but the thing is, he is/was a very good player and he's left the phoenix in this state. i guess whether this state is permanent or not is up to him
Do you really think that Watson is a good player? Genuinely interested.
Is/was, definitely. The national league was easy for him. Good enough to be signed for the Phoenix. Only good enough for the bench, but still good. That doesn't seem to be the case right now, but like I said whether or not this is a permanent state of affairs is up to him.
Saying that the NZFC/ASB Premiership was easy for him is very generous in my view. To me he always looked like a battler at that level, who managed to make his stats look reasonable rather than outstanding by making the most when playing the poorest teams in the competition. I'd hazard a guess that him being signed by the Nix was seen as a puzzling move by most who had seen him play at the level below the A-league.
I also wonder if he's now lost some of the drive/motivation too, he's not exactly a youngster anymore and it's hard to see big professional opportunities coming his way again.