Here it is. Concluding the coverage of a Premmy season that began with all manner of coaching upheaval and ended abruptly thanks to a global pandemic. The stuff in the middle was pretty good though. Here is the third annual Premmy Files All Stars, so to speak, the teams of the season – first team, second team, third team. Just like they do in the NBA... which I reckon is the fairest way to recognise all the folks that deserve recognising. Only the one singular XI and it’s too much of a cheap debate... three teams and we move that debate into the realms of science. Okay, not quite. But you get the idea.

Every team has at least two players representing them here, which was a fluke but it worked out nicely. Probably just law of averages with 33 players getting picked from a 10-team league but I’ll admit I did try to spread the love around. This isn’t supposed to be some kind of definitive rankings, it’s all a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously. The idea of The Premmy Files has always been to offer positive coverage of the national league. Therefore selections are all subject to the whim of the sole selector, formations are all based on a generic 4-3-3 but are flexible with performances taking precedence over formational rigidity. Don’t think too hard about it.

For the record, the coaches would be Jose Figueira for the first team, Paul Hobson for the seconds, and Scott Hales for the thirds. Now, without any further ado, here are the teams...

FIRST XI

GK – Scott Basalaj (Team Wellington)

First spot up and it was one of the toughest to select. There were three keepers who stood out with their performances this season but putting them in some sort of order was a battle and literally all three spent some time in each of the three teams during the drafting process but in the end I went with Scotty B. Three clean sheets throughout the season and he also only three times conceded more than one. He was as sturdy as it gets for what over the second half of the season was clearly the best defence in the league, continuing on the way he’s been laying it down for the last several seasons.

RB – Jack-Henry Sinclair (Team Wellington)

Backing it up two years in a row in that illustrious Premmy Files 1st XI is JHS - who I’m tempted to say would be my overall MVP as well... though I’m not gonna put that call in permanent ink. He’s got stiff competition from basically every other player in this first team for that honour. Sinclair played the majority of the season as a right wingback and was so damn good that he ended up playing as a forward a few times towards the end as Team Welly were found short on attacking numbers. But Sinclair was up there on attack regardless, always playing at pace and with a huge threat. Seven goals in 16 games and countless more assists playing out there on the wing. He was magnificent. At 22 years of age he’s established himself as one of the top players in the country and it’s surely only a matter of time before he goes on to greater things.

CB – Adam Mitchell (Auckland City)

Probably the best individual defender that I saw play this season. Adam Mitchell was the leader at the back for Auckland City even after Angel Berlanga bounced back from preseason injury, poised and assured in his positioning and brutal in the challenge if need be. You could see the difference between Mitch as a full All Whites international and most of the opponents he came up against just by the control with which he had over games. 14 appearances, all starts, almost always one of the best players on the park.

CB – Fox Slotemaker (Tasman United)

Coffee-maker by the week, Premmy Files first team centreback by weekend. Fox Slotemaker was a known quantity after his excellent season last time but he went to new heights here as the rock at the back for a surprisingly solid Tasman defence. The team unit was at its best when Slotemaker had a top tier partner like Cory Brown but The Fox was his own cunning self regardless of the support. He even got on the scoresheet in two of their most memorable performances – the 5-0 win over Southern and the 2-1 win over Auckland City. The thing that gets ya watching Foxy go is how perfect his timing is in basically every regard, you could set your watch to the way he plays.

LB – Rory McKeown (Team Wellington)

Northern Irishman McKeown once sat on the bench for his national team, although he never got on for a debut (he did play youth internationals, tbf). He started every game at left wingback and in the process gave Team Welly the league’s finest wide attacking force with JHS on the other side. McKeown was almost as good. He scored six goals including a double in a 4-1 win over Eastern Suburbs with a knack for being exactly where they needed him to be. Such a perfect fit at a LWB position in which Team Welly have mostly used makeshift players in recent times.

CM – Cam Howieson (Auckland City)

This bloody guy, aye? That’s three years in a row that he’s been a Premmy Files first teamer. If you wanna see the influence of Cam Howieson then you only have to look at his record as a starter for ACFC. He played 15 out of 16 games... the one that he missed? The 2-1 defeat to Tasman. Meaning that they were literally undefeated when Cam Howieson played, the general in the midfield leading them to success after success. Plus this season with Mario Ilich in town as a more defensive partner next to him we got to see even more of Howie’s ability to thread a divine pass into the strikers where a guy like Myer Bevan is always a willing runner. Dude’s assist count surely took a healthy boost this time around. Still the midfield trend-setter across the Premiership.

