Okay, everybody gather around, let’s all take turns in introducing ourselves... particularly you Northern Leaguers who weren’t able to join in last year. It’s been a complicated couple of years for any number of reasons but here we all are again. Full on National League. None but club teams (for better and for worse). We’re all feeling good? Excited? Rightio, let’s do this.

Auckland City, Birkenhead United, Auckland United, Melville United, Wellington Olympic, Miramar Rangers, Napier City Rovers, Wellington Phoenix Reserves, Cashmere Technical, and Christchurch United. Those are the ten clubs who’ve qualified. Top four from the Northern League, top three from the Central League, top two from Southern League... plus the guaranteed presence of the WeeNix. That’s us right there.

Annoyingly, it’s only a nine-week league with a grand final to follow. Everybody plays each other once, either home or away but not both, then the top two on the league table at the conclusion meet in a final to decide the champions. Season starts in the first weekend of October and ends in the first weekend of December. Just the ten weeks. It is what it is. The league has philosophically changed from a regional franchise system which the best players all had access to, to a Champions League style set-up where it’s about the best clubs instead. The standard could drop but hopefully hype and engagement will grow. (I’m doing my bit by writing these things, you’re doing yours by reading it – por favor).

Reiterating some housekeeping from the first Women’s NL round-up, the plan is to write the weekly reports early in the week although with nine games per week between the men and women don’t expect those schedules to hold with concrete firmness. But they’ll be on the website each week by Wednesday at the latest (Flying Kiwis is also likely to be a Wednesday thing for the rest of the year as a result).

There’ll also be Teams of the Week in our Substack newsletter – probably women’s on Monday and men’s on Friday but we’ll see how it goes. Subscribe to that sucker if you so desire. Also likely to have highlight clips and whatnot appearing on our Twitter and Instagram pages throughout. Once again: nobody will be covering this National League season like The Niche Cache will be covering it. Chip in on our Patreon if you appreciate the mahi.

AUCKLAND CITY

We begin proceedings with a look at the Northern League champs, the Chatham Cup champs, and the OFC Champions League champs. Yep, all the same team. Auckland City have already secured a treble for 2022 and they’re now gunning for trophy number four. An incredible achievement from a team that... well, they kinda juked their way into club status when the Premiership was canned (acquiring the Northern League spot of sister club Central United) but it’s better for football in Aotearoa to have teams like Auckland City in existence. It’s not that much different to clubs like Three Kings and Onehunga Sports pooling resources to become Auckland United. Everyone’s trying to level up for this new version of the National League.

The thing about Auckland City is that they haven’t gotten any weaker since the final Prem season. Whereas Team Wellington effectively split things down the middle in their divorce, half the squad going to Miramar Rangers and the other half to Wellington Olympic (which was already the case during winter seasons), Auckland City pretty much kept everybody. Then they added Ryan De Vries after he finished off a nice couple years in Ireland – paving the way for Max Mata and Nando Pijnaker at Sligo Rovers. The U20s rule may have affected them a wee bit but guess what? Their academy players are pretty good too. Just needed that chance.

ACFC have lost one game all year. It was a 2-0 defeat to Auckland United in the final round of the Northern League, the title long since wrapped up, and perhaps they had their eyes on the impending Chatham Cup final. Up until that match they’d drawn an early season stalemate with Hamilton Wanderers... and won literally every other game they’d played across all competitions. So they have more trophies than winless games in 2022. An unreal accomplishment - although it’s a shame that City’s undefeated streak didn’t last into the National League where it could have been a killer narrative.

Heaps of familiar faces here. Cam Howieson leads the way in midfield having just earned another All Whites call-up for the Aussie games. Mario Ilich operates with distinction alongside him. Emiliano Tade scored 14 goals in Northern League action, alternating between starts and super sub cameos at age 34. Adam Mitchell and Sam Brotherton form a central defensive pairing with genuine international experience while Conor Tracey’s had an excellent year in goal. Hence why this team kept 11 clean sheets in 22 NL matches. Reid Drake and Ryan De Vries are always fun to watch. Dylan Manickum won the Jack Batty Memorial in the Chatham Cup final after scoring the winner. Angus Kilkolly and Gerard Garriga Gibert offer pretty amazing depth on the bench.

