The next "Nix in Auckland" game will be as the visiting team
Nix v Sydney on 16th March doesn't have a venue announced yet. I'm pretty sure they said there will be two Auckland games again, so that probably be Auckland again.
If it's not, I'll be watching us play from a hotel in Auckland
When I redeemed my club membership ticket for last weekend, Stephanie warned me there might not be another AKL game so maybe I should cash in both tickets and bring a friend
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
We can contract up to 9 players on Scholarship deals. I would expect us to dish a few of those out to try and keep the cream of the crop.
Intel I have is that they are saving the scholarships for the younger players. Quite a few of the current year will be let go. To "Greener" pastures maybe?
Probably not the right thread but, going forward, what way will our phoenix fans on here who are not based in either Wellington or Auckland go with their support? I have friends in both Christchurch and Napier who tell me Phoenix it is. That could be though more of an anti Auckland thing rather than a pro Wellington commitment.
Wellington has 16 years of history behind them now, that counts for something when you look at support. People aren't going to just throw away the commitment that they've made in the club because there is an alternative. I'd expect Wellington to retain quite a few Auckland fans as well, at least from their current supporter base.
But, my assumption will also be that Phoenix will be the "South of the Bombay" team and that they'll continue to take one or two home games on the road.
Probably not the right thread but, going forward, what way will our phoenix fans on here who are not based in either Wellington or Auckland go with their support? I have friends in both Christchurch and Napier who tell me Phoenix it is. That could be though more of an anti Auckland thing rather than a pro Wellington commitment.
I'm from Tauranga. I'll cheer for both teams but probably cheer for the Nix if they play one another. Im just happy to be able to watch more NZ football to be honest.
If I was to ever move up to Auckland I think my allegiance would have to change. Especially if they have a waterfront stadium, I mean come on how sick would that be.
I live closer to Auckland than Wellington but the Nix will remain my team given the history and that I was born in Wellington and spent a few of my childhood years there.
Having said that I suspect Auckland will become my second team who I'd like to see win unless they're playing the Nix, so long as they don't ruthlessly poach Nix players from day dot, or unless they become so successful that I want to see them lose for that reason alone.
Was a really unbelievably small crowd. Tickets were reasonably priced I thought. Do football fans hate going to Mt Smart that much? If so, not a great omen for the Auckland team.
The pretty average All Whites crowd from March was clearly boosted heavily by Chinese fans. There would have been far more people at that game than this one. Maybe the team needs to think long and hard about trying to pick up a Chinese and/or Indian star to appeal to immigrant communities
The Knights had a Chinese u23 representative. It didn't help them much.
I live in Napier, spend a lot of my youth in Wellington, played in the Central League, have family there. Lived in Auckland for over 30 years, played and coached in the Northern League, have friends there. Been a Nix supporter from day one. Was living in Brisbane when the A League started and chose The Roar as my team. Went ti the first game of the A League in Brisbane, Roar vs NZ (Knights was it?) son and I decked out in Roar gear and guess what? I couldn’t bring myself to cheer against the NZ team. So I am going to wait until Wellington and Auckland play each other and see what my brain tells me. I might end up following both and be neutral when they play each other. I don’t know…..it is so unfair…imanixsupporter
I live closer to Auckland than Wellington but the Nix will remain my team given the history and that I was born in Wellington and spent a few of my childhood years there.
Having said that I suspect Auckland will become my second team who I'd like to see win unless they're playing the Nix, so long as they don't ruthlessly poach Nix players from day dot, or unless they become so successful that I want to see them lose for that reason alone.
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
We can contract up to 9 players on Scholarship deals. I would expect us to dish a few of those out to try and keep the cream of the crop.
Intel I have is that they are saving the scholarships for the younger players. Quite a few of the current year will be let go. To "Greener" pastures maybe?