CM – Sam Burfoot (Waitakere United)

The Waitaks had a beautiful season. They finished third on the ladder despite coming in with a pretty young and inexperienced team... but holding it down for the (contextual) veterans was Sam Burfoot, the 25 year old oozing class all over the place. Clean up in aisle three, please. He didn’t miss a game all season and with his silky passing, excellent positioning, clever distribution, and general hard work in the middle there... all that was missing was a goal or two. He did score one in the sixth game but that was the game that got rained off so it didn’t count. He’d have to wait until the eleventh game to finally hit the back of the net... but once he did he scored in three straight games and lemme just tell you that they were some absolutely high quality goals too. No less than he deserved.

CM – Dane Schnell (Waitakere United)

Before this Premmy season Schnelly was out there impressing in a deeper midfield role for the U23s national team. Come the start of the Waitaks stuff he was playing as a number ten and impressing even more. The fella doesn’t even turn 21 for another month but in his first full Premiership campaign he scored 11 goals in 15 games to have him tied second on the Golden Boot ranks amongst all the out and out strikers, an amazing feat for both his age and also his position. With a knack for getting in the right place but also good strength and technique which make him a presence at the top of that midfield, Dane Schnell was probably the breakout player of the 2019-20 season.

FW – Derek Tieku (Hamilton Wanderers)

The league’s MVP as far as the opposition voting went, which is a massively flawed system but at least this time they gave it to a guy conceivably make this first team. Personally I’d have leant more towards JH Sinclair but I won’t argue. Tieku was essential for Wanderers, he scored eight goals in 16 games and that includes getting on the scoresheet in each of their four wins in a row to mark Kale Herbert’s beginnings as head coach. Tieku was a leader by reputation and by example, bossing it during the good times and doing his best to lift up the lads in the bad times.

FW – Myer Bevan (Auckland City)

Coming into this season with his career in a curious place, having failed to make his mark on the professional scene overall, Myer Bevan needed to prove himself for Auckland City. Luckily for him he had some U23s footy leading into the Premiership season where he started scoring goals for fun with 12 goals in five Oceania qualifying games and he kept up that with a first-half hat-trick on ACFC debut. Bevan would score in each of the first six games of the season, slowing down a bit after that but still cruising to 15 goals in 16 games to win the Golden Boot by four clear strikes. By the end of it he was really beginning to spark a killer combo with Emiliano Tade too. Didn’t even have to think about this selection.

FW – Martin Bueno (Eastern Suburbs)

Yeah man, opponents all seem to hate him but the lad scores goals, ceaselessly. What a magnificent habit to have. Bueno was a big deal transfer over from Hamilton Wanderers for whom he’d scored 12 goals last season. Here he lived entirely up to the hype for his new side with 11 goals in just 15 matches, tied second on the scorer’s chart. He took a little while to get the engine running with only one goal in his first five games but once the goals started flowing they never stopped. Sort of like the inverse of Myer Bevan’s season in a way. Bueno’s peak was a three game stretch during which Suburbs won 6-1 vs Canty, 3-0 vs HW, and 6-0 vs Southern with Marty getting a brace in each of the first two and a hatty in the third. Soon after that he went and scored twice in each of the three Champions League games too. The man was insatiable.

SECOND XI

GK – Conor Tracey (Auckland City)

He was first team last season with the Cantabs and he nearly made first team again. Having moved to Auckland City, it was debatable whether he’d see big minutes again... but Enaut Zubikarai missed a lot of time early on for personal reasons and Tracey came in and pretty much won that starting gig with his impressive efforts in goal. That includes the Champions League stuff too where he played all three. In the Premiership, Tracey started 12 games and conceded a mere eight goals. He kept seven clean sheets which is more than double any other keeper in the league. Ultimately he dipped below Basalaj by the tiniest margin because he played a couple fewer games and had the strongest team in front of him minimising what he needed to do. But make no mistake that The Panther was in fine form once again and his best stop of all was in keeping out a goalie as good as Super Zubi from the starting team at ACFC once he returned and doing so completely on merit.

RB – Jordan Vale (Auckland City)

Jack-Henry Sinclair was an easy pick for first team right back, Jordan Vale was an easy pick for second team right back. I even toyed with the idea of sliding JHS further forward to get Vale into the top team but this will have to do. Jordy is a hustler. He’s a busy player who puts the team first, converting himself into a superb right back over the last couple terms and this was his finest season yet. His workrate up that right flank was superb and his delivery into the box led to plenty of goals and even more chances. Of the three games he didn’t play, two of them were 0-0 draws which is another example of how important his width and enterprise was in that Navy Blues attack.