We could go on for a long time here. If you’re curious about some of the youngsters, 20yo forward Joseph Lee is electric with that great left foot of his. 19yo wingers Liam Gillion and Ilham Hameedi are also highly rated and have gotten some decent opportunities through the year. Check out midfielders Aidan Carey and Matthew Ellis too (both 21yo).

At least National League footy should reduce the average margin between them and their opponents enough for a feasible chance of an upset most weeks. Albert Riera’s team have completed every quest so far (other than the unbeaten season thing) but the Natty League won’t come easy. They’ll be heavy favourites for sure but they will have to play better than they did in the Chatham Cup final if they’re gonna make it a quadruple. Be brave to bet against them though.

BIRKENHEAD UNITED

Second place in the Northern League, 11 points back on Auckland City (and one point ahead of Auckland United). Birkenhead were long established in that top four, spending the entire season in position to qualify for this thing and losing only one of their last 14 matches... and that was to Auckland City. In fact other than losing twice to City, as almost every team in that division did, Birkenhead only lost two other league games all season (to Melville and Takapuna, both at home). They also went out in the final sixteen of the Chatham Cup, beaten 2-0 at home by eventual finalists Eastern Suburbs. Bit weird that three of their four defeats this year have been in home fixtures.

Birkenhead provided the bulk of Waitakere United’s squad over their last couple years of existence during the Premiership era so quite a few of these players are used to the National League scene – including coach Paul Hobson - despite most of their top dudes only being in their early 20s. So if you’re from outside the Northern region or if you’ve been tuned out of the winter stuff you’re still going to recognise a decent core of this team.

Sam Burfoot is the superstar in Beach Haven. One of the best midfielders in the country and a regular in past Niche Cache Premiership Teams of the Season. In Andrew Cromb they have one of the top young centre-backs going around while Dino Botica beside him is another strong defensive presence. Goalie Damien Hirst was part of the NZ U20 squad back in 2015 when Aotearoa hosted that tournament. Rate a bit of Jackson Woods at right back. Luke Jorgensen’s a fine player. And they were able to use those old Waitakere United connections for a fantastic mid-season signing in Dane Schnell. A sturdy midfield leader with the ability to pop up with some goals.

Speaking of goals, Alex Connor-McClean should provide a few of them while Cameron MacKenzie top scored during the winter season. You’re also gonna want to have a look at Everton O’Leary at fullback who’s just got back from the Oceania U19 championships. Remember that this is the club that brought Alex Greive through and it was Birkenhead’s sister club alignment with St Mirren in Scotland that led to Greive getting his initial trial with the Saints... fast forward a year and AG’s signed a contract extension and become a regular international. Birkenhead are steadily becoming one of the better top level development clubs on the scene and there are plenty more breakthrough candidates in this group, don’t you worry about that.

AUCKLAND UNITED

A significant number of clubs around the country performed mergers over the last few years in anticipation of this club-based National League. Probably gotta say that Auckland United – made up of Three Kings and Onehunga Sports – has been the most successful of those. This lot are the only club to qualify for both the men’s and women’s National Leagues this year. That’s a pretty massive achievement tbh.

The other bragging point they have, which equally massive, is that Auckland United are the only team to beat Auckland City so far in 2022. Sure, their 2-0 win (via goals for Oliver Fay and Regont Murati) came long after ACFC had wrapped up the title and a week before their Chatham Cup final... but damn nobody else beat them in any context whatsoever. Huge turn-up by AU, who thus finished their NL season with six straight wins and across the last five of those they scored 22 goals and conceded zero. Admittedly they’ll have had a month off when they get their Natty League campaign underway but regardless that’s exactly the kind of form you want to be taking into this thing.

