A Welly Nix 2020-21 Offseason Primer
No sooner does one season end than the next one begins. That’s the way of professional sports, in fact to be even more honest the seasons tend to overlap way beyond the borders of fixtures lists and playoffs. Case and point: the Welly Nix started re-signing fellas for next season in the very first week of January, with Steven Taylor, Alex Rufer, Tim Payne, and Jaushua Sotirio all signing multi-year extensions in the space of a few days.
Add to that a decent number of players who signed two-year deals last season rather than single year contracts and suddenly the Welly Nix are in a place that they’re not really used to. When Mark Rudan turned up to coach the team he had barely had half a squad to work with. When Ufuk Talay took over he only had a third of a squad. This time around there’s the majority of the team, including three imports, all signed on for at least one more swing which means a strange sense of... is this what continuity feels like? What a beautiful situation, the Welly Nix don’t have to start from almost scratch again. Even the manager is returning!
That all means there’s not as much needs to be done here as you’d think. Most of the work has already been taken care of and with Uffie staying loyal that means there’s scope for improvement beyond recruitment too. The style of play is already set and should flow on nicely, plus the team is stacked with young players who should continue to improve with experience. Remember when the Nix lost their first four games of last season? Giving the whole rest of the league a headstart? Yeah nah that won’t happen again.
Current Contract Statuses
2022-23: Alex Rufer
2021-22: Steven Taylor (I), Tim Payne, Josh Sotirio, Reno Piscopo
2020-21: David Ball (I), Ulises Davila (I), Stefan Marinovic, Louis Fenton, Oli Sail, Brandon Wilson, Cameron Devlin, Ben Waine
Off Contract: Matti Steinmann (I), Gary Hooper (I), Luke DeVere, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Liam McGing, Callum McCowatt, Callan Elliot, Walter Scott
Count ‘em up, that’s thirteen players signed up already with a few of those off contracted dudes very much on the table to join them, you’d have to think. That includes seven of the starting line-up from the Elimination Final defeat to Perth. Continuity. Although... one blatant flaw stands out because the players currently under contract are a little too heavily skewed towards the midfield and attack which leaves the defence rather empty at the mo’. Let’s break it down a bit further...
Current Depth Chart
GK: Stefan Marinovic | Oli Sail
RB: Tim Payne | Louis Fenton
CB: Steven Taylor
LB:
CM: Cam Devlin | Alex Rufer | Brandon Wilson
AM: Ulises Davila | Reno Piscopo | Jaushua Sotirio
FW: David Ball | Ben Waine
There’s a starting team in there somewhere. Payne slides to CB and Wilson drops to one of the fullback spots. But we’re talking bare bones there, nowhere near the required standard. Libby Cacace’s departure has left a gaping whole at left back which was to be expected; that’s gotta be dealt with and it probably needs to be dealt with from outside the current crop of players... not really sure that anyone who played last season can adequately do that job. Even the ones who did well at right back, they’re all very right footed. Callan Elliot would be the closest bet since did at least play at LB for the NZ U20s in World Cup qualifying at one point. But he’s also currently off contract.
As are three of the four main centre-backs. We’ll see what happens with Luke DeVere because he was pretty good this season. It’s probably up to him whether he wants to come back or not. He’s revitalised his career with a strong (and mostly injury free) campaign but them Aussie fellas don’t always re-up at that stage. At the very least Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi needs to be re-signed as a backup CB based on what we saw from him after the restart. A team with title ambitions needs to sign another starter though, whether DeVere or someone else. If it does end up being someone else then somebody with a bit of pace wouldn’t go astray.
The way the squads work you need at least 20 players with a maximum of 23, two of whom have to be goalies and 3 of whom have to be locals aged 21 or under. That latter bit hasn’t been much of a worry in recent years with Sarpreet Singh and Libby Cacace carrying the bulk of that weight. This season Ben Waine steps up to full contract status and he’ll remain under that buffer for a couple more years too, lad only turned 19 back in June. However everyone else under 22 is currently off contract. So that’s one to stay tuned for... the top talent in the academy at the moment is Sam Sutton (who is six months younger than Ben Waine) and has played four A-League games already.
