Welly Nix Signing Season Strolls On With Mitch Nichols and David Williams
What’s to feel about the Nix signing Mitch Nichols and David Williams? You’re forgiven if this latest unveiling doesn’t fill you with absolute glee, the club themselves did their usual bright side take with talk of two former Australian internationals but we’re talking seven combined caps there. Nichols last played in 2014, Williams in 2010. They have one combined start in those caps. Their international careers aren’t really selling points. They’re just journeyman Aussies, really.
However their combined A-League experience, with more than 350 games between them, is the real selling point. That doesn’t exactly get fairweather fans online booking their season tickets at a whim but Mark Rudan is right in playing up that side of things. The Phoenix don’t need to sign Australian players to be successful. People always said that about the Warriors in the NRL too but they’re doing okay with just the one at the moment.
But you also can’t deny that there are far more Aussies of an A-League standard out there ready to drop things and buy in to Mark Rudan’s Wellington Phoenix vision. Undoubtedly there are a dozen players, at least a dozen, in the kiwi Premiership who are good enough to play A-League. Those players deserve the opportunity and hopefully they’ll get exactly that. But, like… how far is this club going to go with a team of unproven locals? Any great squad has a balance of age, experience and leadership. Right now the Nix’s squad is severely lacking in dudes in that late-20s, early-30s age range and it’s shown in performances over the last couple seasons.
Where are you getting those players from? Well, either you’re importing them or you’re targeting Australians because the kiwi guys in that age range are probably already established as overseas pros with better offers to chase. If you’re a 30 year old kiwi player still playing in Aotearoa then you’ve probably given up the dream of playing professionally by then and even if the Nix come along and reignite it then we’re talking about someone with no more experience at this level than some of the trialists they’ve been working with. Not really meeting the criteria for that kinda signing.
There are guys overseas who might be enticed back, for sure. But while names like Jake Gleeson, Clayton Lewis and basically any other NZer who falls out of the immediate starting XI at his club get mentioned all the time, this is still only a small number of individuals each with their own designs on what they want their careers to be like, each with their own current living situations and that’s leaving very little bargaining room for a team like the Wellington Phoenix. But dig into the Aussie ranks and there are probably thirty of those players who’d answer their phone straight away.
Mitch Nichols and David Williams are two of those. Two who not only fit the bill as players but who fit the personality tests that Mark Rudan is looking for. He made that pretty clear in the press conference, talking about players ready to challenge themselves, to get outside of their comfort zone without seeking excuses or making assumptions. These are all words that he used himself. There are at least a dozen sufficiently talented Premiership players out there but how many also have that desperation and dedication that’s needed at this level? They might not even realise they need it yet, not when you’re coming out of the New Zealand system where natural skill is going to take you pretty far on its own because of the smaller player base.
So yeah nah, Nichols and Williams are far from sexy signings. But they’re dependable ones. They’re aware of what it takes to succeed at this level. It’s easy to imagine Williams winning over the fans. He’s a humble enough fella with a penchant for a stunning goal now and then, having once scored a hatty against the Nix for Melbourne City, at Westpac no less.
Nichols always seemed like more a dick, to be honest. Remember he served a four game ban at the start of last season after admitting to cocaine possession charges, which cost him a shot in Europe, then he left Perth in February citing family reasons, signed with a club in Indonesia but only lasted a week before leaving citing more family reasons. He’s been a chippy little bugger on the field too. A fairly risky signing yet also a player with a lot to prove, which could be super motivating. As for any past fan biases against him, just know that you care about that stuff a whole lot more than he does so up to you if you wanna hold onto that or not.
Rightio so here’s the Nix squad as it currently stands, players’ current ages in brackets to prove that earlier point. Imports are italicised.
GK – Filip Kurto (27), Ollie Sail (22), Keegan Smith (19)
DEF – Andrew Durante (36), Liberato Cacace (17), Dylan Fox (24), Tom Doyle (26), Louis Fenton (25), Ryan Lowry (24), Steven Taylor (32)
MID – Sarpreet Singh (19), Michał Kopczyński (26), Mitch Nichols (29)
FWD – Nathan Burns (30), Roy Krishna (30), David Williams (30)
Kopczyński hasn’t been unveiled yet but that’s coming soon. There are also significant talks that Jacob Tratt’s on his way back which would take things to 17 players out of 23. One of those will be an import, maybe even two if Roy Krishna is domesticised in time. They might be okay for defenders now, given that Doyle and Cacace are pretty versatile, but they need another striker, maybe a wide forward and probably two or three midfielders.
Pick your favourite trialists then. Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Andre De Jong, Callan Elliot and Josh Wallen all fit the description. A lot depends on how Rudan plans on using Krishna and Burns because if they’re playing wide in a front three then a centre-forward is a must. Also Kopczyński can be a direct replacement for Goran Paracki but we can’t overlook how much footy Matt Ridenton played last season too and somebody’s gotta pick up that slack.
Adam Parkhouse was released this week as well and it’s tough to find fault with that. He just wasn’t up to the standard and he’d had a fair few chances. Can’t really blame the situations he played in, Sarpreet Singh sure didn’t have that problem. Just hope he finds a better fit somewhere else. By the way, Parky played 36 times for the Nix. Marco Rojas played 21 times. Think on that a sec.
Meanwhile it sounds like Alex Rufer won’t be back and the lack of mentions of Monty Patterson’s name don’t sound promising at all.
The Nix are going on preseason camp to the Gold Coast soon, with their FFA Cup tie against Bentleigh Greens coming on August 7. Be pretty curious to see which, if any, trialists make their way along for that one.
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