CB – Brock Messenger (Hamilton Wanderers)

A powerful, no-nonsense defender with a few solid years as a pro in Sweden under his belt, Brock Messenger was a great signing for the Tron Wands and was arguably their most important player based on the incredible statistic, a popular ongoing one throughout the Premmy Files write-ups, that in the six games that Brocko missed his Wanderers team lost every one of them with a combined goal difference of -20. Meanwhile when he did play they lost just twice, had a positive goal difference, and picked up points at a rate that was only a shade behind Team Wellington in second place. Sheer insanity. Plus the eye test backs that up too, the dude has a gravitational force that this team couldn’t replace when he wasn’t there.

CB – Justin Gulley (Team Wellington)

This is where it starts getting scrappy with the selections. For one thing, Gulley plays on the right of a back three so this is one of those occasions where the formation of the team isn’t meant to be taken too seriously... same with Sean Liddicoat next up who I’m pretty sure didn’t play left back at all this season but I wanted Jordan Vale in there, I wanted Gulley and Liddicoat, and left-backs are a bit harder to find so I took some liberties here. The more important thing is to get the best players in so here we are. There were plenty of changes around him in that TW back three but Gulls was the mainstay in a team that conceded fewer than a goal per game (TW and ACFC each conceded 15 goals in 16 games, the two best defences in the comp by a mile), everpresent after returning from his half-season stint with the Wellington Phoenix a year ago . He wasn’t the first name that sprung to mind thinking about outstanding defenders but as I crunched the numbers and the names he became too hard to ignore. The most consistent player on the most consistent defence. Respect.

LB – Sean Liddicoat (Canterbury United)

Already mentioned the positional funk in the last entry, as to why Sean Liddicoat is here? Because in a dismal Canterbury United season, Liddicoat was one of the few dudes out there who consistently looked both completely determined to turn things around and also more than good enough for the level required to do that. He scored the goal as they drew 1-1 with Waitakere in the third game. He played 14 games in that defensive line, including both their wins, and without him this could have been even more disastrous. Liddy was great, don’t let his team struggles fool you.

CM – Mario Ilich (Auckland City)

Couldn’t quite sneak him into the first team which feels like it might be kinda underrating him since Ilich is one of those players whose full influence isn’t always obvious since he makes so few mistakes. He breaks up attacks before they’ve barely even started... while his passing range is glorious. Check back some of those old highlights and see how well he switches the play to the overlapping fullbacks of ACFC and it’s like a miracle. Ilich and Mitchell were the two fellas who followed Jose Figueira up from Team Welly (both were Central United youngsters so there were short odds on those transfers) and both were among the best in the business with City, immediately fitting in at a high level. Ilich was a first teamer last year so hopefully he can handle this minor demotion.

CM – Reid Drake (Eastern Suburbs)

Reid Drake was a familiar face in the midfield over several years at Auckland City, having played 60-odd times for them. Many of those were off the bench though and even when he was getting a good run of starts he was always kinda overshadowed. But at Eastern Suburbs he got the chance to thrive. He played every single game and scored five goals, setting up a bunch more, really showing off his incisive passing and movement and working some great combinations with Bueno and also Adam Thurston after he showed up. Between the three of them they were also comfortably ES’s best at the Champions League. So good from Reidy, taking his chance to be a key player and greedily gobbling it down.

CM – Josh Signey (Hawke’s Bay United)

Hawke’s Bay’s success was built upon the strength of their imports and while Ahinga Selemani’s heroism was obvious, and will be discussed imminently, and Dylan Sacramento’s departure signalled a huge shift in their prospects, Josh Signey was a much easier dude to miss. The Englishman (a former Man United academy lad) was a steady hand. He was a reliable force. 14 games holding it down for a team that lost its way pretty badly (losing eight of its last nine), particularly in defence, and struggled to find the squad depth necessary to last out a full season. So good thing for the efforts of their star central midfielder. Only 23 years old too, wonder if they’ll be able to bring him back with a stronger crew around him next time.

FW – Andy Bevin (Team Wellington)

Sneaking under the radar as always. Andy Bevin played his 100th game for Team Welly during the season (scoring in the game to celebrate). At times he was floating around as a second striker, at times he was playing a little deeper and looking to pull strings, always he was influential without being ostentatious. Bevin started 13 of 16 games and came off the bench once as well - one of the games he missed was one of only two defeats that the TeeDubs suffered all season. Only scored two goals which is another example of his abilities not exactly catching the headlines but we all know better than to judge a guy like Andy Bevin by the headlines (or anyone in the Premiership, tbh).

