense - and let's not kid ourselves it is a development league.
When every other club in Auckland is grappling with the idea of TDP and club licencing the idea that Waiheke can just skip all of that doesn't seem very fair.
Be an awesome ASFA team and have a deep cup run instead.

Absolutely fair enough. Just disagree with the rule, is all. Waiheke gambled on calling NZF's bluff and failed

personally I think the rule is right but the wrong criteria applied - it should be that a resident is ok, not that they have to be a citizen.  

chopah

mrsmiis

chopah

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

kinda disagree on this one - Waiheke apart from being very colourful and vibrant off the pitch don't bring anything to the NRFL in a development sense - and let's not kid ourselves it is a development league.
When every other club in Auckland is grappling with the idea of TDP and club licencing the idea that Waiheke can just skip all of that doesn't seem very fair.
Be an awesome ASFA team and have a deep cup run instead.

Absolutely fair enough. Just disagree with the rule, is all. Waiheke gambled on calling NZF's bluff and failed

personally I think the rule is right but the wrong criteria applied - it should be that a resident is ok, not that they have to be a citizen.  

Agree, surprised to see it is citizenship rather than PR that is the bar.

chopah

mrsmiis

chopah

mrsmiis

Doloras

My friend who lives on Waiheke can't go a week without another tweet about how "racist" the locally-born-player requirement is, lol

It's not necessarily racist but it's flawed as hell. Originally brought in to limit teams with influence like ACFC and Tech, but has the natural effect of limiting ethnic teams who happen to get promoted. The club's a source of identity and pride for the Central and South American diaspora in Auckland (especially with Greenhithe gone from NRFL Div 2), and they aren't sweeping up foreign players like in the McPherson days, so I don't see the issue with Waiheke being allowed to field the foreign players they got promoted with. NZF knew about the concept of Waiheke and neglected to cater to their obvious club identity. Making them sign a whole team of NZ-born rejects from other clubs (which they're going to have an incredibly tough time doing, anyway) is just boring.

Perhaps a limit on new foreign signings would be more relevant

kinda disagree on this one - Waiheke apart from being very colourful and vibrant off the pitch don't bring anything to the NRFL in a development sense - and let's not kid ourselves it is a development league.
When every other club in Auckland is grappling with the idea of TDP and club licencing the idea that Waiheke can just skip all of that doesn't seem very fair.
Be an awesome ASFA team and have a deep cup run instead.

Absolutely fair enough. Just disagree with the rule, is all. Waiheke gambled on calling NZF's bluff and failed

personally I think the rule is right but the wrong criteria applied - it should be that a resident is ok, not that they have to be a citizen.  

Couldn't the big clubs flaunt this, and organise jobs for their imports and hence residency?

20 Legend

Couldn't the big clubs flaunt this, and organise jobs for their imports and hence residency?

perhaps - but even the biggest clubs I know can't make full-time jobs in bulk appear out of thin air.  So at most it might be one or two players at one or two clubs?  seems like an alright side effect.

20 Legend

Couldn't the big clubs flaunt this, and organise jobs for their imports and hence residency?

 You're not eligible for permanent residency until after 2 years in the country and meet a ton of criteria, so if they want to make that level of long term investment in someone, good luck to them i guess.

aitkenmike

20 Legend

Couldn't the big clubs flaunt this, and organise jobs for their imports and hence residency?

 You're not eligible for permanent residency until after 2 years in the country and meet a ton of criteria, so if they want to make that level of long term investment in someone, good luck to them i guess.

That - residency vs permanent residency - is an important distinction with any possible rule change though right?

How many of the Waiheke squad are on residency vs permanent residency? (Genuine question?)

20 Legend

aitkenmike

20 Legend

Couldn't the big clubs flaunt this, and organise jobs for their imports and hence residency?

 You're not eligible for permanent residency until after 2 years in the country and meet a ton of criteria, so if they want to make that level of long term investment in someone, good luck to them i guess.

That - residency vs permanent residency - is an important distinction with any possible rule change though right?

How many of the Waiheke squad are on residency vs permanent residency? (Genuine question?)