Might explain why as yet the latest batch of scholarship deals haven't been announced. Weenix finished their NL campaign over a week ago, and Chiefy would have had a fair idea through their whole campaign who he thought had a future in the senior squad. But then this launch of the Auckland team, and rumours Greeny is going to be their coach - which at Nix HQ would be confirmed or not already.
So are the 2 clubs & Weenix players now all negotiating who's staying in Welly and who's going north for 2024? And once the Auckland squad starts to get together who are they going to play? Warmup games next winter with Northern region clubs? Or would any signings from Weenix be better to stay in Welly longer, playing Central League until mid next winter say - before then going north.
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
We can contract up to 9 players on Scholarship deals. I would expect us to dish a few of those out to try and keep the cream of the crop.
Intel I have is that they are saving the scholarships for the younger players. Quite a few of the current year will be let go. To "Greener" pastures maybe?
Might explain why as yet the latest batch of scholarship deals haven't been announced. Weenix finished their NL campaign over a week ago, and Chiefy would have had a fair idea through their whole campaign who he thought had a future in the senior squad. But then this launch of the Auckland team, and rumours Greeny is going to be their coach - which at Nix HQ would be confirmed or not already.
So are the 2 clubs & Weenix players now all negotiating who's staying in Welly and who's going north for 2024? And once the Auckland squad starts to get together who are they going to play? Warmup games next winter with Northern region clubs? Or would any signings from Weenix be better to stay in Welly longer, playing Central League until mid next winter say - before then going north.
Might as well head up north, if the Phoenix don't plan on keeping them then they should move them on, it'd benefit the player to know realistically where they stand and give the game-time to the players they actually intend on contracting. A season in Northern League with the higher standard than Central League would be better, it helped Jackson Manuel who'd been in several matchdays before this weekend. Of course, other factors at play, maybe they are at Vic, or have Wellington as their home now after several years living there and don't fancy moving up and will just stay and join Olympic/Miramar.
Like - case study - Noah Karunaratne, it felt like he was getting the hype as the next one to break through, and that one of Talay's failings was not giving him his shot, but it's gone a bit quiet on him. He was academy player of the year last year and all. Had those Dutch (?) trial rumours post U20 WC, I don't know if he went, can't have been too extended if he did. Seems his hype has been transferred to Sloane-Rodrigues and he didn't play much National League. Does that mean Greenacre doesn't hype him or does Italiano dictate that those minutes should be given to Sloane-Rodrigues who he thinks has the future and is four years younger? If the latter then very possible he heads north and maybe straight into a senior deal.
There were no '02s in the Phoenix Reserves this year (Van Hattum doesn't count as he is a contracted pro), so that might mean the '03s move on for next year. That would be Karunaratne, plus guys like Dan McKay, Josh Rudland, Charlie Beale, Kaelin Nguyen, Jackson Manuel etc. EmmaB will know better than I. Could give them Scholarship deals, but are they just essentially youth contracts (ie not full wage)? If so, players turning twenty-one might think they need a senior gig rather than a youth gig anyway.
Is there an age cut off for senior deals? If not what if Greeny rates Sloane-Rodriguez so highly he tries to offer him a senior deal at Auckland FC. Doesn't mean he has to play him next season, but if the hype has some genuine substance....Greenacre will know S-R almost better than anyone.
Is gonna mean that this new Aucks team are quickly going to need to forge a relationship with an existing Northern Region club (aka Nix & Lower Hutt), so any players that do come up from Weenix, or even someone like JH-S if they sign him - has somewhere Auckland local to play next winter. That's until the new ALM club has close to a full squad (might happen about June/July as the visas arrive post European seasons), to do full pre season training, and probably play Northern Region clubs in friendlies. Or maybe with all that Foley cash they do an overseas tour in the USA or similar pre season.
Anyway what Northern Region club would mostly likely be open to some working relationship? Promoted clubs like Tauranga & East Coast Bays, looking to strengthen?
Just looked at the next couple of matches ahead of us, and without wanting to completely put the mockers on us, well, we'd have to be pretty warm favourites to go 7 unbeaten to start this season...