United are coached by Jose Figueira and he’s got plenty of quality to work with. Ross Haviland captains them, bit of a veteran at this level. Joshua Redfearn (13 goals) and Nicolas Zambrano (10 goals) led the way with the scoring. Plus they’ve been able to scoop up a few guys returning from overseas gigs. Matt Conroy spent some time in Scandinavia but he’s back. Michael den Heijer’s been here a couple years since returning from the Netherlands. Two superb players at this level. Andrew Blake’s at United these days. Mack Waite is the first choice keeper. Reggie Murati goes good, as does Will Stephen. And don’t overlook Harshae Raniga who is a 1-cap All White thanks to those murky early Anthony Hudson days.

They did lose Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi mid-season as he has gone to England to play some lower league stuff. But they picked up another ex-Phoenix player along the way when Kurtis Mogg aged out of the WeeNix without getting a senior gig. Mogg was with the A-League squad for pretty much the whole time last season. Not saying he deserves all the credit or anything... but his arrival did sorta coincide with their brilliant form down the stretch. And Oliver Fay was a prominent presence in Aotearoa’s squad at the recent Oceania U19s.

Despite this being a new format, several of these clubs have already been around the Natty League in recent years. Auckland City and the WeeNix of course. Plus several of the others were in the South Central Series and a number of them are closely affiliated with former Prem clubs. Birkenhead and Waitakere United. Cashmere Tech and Canterbury United. Napier City Rovers and Hawke’s Bay United. But Auckland United are one of the truly new kids on the block and that’s always an exciting thing.

MELVILLE UNITED

Good old Melville, representing the Waitako region in the National League – the only WaiBOP presence in either the men’s or women’s competition this year. Especially cool for Melville because they’d spent the last few years watching local rivals Hamilton Wanderers do the National League thing and now it’s their turn.

Wanderers were actually the closest challengers to Melville for fourth place and after Melville lost 3-2 to Western Springs then 2-0 to Auckland United consecutively in August there was a growing chance that Wanderers might even catch them. With the two scheduled to play in the final week it was all on... but Melville responded with two brilliant victories. First they beat Eastern Suburbs 4-1 away on a Wednesday night and then three days later they popped North Shore 3-0 at home to secure it. Oh yeah and then they beat Hamilton W’s 3-2 to finish the season with a celebration.

Strangely, Melville have not drawn a game in 2022. 15 wins and 7 losses in league play. Sam Wilkinson has been coaching them for the last five years however he’s stepping down at the conclusion of the National League with Jarrod Young announced to replace him from 2023. Under Wilkinson the club were promoted up to the top flight as Div 1 champions in 2018 and have since established themselves as one of the better teams in the Northern League. They were beaten Chatham Cup finalists in 2019. This National League qualification is effectively a culmination of all that mahi.

One bloke you’re sure to recognise is 36 year old 8-cap All Whites fullback Aaron Scott still going strong. At the other end of the age scale you’ve got 19 year old Oliver Colloty who top scored for Melville with 13 goals in 21 games and also tied for the Golden Boot (with teammate Kian Donkers) at the recent U19 Oceania Championships. 19 year old midfielder Josh Galletly is another highly promising player while the likes of Luke Searle, Sean Liddicoat, and Stafford Dowling bring some decent Natty League experience to the group.

WELLINGTON OLYMPIC

The champions of the Central League, here they are. Only sorted that one out last Friday as their deciding fixture against Miramar Rangers was randomly delayed by an entire month but Olympic did eventually win that match 1-0 thanks to a 80th minute goal from Connor Gaul off the bench. A draw would also have been enough for them to hold onto the title. A second consecutive Central League championship for the Greeks and they did it in style winning nine of their last ten games (and many of them by hefty scorelines) and clinching it with a win over their closest rivals. That’s how you do it.

Olympic scored 71 goals and conceded 15 through 18 matches. Both of those were the best tallies in the Central League. They also made it to the semis of the Chatham Cup where they were beaten 3-1 by a rampant Auckland City team.

