R7 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 23rd Nov | 7:00pm | RoF/SS7

Only 7 rounds in but there's already a slight whiff of desperation, really need the three points this week. Praying Hooper is fit

Must win, really. Sounds like Fenton is more likely to be fit than Hooper.

Will win easy, drew with Victory and didn't lose or concede a goal against Bye FC. We've got this! 

Refuse to be a part of the "whiff of desperation" brigade.After 6 rounds and only 5 points out of the 6 will stick with my stupidly optomistc approach thanks.

Brisbane will be on a bit of a high after their comeback (twice 2 goals down...) against City, yet it's the sort of game we must win to have a top 6 chance. Should be a good one.

Somebody Break into Fowler's hotel suite and plant a massive bag of white powder in there!

Well at least good to see some Nix players getting on the score sheet over the weekend.

McCowatt with 1, Piscoppo with 1 and Waine with 2 goals.

Or just an apple with a Queensland Fruit sticker on it.

MAF would go apeshark, while Customs may not even bat an eyelid over a bag of powder ("it's just a detergent for me socks, guv"). 

With Hooper out for another week or two should we start Waine?

Look forward to getting our first 3 points of the campaign! David Ball to score, that's all I'll say.

I'm in Melbourne this weekend and was wondering if there's a bar where local supporters watch the game?

He certainly would not use guv' as that is a cockney term-- he is a scouser. :)

Is Hooper out for another week?

Waine has done all that can be asked of him to earn a start IMO.

He gave all at weeNix and got injured, looked like the groin, but may be fixed by Saturday.

Rollo tweeted that Waine got subbed on the weekend because of cramp.

What would a Scouser say? Just showing my ignorance here.

Basically, if we can't win this game, we don't have any chances of making top 6.

COYN!!!!!

Worth noting this is a double header with weenix playing akl city at 3pm.

Ay ay mate. Mind your car for a pound?

Would get banned for saying  :)

"I am the Walrus, goo goo ga joob".

Or possibly, "Relax, don't do it, when you wanna come."

Why aim for 6th?  To do anything post season you need to have at least one home match

I think keep using him off the bench but up his minutes.  He's very young and inexperienced, we need to tread carefully and manage his development.

Have they announced anything or is that pessimism pretending to be fact again?

From what they've said, Hooper is progressing very slowly - no confirmation either way, though I'd assume he will be out or used sparingly.

Rollo said this back on the 15th and replied to a tweet on it to say Hooper did take part in training.

Ufuk Talay says Louis Fenton is further ahead than Gary Hooper in regards to their respective injuries. Both a chance to return for Brisbane Roar next Saturday but Fenton more likely than Hooper.

— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) November 15, 2019

Yeah, so once again don't state opinion as fact.

I wonder if we’ll see Hooper play the full 90 at all this season.

The forecast says: Doubtful.

Waste of money

don't need him to play a full 90 ever, as long as he scores a goal every 90 minutes then I'm happy.

"Should find out more on Friday but Louis Fenton was doing non-contact training and there was no sign of Gary Hooper. I do believe Hooper will be included in the match-day squad but not Fenton." - 

given his game time has been 25mins as a sub then 45mins starting and he's scored one in those two apperances I don't see how you get the 90mins across 10 games?

Because at the moment, he's averaging 23 minutes per game that he realistically could have played in (that's taking away the game that was on 3-4 days after he signed). And that average could get lower if he doesn't play on Saturday.

So Fenton is ahead of Hooper in recovery progress, and Hooper will be included but not Fenton?

Referee: Adam Kersey
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Lindsay
Assistant Referee 2: Sarah Jones
Fourth Official: Ben Abraham
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones

Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 2.Liam McGING, 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Te Atawhai HUDSON-WIHONGI, 5.Matti STEINMANN, 6.Tim PAYNE, 7.Reno PISCOPO, 8.Cameron DEVLIN, 9.David BALL, 10.Ulises DAVILA, 11.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 13.Liberato CACACE, 14.Alex RUFER, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 21.Callum MCCOWATT, 23.Walter SCOTT, 27.Steven TAYLOR (c), 31.Ben WAINE, 32. Sam SUTTON, 88. Gary HOOPER **2-4 to be omitted**

Ins: 2. Liam McGING (promoted), 23.Walter SCOTT (promoted), 88. Gary HOOPER (returning from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 16.Louis FENTON (shoulder)

Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Max CROCOMBE (gk), 2.Scott NEVILLE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Bradden INMAN, 12.Aiden O’NEILL, 13.Stefan MAUK, 14.George MELLS, 15.Aaron REARDON, 20.Aaron AMADI-HOLLOWAY, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Jake MCGING, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS **2-4 to be omitted**

Ins: 12.Aiden O’NEILL (promoted), 15.Aaron REARDON (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 19.Jack HINGERT (knee), 24.Connor O’TOOLE (international duty)