A-League is a wacky league though. Good teams beat bad teams all the time and form is so hard to predict.
Think we can acknowledge that WU have been a bit unlucky in a number of close games and perhaps don't deserve to sit bottom. I'm actually more confident for the Jets game we usually do well at home to them.
Is there an age cut off for senior deals? If not what if Greeny rates Sloane-Rodriguez so higher he tries to offer him a senior deal at Auckland FC. Doesn't mean he has to play him next season, but if the hype has some genuine substance....Greenacre will know S-R almost better than anyone.
Is gonna mean that this new Aucks team are quickly going to need to forge a relationship with an existing Northern Region club (aka Nix & Lower Hutt), so any players that do come up from Weenix, or even someone like JH-S if they sign him - has somewhere Auckland local to play next winter. That's until the new ALM club has close to a full squad (might happen about June/July as the visas arrive post European seasons), to do full pre season training, and probably play Northern Region clubs in friendlies. Or maybe with all that Foley cash they do an overseas tour in the USA or similar pre season.
Anyway what Northern Region club would mostly likely be open to some working relationship? A promoted clubs like Tauranga & East Coast Bays, looking to strengthen?
Believe you me CG is not giving GSR a contract anytime soon. Greeny was told who he had to play in NL, what positions they had to play and the minutes they had to get...including players that he believed were nowhere near ready to play CL or NL.
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
We can contract up to 9 players on Scholarship deals. I would expect us to dish a few of those out to try and keep the cream of the crop.
Intel I have is that they are saving the scholarships for the younger players. Quite a few of the current year will be let go. To "Greener" pastures maybe?
Might explain why as yet the latest batch of scholarship deals haven't been announced. Weenix finished their NL campaign over a week ago, and Chiefy would have had a fair idea through their whole campaign who he thought had a future in the senior squad. But then this launch of the Auckland team, and rumours Greeny is going to be their coach - which at Nix HQ would be confirmed or not already.
So are the 2 clubs & Weenix players now all negotiating who's staying in Welly and who's going north for 2024? And once the Auckland squad starts to get together who are they going to play? Warmup games next winter with Northern region clubs? Or would any signings from Weenix be better to stay in Welly longer, playing Central League until mid next winter say - before then going north.
Might as well head up north, if the Phoenix don't plan on keeping them then they should move them on, it'd benefit the player to know realistically where they stand and give the game-time to the players they actually intend on contracting. A season in Northern League with the higher standard than Central League would be better, it helped Jackson Manuel who'd been in several matchdays before this weekend. Of course, other factors at play, maybe they are at Vic, or have Wellington as their home now after several years living there and don't fancy moving up and will just stay and join Olympic/Miramar.
Like - case study - Noah Karunaratne, it felt like he was getting the hype as the next one to break through, and that one of Talay's failings was not giving him his shot, but it's gone a bit quiet on him. He was academy player of the year last year and all. Had those Dutch (?) trial rumours post U20 WC, I don't know if he went, can't have been too extended if he did. Seems his hype has been transferred to Sloane-Rodrigues and he didn't play much National League. Does that mean Greenacre doesn't hype him or does Italiano dictate that those minutes should be given to Sloane-Rodrigues who he thinks has the future and is four years younger? If the latter then very possible he heads north and maybe straight into a senior deal.
There were no '02s in the Phoenix Reserves this year (Van Hattum doesn't count as he is a contracted pro), so that might mean the '03s move on for next year. That would be Karunaratne, plus guys like Dan McKay, Josh Rudland, Charlie Beale, Kaelin Nguyen, Jackson Manuel etc. EmmaB will know better than I. Could give them Scholarship deals, but are they just essentially youth contracts (ie not full wage)? If so, players turning twenty-one might think they need a senior gig rather than a youth gig anyway.
Noah had a health issue earlier this year. Back to fitness now but a little too late.
Correct on all the names above and add Tollervey to the list.