Defensively they’ve been anchored by Scott Basalaj in goal, as good a keeper as anyone at this level, with the likes of Ben Mata and Justin Gulley in front of him. Jack-Henry Sinclair is probably the star man having trialled with the Wellington Phoenix during the season and he was in fine form throughout the winter scoring 14 goals at better than a goal a game. Not enough to be the top scorer though, that honour goes to striker Gianni Bouzoukis with his 16 bangers. Lighting-quick winger Jesse Randall also bagged 10 meaning that of the five players to score 10+ in the 2022 CL... three of them were Olympic players. Probably why they’re champs, to be fair. Kailan Gould had 9 himself as well.

Randall had been scoring goals in the States for Northern Kentucky University but that was when Stu Riddle was coach and he’s not returned since Riddle left that gig. All the better for this National League because the 20yo is one of the better attacking prospects in Aotearoa (and the USA development system has served up a dubious record for kiwi players in recent years). Tor Davenport-Petersen is another fella to watch for, a combative midfielder with a smooth touch. Lukas Halikias too. Plus Theo Ettema was part of that U19 Oceania champs squad and should get some decent minutes for Rupert Kemeys’ team over the next few months.

It’ll all be pretty familiar to anyone who watched this lot in the South Central Series last year. Plenty of the same key players. Even the trophy cabinet’s the same after repeating as regional champs. And don’t underestimate the fact that they got a direct look at Auckland City in that Chatham Cup semi either. They may have been relatively well beaten that day but that’s an experience that none of the other clubs from outside Auckland have had this year. Or last year either given the whole South Central thing.

MIRAMAR RANGERS

Runners up in the Central League, same as they were a year ago... but a year ago they also channelled that disappointment into what ended up being a South Central Series championship. They peaked for the National League then, now gotta do it again. Scotty Hales also coached several of these same players to the final Premiership trophy with Team Wellington too. There’s some pedigree here.

The big man up front is where it all begins. Hamish Watson scored 20 goals to claim the Central League Golden Boot. That’s 20 goals in an 18-game league (plus four more in the Chatham Cup). Watto scored five in one game against Western Suburbs in June. He also scored four in a win against Petone in August. Also got Sam Mason-Smith as a selfless, experienced foil for him up front. And a dose of youngster Owen Barnett pushing forward from deeper/wider. Let’s just say that this is a team that scores a lot of goals.

Rangers have notably picked up a few ex-Western Suburbs guys this year. Wan Gatkek, Ryan Feutz, Ollie van Rijssel, and Josh Rogerson all played solid roles for this team, all very talented footballers. Hardly saw Andy Bevin all winter yet he did make a rare appearance in the Central League decider last week. Elsewhere guys like Sam Dewar, Liam Wood, and Scott Midgley will serve up the leadership. 19yo Max Falconer got plenty of games in the midfield, also winger/fullback Wilson Souphanthavong was in that national U19 squad – pretty cool how most teams here have a guy or two from that group. Rangers are also one of a couple of teams who’ll be rocking with a teenaged goalkeeper because Jack De Groot started every league game this year.

It’s a funky mix of youth and experience that they’ve got in Miramar. They were beaten in a thrilling Chatham Cup quarter final against Hamilton Wanderers, going down 4-3. They lost that Central League decider 1-0 against Wellington Olympic. Coming up a step short a couple of times which could be considered part of the learning curve - although aside from that they only lost one other game all year and it was against Waterside Karori in week three all the way back in April. They haven’t dropped many and when they win they often win big. Same as Wellington Olympic in that they’ll be competitive against anyone.

NAPIER CITY ROVERS

When Rovers lost 2-1 to Waterside Karori in their third to last game, they left the door just a little bit ajar for that lot to overlap them for fourth place and the last Natty League gig. But despite WK subsequently beating both the WeeNix and Western Suburbs... NCR were able to beat Wests themselves and that was enough to scrape through despite losing to Miramar Rangers in their last match. Bit friskier than they would have liked for Bill Robertson’s boys but they got there in the end. One of only two teams, along with Melville, from outside the three major cities. Which is two more than would have qualified last year.