FW – Ahinga Selemani (Hawke’s Bay United)

You felt for Ahinga Selemani at times. As much as he was a constant threat for HBU, the 24 year old American striker scoring 10 goals in 16 games, he could have had so many more with a team that offered some extra consistency. Hawke’s Bay started great and faded off and particularly after fellow import Dylan Sacramento left. They simply didn’t have the options to make the most of Selemani’s busy excellence up top. That he still finished fourth on the top scorer’s list is evidence of how good he really was.

FW – Jean-Philippe Saiko (Tasman United)

Eight goals in 14 games despite playing for a team that early on looked like they didn’t even know where the goal was. Tasman’s eventual success this season was built on a really solid defence combined with some counter attacking clinical nature and Saiko was essential in all that. He scored the goal as they beat Team Welly 1-0. He scored the first in their 2-0 win over Eastern Suburbs. He scored the opener in the 5-0 win over Southern. He scored a double as they beat Hawke’s Bay 3-1. He most famously of all scored the last gasp winner as they beat Auckland City 2-1. Literally every one of their wins included a JP Saiko goal (well, apart from the one default win, obviously). You can understand the fella taking some time to settle into the Premiership with only one goal in his first seven games but once the New Caledonian international found his feet in Nelson he did what he’s done everywhere else... scored in buckets.

THIRD XI

GK – Nick Draper (Waitakere United)

Wasn’t anything to think about here. Draper was amongst the three standout keepers in my eyes and with Basalaj and Tracey pushing ahead of him after the wash that puts the English gloveman in a simple one-man race for third. I will give a little bit of love for Liam Little and pump the brakes for Danyon Drake’s case but they were still a clear step below Draper and all the other keepers just conceded too many. Or, in Nick Stanton’s case, only played half a season.

RB – Kelvin Kalua (Eastern Suburbs)

A little bit awkward to leave Conor O’Keeffe off this team... but Kelvin Kalua did it the hard way. He started off as a centreback in that Suburbs team and did fine but after he reverted to the right back role where he started the last grand final (the only dude from that XI still at the club) was when he really shone. There were levels and a confidence to his work at RB that we didn’t see from him much in the previous regime, especially the fantastic work he did in the attacking third. Like, we knew he could defend but to grow into a creative threat as well like he did simply had to be recognised.

CB – Taylor Schrijvers (Team Wellington)

The catch here is that he only played half a season... but the half that he played transformed a good defence into a great defence. As mentioned in the Team Welly season recap, when Schrijvers wasn’t there they conceded 11 goals in 8 games with 0 clean sheets. With Schrijvers they conceded 4 goals in 8 games with 4 clean sheets. It was drastic. Schrijvers has been a familiar face for Team Welly for a few years now and his presence was huge, especially as he leapt in there at a time when their attacking weaponry was disappearing. If it wasn’t him here then it woulda been one of the Waitakere back three picked in this spot, a Rob Tipelu or Flynn O’Brien perhaps, or maybe a WeeNix fella like or Kurtis Mogg. Woulda like to include all three somehow but that ain’t how this works, sorry lads.

CB – Ronan Wynne (Wellington Phoenix)

Another tough call. I had Brian Kaltack of ACFC here until the very last minute but then made an executive’s decision to reject the first instinct and put Ronan Wynne in here instead. Which meant some rewrites but so it goes. Kaltack played 11 games and by the end was chipping in with goals and everything... but that was late impact and some of it was influenced by how well he did at the Champions League too. Three of ACFC’s seven clean sheets came in the five games Kaltack missed so as much as I love the dude – he’s a physical presence, quality in the challenge, and with deceptively good skill and a powerful shot – I reverted to another personal fave in Wynnebags. For a WeeNix team that was so volatile from week to week he was a rare consistency as he started every single game. Composed and disciplined, capable of playing in the middle or out wide, extra dependable. He was good last season too and really built on that this time around.

LB – Lachlan McIsaac (Waitakere United)

First off, if Andy Blake had been as slick in the second half of the season as he was in the first then he’d have been here no questions asked and might have even popped the seconds and made things difficult for me. But then Auckland City went and signed Tom Doyle and complicated matters. After starting the first nine games, Blakey then only got two of the remaining seven (which was a little rude given he’d been so good pre-Xmas, though there coulda been injuries, dunno). Even still he only just misses out but Lachie McIsaac was wonderful for the Waitaks, giving them width on the left and being a genuine attacking option going forward. He only missed one start and was still the first man off the bench that day. Waitakere scored a lot of goals and Lachie McIsaac was involved in plenty of them... he even scored a couple himself. Like many in that team he’s only young too, 21 years of age. Michael Built would have been next up after McIsaac and Blake, then another couple young’uns, Tim O’Farrell and Sam Field, would have followed.

