Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

Vinnie, Galekovic, Broxham...anyone else still at the same club for the past 10 seasons?

Wow, that shows how much our squad has changed in the last couple of years if Fenton is our third longest serving player.

It's real:

https://twitter.com/WgtnPhoenixFC

Welcome to Wellington @Guifinkler!

jeez that shirt is hideous, could they not get him a home one?

Actually, Moss has had six seasons at the Phoenix. The upcoming season will be his 7th.

Only 17 players have played 50 or more matches; six of them are still signed:

· Andrew Durante - 206 appearances (9 seasons)

· Vince Lia - 171 appearances (10 seasons (he was injured for the entirety of the 2008-09 season))

· Glenn Moss - 118 appearances (6 seasons)

· Louis Fenton - 78 appearances (4 seasons)

· Roly Bonevacia - 54 appearances (2 seasons)

· Michael McGlinchey - 51 appearances (2 seasons)

Alex Rodriguez and Roy Krishna are both on 49 matches.

Roly is better, can't wait to see him prove it next season

Different players, in different positions. Impossible to compare.

I think we need Finkler more than we need Rolly though.

Completely disagree

I reckon Gui is going to be a gigantic flop; but I'm cynical like that.

Have watched a lot of MV games live and he drifts in and out of games way too much. Also think he's seen his best days already.

Happy to be proven wrong and for people to bring this post up when we win the league next season though.

Well, we have a lot of very good players already. We just had too few players last season. Hopefully Gui doesn't need to be brilliant all the time for us to play well, though I'd be really happy if he does, but also to take some of the heat off Roly, Mikey, Kosta and Roy. They can't double mark everyone! 

Ernie got something out of Vinnie, if he can do the same out of Finkler, it will be good to watch.

Lets find out - bring on next season already!!

Gui, Roly, Kosta, Roy & Mikey. I cannae wait.

I don't care if he drifts in and out of games as long as he sets up goals and gets those assists.

Our team desperately lacks service, and we saw that when they got it they could perform, heck Powell scored 4 goals in one game. 

Roly can beat a man, but that does nothing if he can't find an outlet. Gui will be that outlet.

They will actually both thrive together as Gui will mean that Roly has more space, and Roly will mean that Gui has less pressure on him. The fact that Roly has a reputation for shooting from range will also help Gui.

We will see Euro2016 style 5 man defending against us.

Is Kosta already in the country?

You'd have thought he was in the country at this time of year reguardles of who he was playing for. Visiting the family and friends in the off season, etc.

Reports are yes my barber is his Cousin and said he caught up with him the day before I saw him (last week)

It will be interesting, that's for sure.

Roly has been allowed to drift all over the place, with Riera holding his lines and picking up the scraps.

Roly will need to be far more disciplined if Gui is playing. Gui doesn't really track back. (I'm sure he can, but he's not quick enough to track back and then get forward effectively.

Powell's 4 goals was nothing to do with service. Every shot went in. Was just one of those games.

I imagine that Gui is going to be a false nine/trequartista type of player with Krishna and Kosta working harder in wider areas without the ball. Basically Gui is going to be what Hernandez was for us (http://leopoldmethod.com.au/wellington-5-0-melbourne-victory/)

Hopefully Gui will allow Krishna and Kosta to drift a bit wider and will give us another creative player in the attacking third to find ways to create quality chances. 

I am probably with CT on that, because what I saw that night was a distracted Jamieson in WSW defence. We broke quickly and ran well. Jamieson had clearly a slow day in the office that night, while Powell must have had two or three cups of espresso before the game I reckon.  The rest as they say is history.

What it does show is that if our strikers can get the ball in space they can score goals. None of our players had the vision that Gui has and so we just end up running it into a packed box rather than moving around and creating that space. For a good chunk of last season we were making hardly any chances, and I think none of the players at the pointy end of the park really trusted each other to make those chances, which is why we need a Gui.

Blake Powell is returning to Sydney for personal reasons. Released from contract.

Wow, that's surprising! At the same time, he'd definitely find himself lower in the pecking order with Kosta coming home and some kids being progressed with the 'Kiwi Kids' priority.

Still, would have liked him around for the year with his experience. Seems like a bit of a drop from first to second team now if someone falls over.

Blake Powell press release

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/article/powell-go...

Wonder if he get's a contract in Sydney.

So our strikers are:

Barbs, Krishna and Watson.

We need one more IMO to provide more competition, Ryan DeVries would be a good shout and fits our game plan.

Gutted, thought he would kick on after a full season under his belt and with Kosta and Finkler playing with him too.

Hope everything is okay with his family in Sydney. 

Will remain a Nix legend for that game against WSW alone!

Not many here will ever forget that day in Sydney's West, and don't forget the winner he scored against Brisbane in round 3. To score eight goals in a season with your first ten-odd games down the pecking order is a solid return, especially for a team at the bottom end. Good luck for the future Blake, even (no, especially) if that future is sky blue.

Seemed like a good bloke on the podcast as well.

Best of luck to him. I'll be gutted though if he scores a winner against us if he turns up in Sky Blue.

That was the famous day we (the YF contingent at the Spectators pub in Christchurch) ruined our vocal chords and had to have an extra pint of Crafty Beggars just to be able to say "...sh*t, eh?...." to each other in sheer amazement.

Check out the interview with Jacks keeper Lewis Italiano on The West Australian website https://t.co/vme6tRM6Pj pic.twitter.com/i5wVUfw1CA

— ECU Joondalup Soccer (@ECUJoondalupSoc) July 8, 2016

Takes a good hit. Punch

we've got the best Marc