18 year old goalie Oscar Mason has been an intriguing prospect for a couple years now. He was with that U19 NZ team, keeping a clean sheet in a 9-0 win over American Samoa, and he also started every single Central League game in 2022 so you can bet he’ll be in there come National League activities. Robertson himself still puts the boots on now and then though Kaeden Atkins and James Hoyle go alright at CB without him. Bit more of an international feel to NCR compared to other teams. Their three top scorers (all with 7 goals) were Englishmen Liam Schofield and Jonathan McNamara, and Canadian Leaford Allen. Young defender Fetuao Belcher was also away at the Oceania U19s with Samoa. Chuck in Cameron Emerson, a very good midfielder. A stalwart like Fergus Neil. This is a solid group.

It’ll be tough yakka for them though, if we’re being realistic. The fourth placed team in Central probably won’t be as strong as the fourth placed team from Northern or the second placed team from Southern. Maybe they will, you never know, but it feels like Napier City Rovers might have their work cut out. That win over the WeeNix was their only win against the rest of the Central League top four. Then again, a good defence goes a long way and they certainly have one of those – plus their mere presence in this competition is a success coming from outside of the Auckland/Wellington/Christchurch strongholds.

WELLINGTON PHOENIX RESERVES

You don’t really need a fresh introduction to the Welly Nix reserves, you just need to go back and watch highlights from the U19 Oceania Championships that just finished because that’s where most of this team were. 12 out of 23 players in that squad were from the Wellington Phoenix and Josh Rudland was also amongst the three reserves - Rudland’s a striker who scored a bunch of goals in the South Central last year.

Two of that dozen aren’t WeeNixers. Finn Surman captained the U19s team and started every game although of course you won’t see him in the NL this year (at least not much) because he’s a fully contracted A-League player now. The other is Henry Gray who started four of six games in goal, the preferred first choice keeper at the tournament, and was with the WeeNix last year but left to do the trial thing overseas and more recently has been playing for Waterside Karori.

Plenty more where they came from though. Isaac Hughes and Lukas Kelly-Heald joined Surman in the back three most games. Kelly-Heald also has a twin brother Alby who is a goalie in the Nix system. You’ll recognise them both because they’re super tall. Adam Supyk is a tidy fullback. Fin Conchie and Charlie Beale a couple of technically gifted midfielders, Conchie was especially impressive in Tahiti. Jackson Manuel only played a couple games in that tourney however he spent the bulk of last season with the first team Phoenix squad in Aussie so you know he’s a gun. Noah Karunaratne and Marco Lorenz got Nix debuts in the FFA Cup recently. Chuck in Dan McKay and Sebastian Barton-Ginger and there ya go.

The Phoenix Reserves have an automatic spot held aside for this National League... but they would have qualified anyway as they came third in the Central League – despite being an U20s team. That’s even after a few stumbles towards the end, losing three of their last four. The WeeNix managed two wins, two draws, two losses against the other three NL qualifiers from their conference. Most of these players got some South Central Series experience as a headstart so while this is definitely a step up playing exclusively against the best clubs in the country they should be relatively competitive. Emphasis on ‘relatively’.

Also with the ALM team back in Wellington and able to play actually home games it’s possible we see a few of those dudes pop up here and there for match fitness, like how it used to be. Given the state of the squad these days quite a few of those who may benefit from that are actually ex-WeeNixers anyway. Plus it’ll go both ways. We know that Ufuk Talay trusts the academy to produce players he can use at A-League level. Every single player in this WeeNIx squad will be well aware that they’re auditioning for a future professional gig.

CHRISTCHURCH UNITED

Oh mate, just unreal areas at the end of the Southern League. Christchurch United had been strutting unbeaten through the season when Cashy Tech caught up and handed them an L in a 1-0 result thanks to a Garbhan Coughlan goal in the penultimate remaining match. United had beaten Tech 4-1 earlier in the year and both teams, curiously enough, were also held to surprise draws by Ferrymead. Meaning that they were tied on points with Technical ahead on goal difference going into the final round.

