Welly Nix: Compiling A Transfer Wishlist For Next Season
It’s nice for once not having to need to rebuild almost the entire team from scratch going into an offseason. It’s nice to know that when preseason begins there’ll be at least thirteen players on the roster already, enough for a friendly or two. It’s nice to know that the manager has recommitted to the club as well. It’s nice to know that three of the import spots have already been filled. It’s nice to know these things. Helps ya sleep at night.
But following on from a season in which the Wellington Phoenix missed out on the finals by a single point, a failure mostly down to some poor form at the start of the campaign as Ufuk Talay balanced injuries and new combinations, a season in which the Nix would use 24 different players with all but five of them playing at least 500 minutes (yet only three reaching the 2k mark)... it’s pretty obvious that having squad depth is absolutely essential to being a challenger in this, or any, league. There’s a sweet baseline of players already under contract. There’s a spine of a team that emerges from that. But there’s more to come. There has to be.
To start though, here’s the squad as it currently stands...
Contracted: Alex Rufer, Ben Waine, David Ball, Jaushua Sotirio, Louis Fenton, Oli Sail, Reno Piscopo, Sam Sutton, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Tim Payne, Clayton Lewis, Steven Taylor
Off-Contract: Cameron Devlin, James McGarry, Joshua Laws, Liam McGing, Luke DeVere, Matt Ridenton, Mirza Muratovic, Tomer Hemed, Charles Lokoli-Ngoy
Confirmed Departures: Stefan Marinovic, Ulises Davila
Confirmed Incomers: Gary Hooper
From which it’s not too hard to sculpt a starting XI that looks something like:
Oli Sail | Louis Fenton, Steven Taylor, Tim Payne, Sam Sutton | Clayton Lewis, Alex Rufer | Reno Piscopo, David Ball | Ben Waine, Gary Hooper
That team already would go great. There are a couple positions that can certainly be strengthened – and you’d expect them to be – but that’s a quality eleven to begin with. The issue comes when literally anybody is unavailable because on the bench right now are Hudson-Wihongi and Sotirio and presumably a bunch of academy lads. A current crop of which only Ben Old has played first team footy before, all seven minutes of his debut. So, in order of necessity, let’s slap together an offseason wishlist for how to fill out the minimum seven additional roster spots (maximum nine, not including academy lads).
An Import Goal-Scoring Striker
Someone who can score at an excessive rate. Someone who can be relied upon to convert half chances into goals. Someone who can link up with other aspects of play, sure, but mostly someone with that killer instinct that we saw from Tomer Hemed over the last couple months. Someone like... Gary Hooper?
Okay, yeah, alright. Get in. Gary Hooper’s back. Mission accomplished already, that was easy.
Super Hooper has signed a two year contract to return to the club that he scored 8 goals in 20 appearances for the season before last. A man who consistently scores goals in whatever competition he has found himself playing in throughout his career... and since leaving he’s added the Indian Super League to a list that also includes the A-League, the English Premier League, the Champions League, and the NZ Premiership. Just like Steven Taylor, he dabbled in that ISL experience and has since returned to the Phoenix. Not Matti Steinmann though, he signed with Brisbane Roar the other day.
Gary Hooper has many of the same qualities as Tomer Hemed. Good in the air, fine first touch, great finishers, physical presence, decent but not spectacular in the build-up. Would say that Hemed is better in the air, Hooper is better on the deck. Neither will set the world alight with work-rates but that’s not what they’re there to do. Hemed was a direct replacement for Hooper, now it’s vice versa.
Hemed’s first couple months were blighted by recurring injuries and a struggle to adjust to the team’s style of play, both of which he eventually overcame to be absolutely fantastic down the stretch. Gary Hooper didn’t have the same dramas at settling in – shout out to The Jet Ski Gang – but players of his calibre don’t rock up in the A-League without an asterisk and in his case it was his injury history. Hoops had to be managed throughout as little niggles kept pestering him. He actually only missed two games after signing (as well as the first two before he turned up) but one of those was the elimination final that the Nix lost.
