In the days leading up to the new A-League Men’s season, Alex Rufer was named the new Wellington Phoenix captain. Just the fifth full-time captain in club history, the second NZ international to earn that honour, and the first homegrown player. Not necessarily the first academy grad – those distinctions are a little more subtle, as written about here – and they’re still waiting for their first NZ-born captain as Alex emerged into the world within Swiss borders while dad Shane was playing over there. And obviously Andy Durante wasn’t born in Aotearoa either.

Alex Rufer had already served as vice-captain and is clearly held in high regard within the playing group and by his coaches. There were a couple other candidates of course and nobody would have argued too much with David Ball or Tim Payne. But Rufer was a fine choice in the wake of Steven Taylor’s retirement and Ulises Davila’s departure. He’s also a dude who might well thrive with the responsibility of the captaincy... but this article isn’t about his leadership capabilities. It’s about what he offers as a player.

Because Alex Rufer seems to be a pretty misunderstood footballer and a geeze at how he got to where he is goes along way to explaining why. When the U20 World Cup was held in Aotearoa he was used as a striker (same U20 cycle as Oli Sail and Clayton Lewis btw, as well as recent Nix teammates Matt Ridenton and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi). That was often the case with Rufer in those days, something about that last name, perhaps. He started three outta four games in that tournament and didn’t particularly stand out.

Then there was that instance when he was picked for the All Whites from out of the Welly Nix reserves. Struggling to get any game-time whatsoever for the Phoenix in the A-League but called up to the national team. It was a bit of a controversy at the time. Then-coach Anthony Hudson had this to say...

“Alex Rufer is one of the best young players in New Zealand. When he played with the under-23's he was outstanding and not only was he technically good, he had fight and spirit. He made his [All Whites] debut and did really well and then got unfortunate with his injury. I came down to Phoenix training and he was the player I know. Reports from the other players were that he's flying in training every day. That's enough for me; I know this player so I'm really pleased he's with us.”

Gotta mention the injury too. A broken ankle and tibia in late 2015. A traumatic injury for any footballer but especially a young player trying to prove they belong at the pro level. Rufer, being the tough bugger that he is, came back from that setback ahead of schedule... however opportunities were just as skint for him afterwards.

Prior to the injury he’d played 8 A-League games in two and a half seasons, mostly as a late sub. After he came back he only played 51 total minutes in 2016-17 and although he did become a little more prominent in 2016-17, it wasn’t enough. End of that season he figured fresh pastures were a better idea and headed off for an extended trial with FC Zürich in Switzerland – a club that both his dad and uncle once player for.

Then Mark Rudan brought him back and next thing you know he was an important player for the Nix. Working his way up the ranks for five years and it was only when he’d made up his mind to leave that the chance he’d been waiting for finally came along. Funny how things go. Also funny that he’d steadily moved deeper and deeper in positions as he matured to where he eventually found his home as a defensive midfielder. And now he’s the captain.

It’s a pretty funky career arc. It’s also a career arc worth considering when thinking about the player that Alex Rufer has become. Can’t blame people for misunderstanding a player who came up as a striker but has yet to score in 89 A-League games. Or when his own club and national team coaches seem to have contrasting opinions about him. We need clarity, man. So let’s try establish some clarity. Here’s the lowdown on Alex Rufer.

Alex Rufer is a defensive midfielder. The duck egg goals tally is an anomaly, he’s missed some bad ones and he’s gone close with some more ambitious ones. At some point a shot of his will float into the top corner and the drought will be over and nobody will care any more. He’s not in the team to score goals. He’s there to prevent goals going in the other way and to keep the ball rolling in possession, particularly early on in those phases.

In the opening game of this season, in stormy conditions against Macarthur, Alex Rufer had one of his best defensive performances for the Nix. The A-League website had him with 4 tackles, 2 clearances, and 3 interceptions. He won 6 duels and lost 6 duels. Conceded 2 fouls and won 2 fouls. Picked up a yellow card amongst all that for absolutely clattering a bloke in an aerial challenge.

Here’s what those numbers tell you: this is a dude who will be involved in a variety of ways. Challenging for the ball on the ground, competing for it in the air, reading and picking off passes. He was a presence. Someone who’ll drag you into the physical stuff and break up your rhythm, someone who even if you get past him you’ll probably get a crack on the ankle as a reward. It’s not much fun to play against someone like that. An enforcer of a midfielder. That style of play does leave him at a high risk of yellow cards – in his breakout Rudan season he had 11 of them, the most in the entire A-League – but he’s gotten a lot better at cutting out the dumb ones since then. A yellow card every 184.5 mins under Rudan compared to a yellow card every 278.7 minutes under Ufuk Talay. And there’s nothing wrong with the occasional booking, it sorta comes with the territory as a CDM.

This was Rufer’s heatmap against Macarthur...

