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Luke Brooke-Smith (Portsmouth FC | England)

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Posted August 20, 2026 22:31 · last edited August 20, 2026 22:35

Niche Cache.
Nice to read he has a big support network around him already in the UK. He's going to settle in there just fine, a big help to hit the ground running. 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4820146728264599

Guess who held their place in the Portsmouth starting eleven for the Championship opener? Luke Brooke-Smith got 52 minutes on the left-wing against West Ham in the EFL Cup defeat. He then got 45 minutes against QPR in a very similar game to get the Champo rolling. In both games, Pompey started brightly and scored first... only concede goals late in the first half on the way to a 3-1 defeat.  

Not a great start for Pompey and we know that LBS is only starting because of injuries elsewhere. Even still, it’s hard not to be fizzed about an 18yo kiwi starting in week one of the Championship regardless of the circumstances. He showed a bit more in his second competitive outing, with his very first touch seeing him drive straight towards his marker to take him on. He was tackled and then conceded a foul... but his big effort to rush back and make a challenge near halfway got a loud cheer from the home fans.

Plus he mustered a pair of shot attempts: one angling inwards popping on target from 20 metres out, the other attempting to turn home a low drilled cross from the middle of the goal but getting blocked by a defender in close attendance. The main thing is the confidence. He already looks like he feels he belongs. You can catch a full replay over here if you wanna compile your own scouting report.

The fact Brooke-Smith only played half a game is because reinforcements are arriving. The lad who replaced him was Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, newly on loan from Chelsea, who is actually six months younger than LBS. That was his debut for Pompey. Another new addition, Marko Milovanović, got about twenty minutes off the bench later on. These are bonus minutes for LBS early in his Pompey tenure and eventually he’ll settle back onto the bench, although hopefully he’s doing enough to ensure he keeps getting cameos.

Luke also did a few media duties through the week, including an extended chat with Portsmouth’s in-house media team. In that he mentioned how former Wellington Phoenix forward David Ball has been helping him settle – Ball is involved as a Player Liaison Manager for GSW Football, the agency that represents LBS. Matt Garbett and Xuan Loke are also repped by those fellas. Brooke-Smith also confirmed that his parents and sister have moved to England (though he has an apartment of his own) and that around 20 of his English-based whanau were there at London Stadium to support him on debut last week. He called his All Whites debut the best day of his life and spoke about how from that moment he was determined to test himself overseas, mentioning the likes of Chris Wood and Elijah Just as inspiration. And he also affirmed his desire to be the kind of player who gets the fans up out of their seats when he’s on the ball.

LBS: “I started at a club called Hora Hora at the top of New Zealand in Whangarei and then moved to a couple of clubs around there. Then when I was around 11, I moved six hours to the middle of the North Island and played for Cambridge for about four years, my local club. Played six months with the first team at 15 and then moved on to Hamilton Wanderers, about half an hour away, at the semi-pro level. From there I got asked to come down to trial, July 2024 just after my sixteenth [birthday], at the Wellington Phoenix. Got offered a three-year contract with them and started playing at a young age which maybe caught the eye of a few people and I got lucky enough that Portsmouth reached out and as soon as I talked with them I knew I wanted to come here.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sChKJr6W3-o

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coochiee edited August 20, 2026 22:35
Niche Cache.
Nice to read he has a big support network around him already in the UK. He's going to settle in there just fine, a big help to hit the ground running. 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4820146728264599

Guess who held their place in the Portsmouth starting eleven for the Championship opener? Luke Brooke-Smith got 52 minutes on the left-wing against West Ham in the EFL Cup defeat. He then got 45 minutes against QPR in a very similar game to get the Champo rolling. In both games, Pompey started brightly and scored first... only concede goals late in the first half on the way to a 3-1 defeat.  

Not a great start for Pompey and we know that LBS is only starting because of injuries elsewhere. Even still, it’s hard not to be fizzed about an 18yo kiwi starting in week one of the Championship regardless of the circumstances. He showed a bit more in his second competitive outing, with his very first touch seeing him drive straight towards his marker to take him on. He was tackled and then conceded a foul... but his big effort to rush back and make a challenge near halfway got a loud cheer from the home fans. Plus he mustered a pair of shot attempts: one angling inwards popping on target from 20 metres out, the other attempting to turn home a low drilled cross from the middle of the goal but getting blocked by a defender in close attendance. The main thing is the confidence. He already looks like he feels he belongs. You can catch a full replay over here if you wanna compile your own scouting report.

The fact Brooke-Smith only played half a game is because reinforcements are arriving. The lad who replaced him was Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, newly on loan from Chelsea, who is actually six months younger than LBS. That was his debut for Pompey. Another new addition, Marko Milovanović, got about twenty minutes off the bench later on. These are bonus minutes for LBS early in his Pompey tenure and eventually he’ll settle back onto the bench, although hopefully he’s doing enough to ensure he keeps getting cameos.

Luke also did a few media duties through the week, including an extended chat with Portsmouth’s in-house media team. In that he mentioned how former Wellington Phoenix forward David Ball has been helping him settle – Ball is involved as a Player Liaison Manager for GSW Football, the agency that represents LBS. Matt Garbett and Xuan Loke are also repped by those fellas. Brooke-Smith also confirmed that his parents and sister have moved to England (though he has an apartment of his own) and that around 20 of his English-based whanau were there at London Stadium to support him on debut last week. He called his All Whites debut the best day of his life and spoke about how from that moment he was determined to test himself overseas, mentioning the likes of Chris Wood and Elijah Just as inspiration. And he also affirmed his desire to be the kind of player who gets the fans up out of their seats when he’s on the ball.

LBS: “I started at a club called Hora Hora at the top of New Zealand in Whangarei and then moved to a couple of clubs around there. Then when I was around 11, I moved six hours to the middle of the North Island and played for Cambridge for about four years, my local club. Played six months with the first team at 15 and then moved on to Hamilton Wanderers, about half an hour away, at the semi-pro level. From there I got asked to come down to trial, July 2024 just after my sixteenth [birthday], at the Wellington Phoenix. Got offered a three-year contract with them and started playing at a young age which maybe caught the eye of a few people and I got lucky enough that Portsmouth reached out and as soon as I talked with them I knew I wanted to come here.”