Nine of his 20 appearances were off the bench. He only logged 1105 minutes all up which was only 13th most on the team. Less than Tomer Hemed played this season. Only a little more than Josh Laws played this season. Gary Hooper is injury prone. That’s the main reason why he’s playing for Aussie manager Ufuk Talay at the Wellington Phoenix and not, for example, an Aussie manager like Ange Postecoglou at Celtic, you know? Injuries are his inherent vice.
To be fair, last time he didn’t get a preseason and was coming off a year or two of bad knocks at Sheffield Wednesday so he’ll be in much better conditioning this time around. Already knows most of the lads. Will get a full preseason. That’s the gamble. It’s also why the sixth point on this list is so important. By the way, this signing almost certainly confirms that Tomer Hemed is goneskees. It already seemed that way but no chance now they’re signing both these dudes.
Attacking Midfield Creativity
Ulises Davila is a hell of a player. One of the finest imports the Phoenix have ever signed. He’s also a guy who had a tendency to engulf the entire attacking structure, the Nix relying on playing through him in a way that could get predictable to defend against at times. Didn’t always work for those defenders as Davila’s trickery and his ability to work space into space on the edge of the area to shoot from were legendary but there’s a reason this article was written when he got injured wondering if maybe there was some Ewing Theory potential about him (read the piece to learn what that means, if you don’t already).
Now Davila is leaving to sign with Macarthur and the Phoenix will need to figure out how they’re going to score goals without him... which actually wasn’t that much of an issue in the couple games that Uli was injured for. Tomer Hemed was banging in anything that came near his head while David Ball looked like a different player out on the right wing compared to his insipid output from the left in the previous few weeks. Not to mention efforts from Ben Waine and Jaushua Sotirio keeping things churning. Tomer Hemed has been replaced by Gary Hooper, no loss there. Reno Piscopo will be entering a contract year, his third at the club, with a point to prove. The idea that he can replace Davila is bonkers when Reno has only offered 4 goals and 5 assists in his two seasons but yeah for sure we’re expecting a more productive (and healthy) run from him next time.
But there’s still some slack there that needs picking up. And there are a couple spare import spots with which to do get that done. A right winger who can both score and especially create, not an easy player to find but there’s an entire world in which to unleash the scouting team to find one. They struck gold with Davila last time so no reason not to trust the club to find another bargain – just tell them it’s one of the few leagues where covid protocols are a thing of the past. Full crowds and everything. Guaranteed to reel in a few bites like that.
The club’s track record with imports has been really good these last couple years and with solid front four already locked in they can afford to allow the newbie to take their time settling in. Ulises Davila does need replacing though. And it’s gotta be an import quality dude too, don’t kid yourself otherwise.
A Starting Right Back
Shout out to Louis Fenton on the new contract. With 138 appearances (all comps) to his name he’s sixth all-time for the club and a dozen more will see him crack the top five (it goes: Durante 281, Lia 202, Muscat 196, Sigmund 187, Moss 150). And yet... somehow he still feels like a project player. Still feels like someone who we’re unsure of their ceiling as a player. Which by the age of 28 probably means that he’s already at that ceiling and that in turn only emphasises more why he shouldn’t be the week one starting right back.
He wasn’t last time. Tim Payne started on the right as Fenton practised playing on the left side of defence to keep him versatile enough to get some games off the bench. Then Payne slid into the middle as injuries hit the backline and Fenton started 18 of the next 20 games at RB, missing one with injury (when Alex Rufer had to take one for the team just before kickoff) and one through suspension (Payne stepping back outside with Josh Laws at CB).
The thing with Fenton is he’s not the best defender and he’s not the best attacker. He’s solid and will work hard for the team, he’s passionate, he’ll follow instructions. All those things that coaches love. But he doesn’t have the speed or skill to attack a player 1v1 and with Davila dragging defenders inside that was such a missed opportunity. A more aggressive player could have feasted in the space that was allowed to Fenton. (The defending matters less with Stevie T on that side, btw).