That heatmap says quite a bit. It’s not an even spread like nutella on toast; more of a lumpy jam thing going on. Why are there those clumps? Because that’s where players were. He’s latching onto opposition midfielders and forwards, shutting down their space. Hunting after the ball which is how he’s able to supply as many tackles, interceptions, and fouls as he does. This is something he’s gotten quite a bit better at by the way, defending more proactively. At times he does what a lot of defensive midfielders fall into the trap of doing and sliding all the way back into the defensive line – when you watch the Nix, notice how often (and how well) he and Tim Payne communicate. Lots of pointing and shouting going on. Also this graphic gives you an indication of where he likes to set himself up with the team on attack… sliding over to half-cover the right fullback or posting up just in front of halfway where he can be both an option for a pass back and a threat to win the second phase from any clearances or to defend in transition.

Rufer’s got some ideal physical attributes for all that. He’s six feet tall so can compete in the air and is also a strong bastard who doesn’t get shoved over too often. Brave enough to put himself in harm’s potential way too which means he gets the most out of that physicality. Where he slips up is after he wins that ball. Rufer doesn’t always play like a natural midfielder in possession where his passing can be a little slow or predictable. He’s got more than enough juice about him to do those things, it’s just that this is where being a converted midfielder comes into consideration. On the one hand, he’s gotta learn some of these more subtle instincts on the job. On the other hand, because of that he’s got more room to grow than most lads in his situation. Easy to forget he’s still only 25 years old.

Rufer’s passing success rate last season was 87.0%, good for sixth best in the team. That was a jump on 85.3% in Uffie’s first season and 79.5% in the Rudan year. Trending in the right direction. Granted, the main thing with him isn’t that he needs to pass more accurately as much as he needs to pass more full stop. Get that ball moving with greater tempo. Clayton Lewis is the more natural ball-player within that CM duo so he’s the dude expected to take charge of those things but Rufer can help too.

This was something that set Cam Devlin apart from Alex Rufer – it’s not that Devlin was necessarily a better passer, as in capable of hitting passes that Rufer isn’t, if anything it’s the other way around. But Devlin was such a busy player. Lots of give and go stuff with the defence, negating the opposition press and allowing the Nix to build into their play. These are often short passes in the team’s own half but they do make a difference.

2020-21 Phoenix Midfielders Passing

• Cam Devlin - 91.6% pass success for 54.3 accurate passes per game

• Clayton Lewis – 82.9% pass success for 40.7 accurate passes per game

• Alex Rufer – 87.0% pass success for 39.8 accurate passes per game

However there’s one thing that Alex Rufer does amazingly well in possession and it’s kind of his secret weapon. This dude played as a hold-up man striker back in the day. He knows what those guys are thinking. And while he won’t give you too much of the ol’ tiki taka stuff he absolutely will not hesitate to push an inlet pass into the striker’s feet. He trusts those guys to receive the ball in tight spaces. Splitting the lines. Here’s an example from last season picking out Uli Davila in the attacking third...

At times in the past the Nix have been a little too committed to going from side to side and attacking from wide areas. Ulises Davila changed a lot of that with his high usage and his tendency to drift inwards and shoot. You want that variation. You want to be able to threaten from the middle as well as the wings in order to stretch teams out. Create space in that attacking third – the most difficult place on the pitch to find any. Rufer’s inlet passing is one of many strings to the team’s bow in that regard. There was even a time late in Uffie’s first year when Matti Steinmann and Cam Devlin were the set starting mids but Rufer would increasingly be brought on earlier and earlier to offer some extra attacking punch for a team struggling to score, a bit of the ol’ vertical threat. Curious to note that after attempting the third-equal most crosses in the squad in the Rudan season, that’s not really been a factor in his game under Talay. Less of that direct stuff, more emphasis on building up the play.

In light of that dynamic it’s also worth considering that footballers don’t do what they do in isolation. Partnerships and combinations are huge. Complementing parts within a team environment. That’s been a wee bit of an issue for Rufer who has fallen out of the starting line-up at a couple stages through Uffie’s reign. He and Cam Devlin offered fantastic defensive coverage but maybe not enough balance going forward. It was presumably that which led Clayton Lewis to drop into a CM role last term as someone who can offer more with the ball at feet... however that generally meant Rufer had to chill on the bench as the odd man out. That was where you could usually find him as the Nix finished the season on an 11-game unbeaten streak, AR only starting two of those games.

But Cam Devlin is gone now which thrusts Rufer back into the first eleven. In fact the only proper central midfielder that the team has brought in is Nick Pennington who is probably more of a challenger for Lewis’ distributor role. It’ll be a couple weeks before NP’s fully up to speed though, thus in the meantime the Lewis/Rufer combo will get plenty of reps. Which is what they need. That combo wasn’t quite a success last season – 4 wins, 3 draws, 4 defeats in matches where they started at CM together - but combinations get better with more time together.

So, like, don’t worry about whether Alex Rufer is scoring goals. Don’t hold it against him if he doesn’t either. That ain’t his job. A few sneaky assists here and there for sure, expect a bit of that, but if you judge a player you’ve gotta judge them against the role they’re in the team to play otherwise of course you’re gonna find holes to pick at. Forget whatever you used to think about Alex Rufer as a young fella coming up the ranks. That Alex Rufer is dead. That Alex Rufer has been reborn as a defensive midfielder. A pretty bloody good one too.

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