More Premmy Files 2020-21 Season Reviews:

Team Wellington

Auckland City & Hamilton Wanderers

Eastern Suburbs & Waitakere United

Canterbury United & Hawke’s Bay United

Final Standings: Eighth (10 points)

Top Scorer: Riley Bidois (6 goals)

Most Appearances: Kurtis Mogg (13 starts, 1 sub), Ollie van Rijssel (13 starts, 1 sub), Riley Bidois (13 starts, 1 sub), Jaylen Rodwell (12 starts, 2 subs)

Premmy Files MVP: Ben Old

Things started so promisingly for the WeeNix. They lost to Team Wellington in the first game but it took a last minute goal to drop them 1-0 and then they chased that up with a brilliant 4-1 win over Waitakere. There were also draws in there against Hamilton, Canterbury & Waitakere as well as a lovely 3-0 win over Hawke’s Bay and after eight games they were sitting in sixth just two points off third. Not that they’re eligible to play in the semis for some stupid reason... but usually that’s just hypothetical. Back in the early stages of 2021, however, that suddenly wasn’t the case.

But then it was again because after that win over Hawke’s Bay in December they wouldn’t win another game and the last third of the season would be marred by frustrations. An 8-0 defeat to Eastern Suburbs in which they copped a couple dodgy red cards. Finn Surman was sent off in the third minute of that one... he also picked up a fifth minute red card in the final game – a 5-1 loss to Canterbury. Both were very debatable calls. Chuck in that Luis Toomey picked up a red in a 1-1 draw with Auckland City (mercifully waiting until deep in the second half at least) and you get the idea. They lost five of their last six, that draw with City the only respite (a wonderful performance albeit against a rotated ACFC team). The WeeNix conceded 24 goals in those last six contests having only conceded 13 in 8 games prior. Suspensions were a killer. Depth was unsurprisingly exposed for what’s technically an U20 side. And as much as anything else there was probably some hefty emotional fatigue being carried too.

Not to mention the way they failed to close some of these games out. A few of the ones that got away:

• Lost 1-0 to Team Wellington conceding an 89th minute goal

• Drew 1-1 with Hamilton Wanderers conceding a 94th minute goal

• Lost 4-1 to Auckland City having been 1-0 up at half-time

• Lost 5-2 to Team Wellington having been 2-1 up at half-time

• Lost 2-1 to Hamilton Wanderers having been 1-0 up after 60 minutes

• Lost 3-2 to Hawke’s Bay having been 2-1 up after 72 minutes

• Drew 1-1 with Auckland City having been 1-0 up after 78 minutes

But the WeeNix have different priorities. This is a youth team for a professional club, they’re trying to develop players and provide pathways and all those good things. Remember as well that unlike in ordinary seasons they didn’t get a single first team player dropping back to help out – normally you’d get 4-5 games with reinforcements but nothing of the sort here with the A-League side ensconced in Australia. Not even a Sam Sutton cameo, who you’d expect would have gotten half a dozen games were the Nix in close proximity. But they did have help bulking out the side from the Ole Academy with five fellas crossing party lines for the cause: Jaylen Rodwell, Ollie van Rijssel, Alex Clayton, Kees Sims & Oscar Hough. Sims was backup keeper and played once (fantastic lone performance though), Oscar Hough was a regular sub down the stretch, Alex Clayton played more than he missed at fullback... while the other two were key players who played every single game.

So that was nice. Rodwell and van Rijssel are excellent examples of the Ole player. Great technique, positionally versatile, super attitudes. And joining them in the key player ranks were several homegrown fellas all putting up their hands to be the next Sarpreet Singh/Liberato Cacace/Ben Waine/Sam Sutton graduating from the youth ranks to the pro team. Seems like there’s one of those every year and 2021’s shining candidate is none more so than Benjamin Old.

Last season Ben Old showed a heap of potential with his ability as a dribbler. This season he came back having added a bit of muscle and confidence which allowed him to ascend into MVP territory. His strength on the ball coupled with his speed on the turn made allowed him to wreak havoc on defences. Dropping deep to collect the ball then turning into space. Old scored three goals and set up a heap more. He was the focal point of their play... so much so that when Ollie van Rijssel was mistakenly sent off instead of Ben Old against Eastern Suburbs, nobody said anything and OVR departed the scene to allow Old to close out the game. Old did serve the one-game suspension the following week though – the only game he missed.