And then of course there are the five import players. Just throwing this out there recklessly but it wouldn’t be the craziest surprise ever if they did what the NBL has done and reduce the import spots by one for financial reasons while the pandemic problems are ongoing. Even less surprising would be if some teams simply don’t use all their import spots to save cash. For the Phoenix, they have three on the books with Matti Steinmann and Gary Hooper as free agents. If Hooper can be retained, if he’s affordable, and if they’re confident in his fitness (the best ability is availability!) then they might as well... his goal scoring efficiency was miles beyond anyone else in this squad. But if he doesn’t return then we’ve seen all the evidence we need that they absolutely have to sign a worthy replacement. A goal scoring number nine. A finisher. Someone who can supply 15+ goals in a season.
Which leaves Steinmann. As a defensive midfielder his presence was always a positive for the Phoenix. Excellent positioning and a good technique under pressure. They Nix were generally a worse team without him on the park, for example...
With Steinmann on the pitch: Goals conceded every 102.3 mins (24 in 2455)
Without Steinmann on the pitch: Goals conceded every 51.5 mins (10 in 515 mins)
And yet what cost them in the end wasn’t that they conceded too many but that they didn’t score enough. So there’s a fair case to say that a shift in the balance of the midfield in which Alex Rufer and Cam Devlin are the starters is a worthy one. You get a bit more punch going forward but with the risk that your defence is more exposed. Although we could always sign another import CB in that case too. Brandon Wilson would therefore move up the ranks and there are a few kiwi midfielders who’d be a useful shout to trial for that backup’s backup role. (Alternatively Tim Payne has experience there in case of emergency and if TAHW is re-signed then him too).
It was curious to note where the players all headed after breaking the A-League bubble upon playoff elimination. Shout out to the Nix media team for the transparency. The majority of them flew back to Aotearoa as you’d expect. Most of the kiwi blokes but also Uffie and his coaching staff and David Ball too. Meanwhile Luke DeVere, Cameron Devlin, Liam McGing, Reno Piscopo, Jaushua Sotirio, and Brandon Wilson all remained in Australia for their offseasons (DeVere and McGing are off contract, remember). Steven Taylor flew back to the UK. Ulises Davila to Mexico. Matti Steinmann to Germany. Gary Hooper had already departed once his injury ended his season. And then there was this...
“In addition Stefan Marinovic, Liberato Cacace and Callum McCowatt have elected to travel to Europe directly from Australia for personal reasons.”
Cacace has since transferred to Sint-Truiden so no shocker there. Stefan Marinovic’s missus lives in Germany (where he used to play) and you can imagine they’ve been separated for ages. Callum McCowatt though... he was only on a one-year deal and has those Ole Academy contacts throughout Europe (this very week two Ole grads signed with Europa League teams: Nando Pijnaker and Marko Stamenic). It could be that Callum’s keen to catch up with a few of his mates. It could be that he’s putting out a few feelers.
It’s no secret that Callum McCowatt has always had intentions to play in Europe and a player of his quality he absolutely should... it’s just a matter of whether he goes now or has another season with the Nix to boost his stocks some more. Worth mentioning that he spent some time training with Sparta Rotterdam two years ago purely as an experience thing, not really intending to sign (at least not from the sounds of it), and he then came back and absolutely dominated the Premiership for Eastern Suburbs. McCowatt didn’t quite kick on with the Phoenix the way that he has at every other level but there were glimpses towards the end that he was about to breakthrough so he’d be well poised if he does return... but either way is all good. At a guess? I reckon he’ll sign somewhere in Europe. I reckon that was always the plan, hence the one year deal when guys like Devlin and Piscopo were signing multi-year deals.
Finally there’s one other factor at play here which might be the most significant of all... we don’t even know what next season will look like. We don’t know when it’ll start. We don’t know whether fans will be able to attend games. We don’t know where the Phoenix will be playing. We don’t know all sorts of financial constraints until we know those other things. It’s all very much a matter of being flexible right now, attuned to all possibilities as David Dome has said, and that applies to transfers same as everything else.
The Shopping List
Goal-Scoring Striker
Starting Centre-Back
New Left Fullback
Defensive Depth
Another Midfielder
A Few More Young Kiwis
Another Creative Winger
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