To be fair to Lou, he got a whole lot better at some of this as the season went along by making those overlapping runs and looking to take the aggressive options more often. Enough that his new contract was definitely justified... but also his crossing kinda sucks and that’s not ideal. A modern fullback has to be able to live on at least one of those two aspects. In a post-Davila Nix team it’s the crossing that’s probably gonna be most valuable too with what you’d imagine will be a more traditional right-edge structure.
They could use an import spot on an attacking right back. That’s an option. After getting an attacking midfielder there’ll be one left to use (if they can afford it). But they don’t have to. Jack-Henry Sinclair is right there waiting for that offer, mate. Someone who does all those things we need the RB to do and on the cheap too. Elsewhere there’s Kelvin Kalua wouldn’t go awry though he wouldn’t be an immediate upgrade on Fenton, even JHS would need an adjustment period. One other sneaky name who’d go well: Niko Kirwan. Word is he’s being released by his Italian club and he did play for Team Welly back in the day. You never know.
Backup Goalkeeper
Oli Sail went from playing zero minutes in Uffie’s first season to becoming the starting GK about a third of the way through Uffie’s second campaign in charge. He was next to flawless, doing the simple stuff and the tricky stuff. Keeping the odd clean sheet. Moving the ball around confidently when playing out in possession. He came in and grasped his chance in both hands to leave Stefan Marinovic languishing on the bench. Marinovic is now off to Israel and Sail will be the starter heading into the future... and somebody new has gotta sit on the bench. Those two keepers were the only ones in a matchday squad last term.
The easy answer is to say that they oughta promote Alex Paulsen. Standout gloveman for the reserve team, he’s only 18 years old but his highlight reel from the last Premmy season was remarkable, in fact he ended up winning the league MVP award. Flawed system of how they decide that but whatever. Paulsen is the real deal and he deserves to be in and around the first team as they move back to their permanent home.
But is he ready for an extended run if Sail were to get injured? This is a Welly Nix team that might be entering a championship contender’s window and we cannot risk that with a teenaged goalie unless we’re totally sure he’s up for it. And, hey, he might well be. However someone older to bridge another year or two of AP’s development would not be a silly idea. Especially when there are heaps of goalies going around. Scott Basalaj. Cameron Brown. Danyon Drake. Conor Tracey. All decent kiwi options. Plus Max Crocombe’s just been released by Melbourne Victory. Not to mention an abundance of Aussies no doubt willing to chip in for a year or two. Well, maybe not an abundance... but there’ll be a couple out there.
Defensive Midfield Scrapper
Cam Devlin is likely to leave, at least that’s what the rumours suggest. He’s been linked with a move to Melbourne Victory which makes sense given he’s an Aussie boy who has done enough over the last few seasons to easily grab a deal on the other side of the Tasman. Plus he’s had an offer from the Nix on the table for ages now which he initially said he didn’t wanna think about until after the season but now it’s after the season and still crickets. Like, take the hint, right?
Alex Rufer and Clayton Lewis would make a more than decent midfield combo. You’d lose a little in mobility and a lot in tackling prowess but you’d gain in passing ability and progressive options. Two players is not enough though. There has to be more to the squad in those spots... and given how influential the midfield roles tend to be this is prime real estate for that fifth and final import spot. Certainly wouldn’t argue with that.
Or alternatively (/additionally) they could punch up the depth with some local talent. Just gonna chuck out the names Mario Ilich, Ollie Whyte, Dane Schnell, and Cam Howieson for ya. The latter may have burnt some bridges a couple years back but dunno. Within the current squad, Matt Ridenton is off-contract, doubt he gets re-signed at this point given he could barely even make a matchday squad once the team got good... but Josh Laws is worth a crack in his more familiar midfield spot, especially as someone who we know can cover the defensive areas too. He’s still one I reckon is worth a new deal.
And don’t forget that Sam Sutton is a midfielder by trade too. Quite a good one. Libby Cacace transformed himself from a DM to a LB once he got to the A-League but Sam Sutton still feels like long-term he’ll be playing midfield once again... we even got a little glimpse of it in one game last season (the 2-2 draw with Melbourne City) when McGarry came on for Clayton Lewis late on and Sutton slipped into CM. More of that, please.