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
GSR was born in Hong Kong and attends Wellington High School. Chief (and Zawada) are the ones giving him props, I don’t see him leaving.
Eh he was raised for the vast majority of his life in Auckland and only moved to Wellington in 2022 when he joined the Nix
Look GSR maybe very happy in Welly, especially yes given the hype he's got from Chiefy & Zawada. But it's not just him, it's all the uncontracted young kids in the Weenix CL team, and even the next team down. Do they follow Greenacre up to Auckland. I'm sure he's spoken to a few of them, and there will already be plans afoot for an Auckland FC Academy - that for sure will be well funded/resourced.
For the moment based on the above, seems it's those uncontracted guys a bit older at around age 20 (born 2003) who are mostly likely to head north. They can't all make the Nix senior squad, and they know they are always at risk of being overtaken by the 04 Weenix boys or younger, so yeah makes sense they are the ones most likely to grab any Aucks FC pro opportunity Greeny gives them. It may not come around again.
Look at 21 yr old (02 born) OVH. Zawada is injured and he still doesn't get any mins on Saturday, and now young Luke Supyk could overtake him in the pecking order.
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
GSR was born in Hong Kong and attends Wellington High School. Chief (and Zawada) are the ones giving him props, I don’t see him leaving.
Eh he was raised for the vast majority of his life in Auckland and only moved to Wellington in 2022 when he joined the Nix
Look GSR maybe very happy in Welly, especially yes given the hype he's got from Chiefy & Zawada. But it's not just him, it's all the uncontracted young kids in the Weenix CL team, and even the next team down. Do they follow Greenacre up to Auckland. I'm sure he's spoken to a few of them, and there will already be plans afoot for an Auckland FC Academy - that for sure will be well funded/resourced.
For the moment based on the above, seems it's those uncontracted guys a bit older at around age 20 (born 2003) who are mostly likely to head north. They can't all make the Nix senior squad, and they know they are always at risk of being overtaken by the 04 Weenix boys or younger, so yeah makes sense they are the ones most likely to grab any Aucks FC pro opportunity Greeny gives them. It may not come around again.
Look at 21 yr old (02 born) OVH. Zawada is injured and he still doesn't get any mins on Saturday, and now young Luke Supyk could overtake him in the pecking order.
Foley isnt going to fill his new team with a bunch of CL kids though is he. He's gonna bring in some experienced pros, so good aleague talent and some "big name" vias players to start the teaqm off, there may well be a few poached juniors but theya rent making the starting XI immediately. Given the aleague doiesnt have a place for reserve teams and I doubt Foley will have negotiated his reserves playing in the Auckland comp in year 1 is moving right away the smartest option? unless you're guaranteed a spot in the 23?
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
GSR was born in Hong Kong and attends Wellington High School. Chief (and Zawada) are the ones giving him props, I don’t see him leaving.
Eh he was raised for the vast majority of his life in Auckland and only moved to Wellington in 2022 when he joined the Nix
Look GSR maybe very happy in Welly, especially yes given the hype he's got from Chiefy & Zawada. But it's not just him, it's all the uncontracted young kids in the Weenix CL team, and even the next team down. Do they follow Greenacre up to Auckland. I'm sure he's spoken to a few of them, and there will already be plans afoot for an Auckland FC Academy - that for sure will be well funded/resourced.
For the moment based on the above, seems it's those uncontracted guys a bit older at around age 20 (born 2003) who are mostly likely to head north. They can't all make the Nix senior squad, and they know they are always at risk of being overtaken by the 04 Weenix boys or younger, so yeah makes sense they are the ones most likely to grab any Aucks FC pro opportunity Greeny gives them. It may not come around again.
Look at 21 yr old (02 born) OVH. Zawada is injured and he still doesn't get any mins on Saturday, and now young Luke Supyk could overtake him in the pecking order.