Closely rivalling Ben Old was goalkeeper Alex Paulsen who in his first season as the main starter was utterly brilliant. It was miracle save after miracle save, his shot-stopping is jaw-dropping. Already heard whispers that his season highlights vid is getting Oscar buzz for Best Short Film before it’s even been released. The team’s defensive capitulation towards the end took some of the shine off of Paulsen’s season but not much. Paulsen had starred for New Zealand at the last U17 World Cup and at this point he’s the best young goalkeeper in the country, it’s not even an argument. It’s not just the shot-stopping either, he’s very good with the ball at his feet (and most importantly confident with the ball at his feet). Plus he saved multiple penalties.

Also gotta chuck in some praise for Luis Toomey. Playing both as an attacking midfielder or a more traditional midfielder he was great, the Napier native having a real breakout in his second season with the WeeNix displaying a fair bit of hustle off the ball and some lovely passing vision and set piece delivery. The free kick he scored against his old Hawke’s Bay team was a beaut. Kurtis Mogg too. Big strong central defender who at times really carried this team defensively... as well as captaining them. Sturdy in a challenge, puts his body on the line, and a good organiser. Finn Surman didn’t play a heap, only nine games out of 14, and two own goal as well as two red cards don’t help his reputation. But don’t let the calamities fool you, Surman had some supreme performances too. Tall and lanky so decent in the air but knows how to get a foot in also. The mistakes will happen, it’s all a learning curve. Surman’s still only 17 years old – the youngest of the regular players.

Then there’s top scorer Riley Bidois... six goals including scoring in each of the last three games. Probably came more into his own in those latter stages when he played less as a number nine and more as a left winger, unleashing his pace by giving him more room in which to run. Biddy scored three goals last season, he scored six goals this season. Traditionally speaking, the dudes who are able to score goals for this team tend to have decent futures ahead of them. And a bit of love has to go the way of Adam Hillis as well as a reliable defensive midfielder... the four games he didn’t start, the WeeNix conceded 15 goals (3.75/g), while the 10 that he did start they only averaged 2.2/g and that includes an 8-0 thrashing. Henry Hamilton was sharp as more of a ball-playing midfielder before he left for the USA in the new year. And Oskar van Hattum had his moments as well, scoring three times.

Basically all of those players who’ve been singled out had been a part of last season’s squad, while Mogg even made 11 starts the term before that. If there’s one criticism it’s that there maybe wasn’t much in the way of dudes coming through from the next wave (other than Seth Karunaratne making a debut at age 15), although that’s maybe just because guys like Paulsen, van Hattum & Surman are already ahead of schedule. Like, a few rare subs apps aside this was, for all intents and purposes, each of their first proper Premiership seasons. Van Hattum in particular has been biding his time patiently having been on the fringes the last couple years but only now finally getting proper minutes.

The change in format for this competition as it’s moulded in the National League later this year won’t affect the WeeNix who will still have an automatic entry into the comp. Presumably with a shorter competition that concludes in December might just mean that a few of the older fellas sneak in for another campaign before they age out, not entirely sure how that’ll work yet. But with the anticipated drop in standard in that new format as the WeeNix compete against clubs teams rather than franchises who get to pick and choose their favourite players, it should be that they’re more competitive moving forwards. They may have finished last but that does feel misleading for a team that was pretty competitive most weeks, had their fair share of commanding backs-to-the-wall defensive displays, looked capable of scoring goals in almost every game, but maybe just didn’t own the big moments enough. Also let’s be honest they were on the wrong end of a couple rough refereeing decisions too.

On that note, let’s finish this chat with a bit of admiration for Paul Temple. This right here was one of the most memorable happenings of the entire season...

‘Twas after the 8-0 thrashing by Suburbs, two dodgy red cards ruining the game and leaving a team of teenagers to battle out a humiliating defeat on national telly. Kurtis Mogg then fronts up for a live interview after being dumped into that shambolic game of football and Paul Temple steps over to put an arm around his shoulder in solidarity with the old: I’ll take it from here, bud. People talk about managers protecting their players sometimes but rarely do you see such a literal representation of that. It was a really inspiring moment and a measure of the man himself that he’d spontaneously think to do something like that. The WeeNix always come out with an intent to play quick, passing-based football and that’s sweet as but there’s more than just tactics that go into being a coach, especially a coach tasked with player development. Hard not to think those lads are in good hands seeing something like that.

Nobody serves up the kiwi footy yarns like The Niche Cache, support what we do on Patreon if you appreciate the coverage and wanna help keep us fed

Also whack an ad to say cheers and sign up to our most excellent Substack newsletter

Keep cool but care