Cue one of the all-time bonkers finishes to a kiwi football competition. The ups and downs were detailed more specifically in this TNC Substack newsletter from the time however the short version is that Cashmere Tech beat Dunedin City Royals 5-4 but conceded a couple late goals that didn’t help their cause as Christchurch United simultaneously romped to a 10-0 win over last-placed Mosgiel to ensure that they lifted the Southern League trophy by a margin of three goal difference points. Remarkable scenes.

The thing about Christchurch United, who didn’t qualify for the SCS last year, is that they’re kind of like the early 2000s Chelsea of Aotearoa in that they’re owned by a very rich Russian bloke (named Slava Meyn) who has invested pretty heavily into the club, including an impressive training facility and new academy. Also they lured Paul Ifill down south to coach the team and it’s safe to say that’s worked out nicely so far. There has been some criticism about that level of spending in an ostensibly amateur league... though you can’t deny it’s an interesting yarn.

Ifill did feature in nine games off the bench for United so it’s possible he could make a cameo during the Nats. See how it goes... not that they really need him given their squad. United have done a good job at luring various players to their realms. Noah Billingsley is one of the best of those, the 3-cap All Whites and former Minnesota United player back on the scene in Christchurch these days if you were wondering where he’d gotten to. Great time for him to remind everyone what he’s capable of.

Matt Todd-Smith was always dependable for Tasman United and now he’s at CU. Jordan Spain is another solid player. Scott Morris in goal. Ben Lapslie and Sho Mathieson. Teenaged defender Riley Grover led the team in total minutes. As for goals, Eddie Wilkinson stormed out in front with 19 of the bad boys while Sanni Issa chipped in with another 11 and Joel Peterson was third in the team with 8.

The tricky thing for Christchurch United is how this all translates to the National League because it’s one thing to dominate the Southern League and another thing to take on the best from Auckland and Wellington. You go from being the big fish to, if anything, being a slight underdog. Most of those names mentioned have had National League endeavours before so they’re not coming in cold. Still, Christchurch United shape as one of the more unknown prospects heading into this campaign.

CASHMERE TECHNICAL

Goal difference is a brutal thing sometimes. Imagine losing out that way in a season in which you had an 11-2 win (Mosgiel H), a 9-1 win (Nomads H), an 8-0 win (Green Island H), a 6-0 win (Nomads A), another 8-0 win (Mosgiel A)... plus four other games in which you won with four goals scored. That’s a lot of goals, more than what Christchurch United bagged overall. Hence why Garbhan Coughlan was the Golden Boot winner. But they also conceded eight more than United did which is sorta what cost them. Those last couple goals allowed to Dunedin City Royals in the final game. A couple 4-1 or 4-2 wins along the way which might have otherwise been 4-0. So it goes.

If you watched Canterbury United play in their last couple seasons then you’ll recognise this lot. Or you may have seen most of them lift the Chatham Cup at the start of the year when the 2021 edition was finally completed. Think Tom Schwarz and Andrew Storer winning headers at the back. Danny Knight making saves. Luke Tongue wherever the hell they need him to be, whipping in mint set pieces. Lyle Matthysen blitzing past defenders. Garbhan Coughlan winning fouls and scoring goals.

They’ve also got a trio of really enticing attacking youngsters who could well make a splash across this summer season. Kian Donkers was tied for the Golden Boot at the OFC U19s with Melville teammate Oliver Collotty – they’ll go head to head at some stage this season – although note that Donkers did technically play fewer minutes in achieving his haul. Then there’s Alex Ballard and Declan Tyndall who both played a bit in the South Central where they showed some silkiness beyond their years. As well as a bit of toughness which always helps.

Dan Schwarz has tended to have this team operating from a strong defensive base during the national comps and that’s a funky contrast to how they went in the winter with all those goals yet not enough clean sheets. They can’t afford to be too loose against the likes of Wellington Olympic (who beat them 3-2 in the Chatham Cup quarters) or Auckland City. But you also don’t want to stray too far from what’s been (mostly) working throughout the year.

Regional League Tables

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