Foley isnt going to fill his new team with a bunch of CL kids though is he. He's gonna bring in some experienced pros, so good aleague talent and some "big name" vias players to start the teaqm off, there may well be a few poached juniors but theya rent making the starting XI immediately. Given the aleague doiesnt have a place for reserve teams and I doubt Foley will have negotiated his reserves playing in the Auckland comp in year 1 is moving right away the smartest option? unless you're guaranteed a spot in the 23?
I assume a Lower Hutt-like partnership in the Northern League will pop up from 2025, in lieu of an actual Auckland reserve team
That will change somewhat. Some un contracted Weenix youngsters will definitely follow Greenacre to Auckland. Sloane-Rodriguez is from the 09?
GSR was born in Hong Kong and attends Wellington High School. Chief (and Zawada) are the ones giving him props, I don’t see him leaving.
Eh he was raised for the vast majority of his life in Auckland and only moved to Wellington in 2022 when he joined the Nix
Look GSR maybe very happy in Welly, especially yes given the hype he's got from Chiefy & Zawada. But it's not just him, it's all the uncontracted young kids in the Weenix CL team, and even the next team down. Do they follow Greenacre up to Auckland. I'm sure he's spoken to a few of them, and there will already be plans afoot for an Auckland FC Academy - that for sure will be well funded/resourced.
For the moment based on the above, seems it's those uncontracted guys a bit older at around age 20 (born 2003) who are mostly likely to head north. They can't all make the Nix senior squad, and they know they are always at risk of being overtaken by the 04 Weenix boys or younger, so yeah makes sense they are the ones most likely to grab any Aucks FC pro opportunity Greeny gives them. It may not come around again.
Look at 21 yr old (02 born) OVH. Zawada is injured and he still doesn't get any mins on Saturday, and now young Luke Supyk could overtake him in the pecking order.
Foley isnt going to fill his new team with a bunch of CL kids though is he. He's gonna bring in some experienced pros, so good aleague talent and some "big name" vias players to start the teaqm off, there may well be a few poached juniors but theya rent making the starting XI immediately. Given the aleague doiesnt have a place for reserve teams and I doubt Foley will have negotiated his reserves playing in the Auckland comp in year 1 is moving right away the smartest option? unless you're guaranteed a spot in the 23?
I assume a Lower Hutt-like partnership in the Northern League will pop up from 2025, in lieu of an actual Auckland reserve team
I expect you're right. But that doesnt give anywhere for the supposed Greenacre expdus to go in 2024 unless they are getting first team contracts.
Rumours like these are peddled by people who don't realise that all four Auckland sides finished above the Nix Reserves in the National League.
Seriously, maybe there could be one or two absolute standouts, but in terms of youth to provide squad depth, they'll be focussed much more on some of the best Northern League lads (Knowles, Lobo, Dylan Gardiner, Aaryan Raj, Joe Lee, Liam Gillion, etc.)
Rumours like these are peddled by people who don't realise that all four Auckland sides finished above the Nix Reserves in the National League.
Seriously, maybe there could be one or two absolute standouts, but in terms of youth to provide squad depth, they'll be focussed much more on some of the best Northern League lads (Knowles, Lobo, Dylan Gardiner, Aaryan Raj, Joe Lee, Liam Gillion, etc.)
A team of experienced NL players finishing above a team of constantly rotating youth doesn't automatically mean that the youth around those experienced players are better than those in the Phoenix reserves, especially given the Nix reserves NL team was weaker than their CL team due to the first team promotions. Hell, we just saw the Nix reserves score more goals against Olympic than Auckland City managed in 2 matches, the difference wasn't that big even with the weakened squad. Can't forget that the academy teams have different objectives to the club based ones.
I'm sure Greenie will be taking each young player on their merit, regardless of which club they came from and using them to fill in the gaps around imports, the experienced domestic players he can sign and any young Australians he feels can do a job. We've seen in the past how tough it is for even the best NL players to step up to the A-League.
I'm interested to see how quickly the Auckland YourNameHeres get their own academy up and running- the sooner the better as it takes a good 5-10 years for the academy to start producing A-League players regularly.