CM – Adam Thomas (Eastern Suburbs)

Another Ole Academy fella stepping in to do the job that Harry Edge did for Suburbs last season, sitting at the base of midfield as a shield and as a catalyst in possession. New regime, most of a new squad, but some things don’t change. Thomas is a defensive minded player and his role allowed guys like Reid Drake and Adam Thurston to dominate in front of him with the knowledge that they were protected... plus it was just awesome to see Thommo get such a prominent role after so many years of injury dramas. An understated story but an incredible one all the same.

CM – Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United)

The OG, bossing the show as always back with Canterbury United. Clapham had a different role upon his return to the old stomping ground playing as more of a deeper midfielder and that was reflected in a haul of just the three goals in 15 games (the one that he missed he was out of town doing his coaching badges) but that’s not to diminish what a steady presence he was in the middle for a team that was desperate for a few more of his kind. NZ Footy even had him on their official MVP shortlist... which was surprisingly accurate this year although to be fair even a broken clock’s right twice a day. Other midfielders to narrowly miss out include Danny Ledwith, Mario Barcia, Ollie Whyte, and Xavier Pratt. Apologies fellas.

CM – Joel Stevens (Southern United)

Another debatable one because Stevens only played eight games but by God what he did in those eight games was the real deal. His peak was surely the hatty he got against Waitakere which included a goal from halfway but with six goals and several assists he was always in the hunt for Southern... who largely lost their way in attack after he left. His selection here is probably harshest on Clayton Lewis, while other attacking forces such as Tommy Semmy, Jesse Randall, and George King are welcome to their complaints. They all had an impact over a full season, but what Stevens did in his half-season was sublime.

FW – Oliver Bassett (Team Wellington)

Two months into the season and Ollie Bassett was a no doubter in the first team. But then he left all abrupt like. That’s tumbled the tricky winger down the ranks until I had to seriously think about whether I could justify him even being in this third team... but ultimately his supreme powers while he was with Team Welly were too much to ignore. He scored in each of TWs first three games and ended up with six goals in 10 games. His skill and trickery were more than any defender could handle, he was the form attacking player in the comp for those first three weeks. His early departure has cost him a little but it’s a recurring theme in this third team that a lot of them didn’t get full seasons of work that might’ve pushed them higher, so it goes.

FW – Ben Waine (Wellington Phoenix)

I promised at least one player from every squad and the WeeNixers had to wait until late to get their couple blokes in. This guy ensures that every team has at least two players, though the Phoenix were tough to figure because of how much variety there always was in their selections. Still, Ben Old was in the mix, as were Ahmed Othman and Kurtis Mogg. Normally I wouldn’t consider someone in Waine-o’s situation as he played just a mere five games but I took an exception because he was absolutely sizzling in every one of them. Seven goals in something like 450 minutes. And the five games he played in were against: Team Wellington (A), Eastern Suburbs (A), Team Wellington (H), Auckland City (A) and Tasman (H)... three games vs the top two clubs, another against fourth and fifth on the ladder. No bunnies in sight. Special mentions for the double he scored in a 2-2 draw with Team Welly and the hatty he got in a 3-1 win over Tasman. It was a limited impact but what he was limited to was stunning.

FW – Garbhan Coughlan (Southern United)

And finally it’s old Coughers. Everpresent up top for Southern with eight goals to show for it, one of which was scrubbed off for admin dramas but I still count it, a decent haul for someone who was alone on an island for the second half of the season after his main supplier Joel Stevens departed. Coughlan is such a crucial talent for Southern and always one of the purest centre forwards out there. You wonder sometimes what he’d achieve with Auckland City or Team Welly but you also don’t ever wanna see him leave the Deep South. Honourable mentions within the striker’s union to Hamish Watson who suffered from not playing enough after a scalding start and also Alex Connor-McClean despite his six goals, many of them crucial bangers late in games. With two more rounds and a couple semis and a final it might have given enough time for some of the guys in this third team who didn’t play as much to be overtaken but we work with what we’ve got. And that’s a wrap, folks.

Have a geeze at the last couple seasons’ worth of Premmy Files Teams...

THE PREMMY FILES – 2018-19 PREMIERSHIP TEAM OF THE SEASON

THE PREMMY FILES – 2017-18 PREMIERSHIP TEAM OF THE SEASON

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