Should We Be Concerned About The Phoenix’s Kiwi Recruitment Processes?
The most refreshing thing about Mark Rudan so far has been his words. At a pivotal time in the Wellington Phoenix’s existence he showed up with steady confidence and an air of defiance. None of that pandering to recent history, Rudy straight away sat himself in that press conference hot seat and said all the right things. About culture and accountability, about season’s expectations, about new signings and about kiwi players.
This last week we’ve had our first proper glimpse into the actuality of all that. It’s one thing to say the right things to the right people but you’ve also gotta come through on that, you know? The Nix were in Oz for a training camp, at the end of which they took on Bentleigh Greens in the FFA Cup… and lost. A lower division team. Who played most of the game with ten men. Yeah, she wasn’t the best, mate. Not the best at all.
Still, there were some decent things in there, don’t get me wrong. The defensive shape looked good and Roy Krishna is still out there causing panic attacks for opposition defenders. But it looked very much like a preseason game with a squad that’s missing a few players in a few important positions. We’ve got room for seven more players in the squad. One, maybe two imports. One local U20 player. Hence at least five locals from Oz/NZ. Right now there are five Aussies and seven kiwis amongst the contracted players.
We also recently had Mark Rudan’s first notable extended interview with the Aussie media since he joined the Wellington Phoenix, which you can take a peek at right here. He’s still saying the right things, even to a different audience, and it was pretty funny hearing the commentators from over the border peaking so glowing of him during the FFA Cup game – gonna be weird if the Nix struggle this season having the Fox Sports jokers making excuses for the team rather than sticking the knife into their old mate. That’s the Rudan Effect, apparently.
Okay. That’s pretty much the scene all set but first a bit of necessary context from Rudes on Michal Kopczyński from in that interview linked above…
Mark Rudan: “In Michal’s case we simply had no holding midfielders. I had a lot of work to do, particularly with the foreign players. We looked at over 60 players in that position - we researched a lot, and he was one near the top of our list… He’s only been here for 10 days, and our league is very transitional. Against Roar he said he felt it was very tough. He’s finding his feet, and you won’t see the best of him yet, it will take time.”
No doubt that the team is short on midfielders – after watching Dylan Fox play ninety in the Cup there’s no way you can argue that – but the levels of effort that went into Kopy’s signing are kinda wild. It’s not easy to get guys to New Zealand. Rudan also tells a story about how Kopy’s fiancée is a rugby player which might’ve helped get the deal over the line (so to speak). There’s a standard of player necessary to fill those spots, Rudan’s made that clear, but that standard of player often doesn’t wanna travel to the other side of the world to play for a club which a quick google search will tell you isn’t really in the best place on or off the field at the mo’.
That last point is even bigger for locally-based dudes. Part of this argument is that the Nix, with their mostly average record of player development (it’s not bad, it’s not great… just average) and dodgy off-field situation, can’t expect every New Zealand player to want to drop everything and join them when other opportunities exist elsewhere. James McGarry played 15 minutes in three years with the Nix but started and looked sharp in his first game for Willem II in the Dutch top flight. Riddle me that one. Sarpreet Singh and Libby Cacace are great examples to the opposite but Matt Ridenton and Logan Rogerson are names you’ll not see on Phoenix team-sheets anymore.
This, ladies and gents, is where we get atomic. Here’s what Rudes had to say when asked about promoting kiwi talent…
“Of course, but to be honest, I don’t believe that what they are doing in terms of the rules and regulations are helping them develop. The local Premiership competition for example, allows a lot of foreign players. I want to give locals a chance, and I offered six the opportunity to come in and trial. Some didn’t take it - they expected a contract automatically. Conversely, I had a guy called Joe Harris who was playing in Sweden who was prepared to pay his own way to come and trial.
Unfortunately he wasn’t successful, but I thought his attitude, the sacrifice he made, was a good example for a Kiwi player - he went above and beyond to try and get a pro contract. You have players representing New Zealand at senior level who have never played professional football. I can fill the whole roster with Kiwi players, but right now, the environment they come from (semi-pro football) - it’s going to take them a year to develop. It just doesn’t work that way in pro football.”