Striker Depth
This is where we mention Gary Hooper’s injury history again and acknowledge that there has to be cover. Ben Waine’s emergence is awesome, it makes this so much easier. David Ball would prefer to play up top. An import ten and one of them is going to be playing off the bench anyway most weeks (not to mention Jaushua Sotirio). So we’re not talking imports here, we’re talking deeper options who’ll play quarter of an hour off the bench when we’re chasing a goal and only ever get starts if others are unavailable (initially at least... perform in those games and Ben Waine, Oli Sail, Tim Payne, Sam Sutton, Clayton Lewis, etc. will tell you that Uffie can be a generous man).
Mirza Muratovic is a young player who has that knack for goals. Hardly played after the first few months but he did get two goals. Charles Lokoli-Ngoy never did it for the Nix. Those are the rungs of the ladder we’re talking about. We do have Ben Old pushing at the fringes of the squad which is cool. Then it’s a matter of seeing what Kiwi/Aussie dudes are hungry for a crack at the A-League and hoping to find someone who can make the step up in the way that Payne/Lewis have recently. Alex Greive and Angus Kilkolly are scoring in bundles in the Northern League at the mo. Greive is definitely one worth a thought. Dare I mention the name Hamish Watson too? Oh and another sneak option: Andre De Jong has trialled with the Nix before and is likely to be released by his South African club at the end of the month. He’d be brilliant.
An Experienced/Versatile Defender
Might as well. It never hurts to have options at the back, just look how many dudes the Nix used there this season. Ideally we’re talking someone who can cover multiple positions to make their presence more worthwhile – again, Josh Laws is right there in front of us. And a more experienced backup wouldn’t hurt given how young a lot of the defence is. Not a major hole in the squad or anything. Just something that complement what we’ve already got. Unless they can’t afford that fifth import and decide instead to use it on Brian Kaltak... which: yes please. (But only if that fifth import spot is off the cards otherwise).
Academy New Blood
This is last in the batting order because we’ve already got Ben Waine and Sam Sutton under contract. Not to mention older fellas like Fenton and Rufer who also came up through the ranks. You always want to see players coming up the internal pathways at footy clubs as they’re going to be cheap, they’re going to connect with fans, they’re going to boost the club financially and clout-wise if they move onwards and upwards, and then also for a team like the Phoenix, who can’t really attract the best Aussie players in an Aussie competition... it’s kinda crucial to staying competitive too.
But, as I say, there are already a few academy grads in the group so while someone like Ben Old does seem poised to get plenty more games over the next couple seasons he doesn’t necessarily have to be on a first team deal quite yet. Not unless the club are worried he’ll get scooped up by an overseas club in the meantime.
Old is the current holder of the Best Player in the Academy Championship Belt. An honour previously held by the likes of Sarpreet Singh, Libby Cacace, Sam Sutton, and Ben Waine in recent times and look where they’ve all gotten to since then. I’m still trying to figure out who to name the Championship Belt after, whether it’s one of those four or maybe dig deeper into the history or whatever. Thinking it’s probably the Sarpreet Singh Championship Belt for now, at least.
Potential successors to the Sarpreet Singh Commemorative WeeNix Championship Belt (SSCWNCB)? Kurtis Mogg is a solid defender with leadership abilities. Finn Surman is likewise a really talented central defender though still far too raw for A-League footy at the moment. Riley Bidois is a useful goal-scorer who can play across the front-line. Luis Toomey has some lovely vision from midfield or out wide. And of course Alex Paulsen is right in the mix for backup keeper next season – he’s as good a goalie as Aotearoa has produced (at his current age/progression) for years. Seriously, that chap can play. Ben Old is probably the only one ready for a first team contract if one should be on offer... but there are a few others there who could put their hands up by the time the next season rolls around. Lower Hutt City are comfortably in third place of the Central Premier League, only two points off top, and the Wee Nix are guaranteed a place in the summer National League.
Get in on the Patreon buzz if you dig what we’re up to and reckon we deserve to get paid for the yarns
Also whack an ad to say thanks for the read, share the good word far and wide, and sign up to our Substack
Keep cool but care