The Club Captain (now plays for 2nd team if he plays at all) is my brother’s tenant at Little Oneroa! An Argy he has his PR, and with his Argy wife they now have a NZ born kid

Will be a few like him I think have PR or are in the throes of getting PR. After all with Covid most them have stayed in NZ the last 2 years

Only one of their many South American players has managed to acquire citizenship (Emi Candia) and they haven't managed to reign in many mainland New Zealanders at all - could shape up to be a long season. They've signed Roshan Calustre, talented young defender I believe who started for Northland, and a few guys playing U23s last year from various Auckland clubs - rest of the Kiwis will be their own Waiheke kids I'm assuming

Could be an interesting battle between the two promoted teams and NSU to see who goes down. All three squads not quite looking up to it on paper

mrsmiis

Only one of their many South American players has managed to acquire citizenship (Emi Candia) and they haven't managed to reign in many mainland New Zealanders at all - could shape up to be a long season. They've signed Roshan Calustre, talented young defender I believe who started for Northland, and a few guys playing U23s last year from various Auckland clubs - rest of the Kiwis will be their own Waiheke kids I'm assuming

Could be an interesting battle between the two promoted teams and NSU to see who goes down. All three squads not quite looking up to it on paper

 is there squad lists out?

HBunited fan

mrsmiis

Only one of their many South American players has managed to acquire citizenship (Emi Candia) and they haven't managed to reign in many mainland New Zealanders at all - could shape up to be a long season. They've signed Roshan Calustre, talented young defender I believe who started for Northland, and a few guys playing U23s last year from various Auckland clubs - rest of the Kiwis will be their own Waiheke kids I'm assuming

Could be an interesting battle between the two promoted teams and NSU to see who goes down. All three squads not quite looking up to it on paper

 is there squad lists out?

nope - just got to troll Comet to find out.

First half hat trick for Tom Boss 3 nil @BayOlympic over @NSUAFC_Official @NZ_Football

— Bay Olympic Soccer (@BayOlympic) March 26, 2022

Yep, North Shore United might struggle this season. That was the first half done and dusted.

*Edit* Actually got Takapuna and North Shore mixed up 😅 They should go alright, but that's a poor start to the campaign.

How is there not official squad lists out from northern football? Not doing simple things like that bug the hell out of me.

watching_from_far

How is there not official squad lists out from northern football? Not doing simple things like that bug the hell out of me.

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Here's Eastern Suburbs, if that helps? 😅

But yes I agree, piss poor. Should be a set date and squad lists are released to the public. Makes the competition look rather tinpot in my opinion. 

@coochiee appreciate the insight. Seems bizarre that a family with a child born here can't play top tier football...

Re the lack of media coverage - just totally poor from seemingly everyone. With a few exceptions - most clubs totally lacking a social media presence before the game. Nothing on the NZF or AFF websites. Trying to see squads impossible, never-lone match faces to names.

A shame, before COVID I remember everyone getting pretty good at it all.

20 Legend

@coochiee appreciate the insight. Seems bizarre that a family with a child born here can't play top tier football...

Re the lack of media coverage - just totally poor from seemingly everyone. With a few exceptions - most clubs totally lacking a social media presence before the game. Nothing on the NZF or AFF websites. Trying to see squads impossible, never-lone match faces to names.

A shame, before COVID I remember everyone getting pretty good at it all.

 
The Tribe app has lineups at exactly an hour before kick off, and scores within a few minutes of full time, and then goalscorers within an hour or two. Club wise it’s pretty poor, and in game updates aren’t that easy to come by though.

NZ Football page - National League - Find the match you want, and match centre. There's your players on both ends (although I recognise that this is merely lineups not squad but you can figure out squads from it).

Went to Taka (1) v Eastern Suburbs (0) at taharoto yesterday.
Very windy and usual hard ground at start of the season so conditions difficult but awful game. 
As a newly promoted side Taka were ecstatic with the win.
Didn't recogniose many names in either side . Milicich (son of ) for Taka , and Lisette (red card with 20 to go for last man foul) and Stewart for Suburbs.
taks goal came when left CB for Suburbs didn't push up with the rest and left taka with a one on one which was finished well.
Like any Milicich side Taka were well organised , pressed well ,very direct.
Suburbs ? Lots of tall timber. Feel that they aim to physically batter sides.
Not much football played. Neither side had much in creativity.
Can't see either side being more than mid table at best although early days. Taka may survive. Suburbs may have a long season 

Tbf i think survival for Taka is the goal, as it is for most newly promoted sides.

You can watch the whole Taka vs ES Suburbs match, or some highlights on YouTube:

Full replay
Highlights

I'm watching a bit of the game now. In recent years Eastern Surburbs have definitely trended toward mediocrity and this year looks like another step in that direction... lots of players who have been taught for 10 years to play square balls but no one exciting.