I’m not down with that, frankly. The team that took the field for the FFA Cup game had three blatant holes in it: right back, centre mid and striker. There are options in all of those positions out there. Watching Ryan Lowry try to get stuck in at right back, I saw zero reason to think Justin Gulley or Jack-Henry Sinclair couldn’t do a better job. Damn, he had Louis Fenton on the bloody bench.
Strikers are a little tougher to come by locally because so many of those Premmy teams rely on imports in that position (as Rudan kinda hinted at) but Callum McCowatt is good enough to contribute for this team right away. He’s now off to Holland instead. Also there are extra imports in the Premiership because they increase the standard of the game in a small country, so you can’t say that in one breath then complain about the level of play in the next, sorry bro.
As for Dylan Fox in the midfield, you’re taking the piss if you think he could ever offer more there than Cam Howieson would. Only problem is that Howieson is one of those guys who rejected the chance to trial without a contract guarantee (notable to see Rudan confirming that story, even if he doesn’t name names). But, like… should Cam Howieson even have to trial? He isn’t some battler, he’s played professionally already. He’s been capped 13 times by New Zealand and at 23 he’s got his best years ahead of him. Filip Kurto never trialled, I’d bet ya that much.
That line about All Whites “who have never played professional football” is a bit of a myth too. There was a massively experimental squad that went to the Intercontinental Cup in India a few months back and even then the only guys without proper pro experience were Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Moses Dyer, Andre De Jong and Noah Billingsley. And Dyer has since signed in Norway while TAHW and ADJ were Nix trialists last month. Billingsley currently plays at uni in the States.
Andre De Jong played for his Aussie club Hakoah FC in a friendly against Sydney FC at the same time as the Nix played their FFA Cup game. That doesn’t sound the best for his prospects with the Nix, though it could be to do with him being cup tied (and, obviously, unsigned), might as well let him play somewhere after all. Sure hope so because Rudan might have his reservations about Premiership players but ADJ has also done the goods at NSW state level, same as where Rudan made his name as a coach. Same as where pretty much all the Aussie trialists are currently at. If he’s honest about prioritising locals then there’s your chance, amigo.
Hey and those are all only guys out of the last Premiership season. What about overseas pros at clubs below/equivalent to A-League level? Off the top of the noggin, say… Tyler Lissette, Nikko Boxall, Sam Brotherton, Jesse Edge, Mike Den Heijer, Francis De Vries, Joel Stevens, Cory Brown, Kyle Adams, James Musa and Kip Colvey. Now most of them would be happy to stay on the ladder where they are. But some might be keen. And all of them should be good enough.
I’m still a big fan of what Mark Rudan is doing overall, I just don’t really vibe with any of that response, to be honest. Love the attitude from Joe Harris, sure, but even then I think the Nix are being pretty tight-arse to have a guy fund his own way back from Sweden and then cut him after about a week. Hope they paid his return flight, at least. Hopefully this whole article is merely off-season induced paranoia but the fear with an Aussie coach has always been that they’d undervalue kiwi players. And maybe that’s happening here. And maybe those kiwi players really aren’t as good as all them Aussies lining up to play. But that’s not really the point. They’re good enough.
Rudan can’t be sentimental about this, he’s got to sign players of the necessary standard. He needs guys with the right attitude for his squad. Those factors are already shrinking the player pool in Aotearoa. Then chuck in that condition about needing to trial (which is understandable from both sides – Rudan needs to see guys in action but those guys don’t wanna leave work (/lucrative club match fees) for a month’s contract gamble) and the options are even smaller. It’s too easy to say they’re not playing at a high enough level. At some point Rudan’s gotta be the one to take the gamble if he’s genuine about kiwi players. Just saying.
If we do end up with more Australians than New Zealanders this season then that’d be disappointing but it’d hardly be a deal-breaker. Rudan’s entitled to sign the best players he can to form the best team he can. More poor results and the Nix are dead, they have to become competitive now. The concern is that I happen to think that there are kiwi players who could immediately improve this team and for whatever complicated reasons, partly their own doing and partly not, they aren’t playing for this football club.
Again, this is hardly the worst thing that could happen to the club. But if it does surreptitiously get overrun by Australians then remember that I was moaning about it first. Come on you Nix either way.