Five Things From The Wellington Phoenix's Return To Winning Ways vs Newcastle Jets
The last few weeks have been rough for the Wellington Phoenix blokes, beginning with the derby defeat away to Auckland FC. You don’t often need to pay attention to what the Aussie commentators say about the kiwi clubs but there was a point made during the broadcast of the 4-1 defeat against Western Sydney Wanderers about how the enormous sudden focus of Wellington vs Auckland was perhaps distracting them each from the bigger picture. Hard to argue with that when neither team won either of their next two games following the second derby meeting. For the Nix, that meant a three-game losing streak.
Both teams made corrections in their final matches within the 2024 calendar, with Auckland FC snapping back to attention with a 4-1 win away to Central Coast – combining their usual pattern of set piece goals and rugged defence with the unusual elements of first half goals and Tommy Smith starting a game – while the Welly Nix scored a couple of bangers and then survived with a sturdy grip for a 2-1 victory at home against Newcastle Jets. Got a bit wobbly there when Ben Gibson (who is apparently eligible for the All Whites through a kiwi mother) pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute. However, there weren’t too many other chances from there as the Jets struggled to make their possessions threatening.
Tell ya what, there were big shades of how the Wellington Phoenix operated last season in this performance. Goalkeeping solidity from Josh Oluwayemi. Timely and well-taken goals. Allowing plenty of shots from low-percentage areas and not so many from better spots. Not to mention the assured, professional managing of the game in the latter stages – 10/15 Nix wins last season were by a single goal so this was a return to familiar territory. Auckland FC will get the article focus next time but this Nix game is the one that’s throwing up all the talking points so it’s a yellow and black spotlight today, people.
A Team in Transition
One year ago, these same Wellington Phoenix results would have made perfect sense. They’ve gone DWLWWLLLW for 13 points from nine games and if those had been the tracks they’d left to begin Giancarlo Italiano’s tenure, at a time when they’d just lost seven players from their elimination final squad (including five starters) and predominantly replaced them with young dudes from their own academy... we’d all probably have said they were doing very well under the circumstances. Instead, this time one year ago they had 20 points from nine games and were on course for what’d prove to be the team’s best ever campaign.
Last year’s unexpected excellence thus became the context for this season... and perhaps that’s not very fair. Because, actually, this season’s shake-ups have been equally as extensive. Eight squad players from the preliminary final second leg defeat against Melbourne Victory have left. Five of them were starters. Finn Surman, Alex Paulsen, and Ben Old all departed for tasty transfer fees. Imports Oskar Zawada and Bozhidar Kraev, two key imports and thus two crucial bastions of continuity between 2022-23 and 2023-24, departed as well. As did Nico Pennington and Jack Duncan who linked up with rival ALM teams. To make matters even more drastic, David Ball is no longer part of the equation and Oskar van Hattum seems to have disappeared lately as well (unless there’s an unreported injury). Those two got 2000+ combined minutes last season. Lots of change. Lots of difference.
Granted, this time the Nix did embark upon some senior recruiting. The next wave of academy lads has been thrust forward into prominence – look at dudes like Isaac Hughes, Matt Sheridan, Nathan Walker, Jayden Smith, Xuan Loke, and Alby Kelly-Heald all hitting fast-forward on their nascent careers – but the club also picked up proved ALM talents in the form of Marco Rojas, Stefan Colakovski, and Paolo Retre. Only problem there is that all three have been limited due to injuries. Rojas has been in and out. Retre missed the start of the campaign. And Cola has done his ACL so he might not ever play for the Nix again, considering how he only has a one-year contract.
Look at the start to this season through that lens and the image is very different. Chiefy’s been chopping and changing with his teams and tactics. Tim Payne’s super attacking role has been a bit weird. Matt Sheridan seems to be an option in every position on the pitch. Nathan Walker and Corban Piper are proving similarly versatile. We’ve seen back threes and back fours and all sorts of hybrids in between. It’s all very hectic. Unlike last season, you can’t predict how the Nix will line up from looking at the starting eleven. And yet, despite all that, they’re only one point outside the top six with plenty of room to get better as the new players settle in and a few of the injuries clear up. Seems like they’re doing pretty well under the circumstances, aye?
Defensive Shapes
Speaking of unpredictable selections, did anyone forecast this position for Matt Sheridan?
Hmm, yeah, maybe we should have though. Sheridan was signed to the first team as a fullback but the thing about that is it was only in the last couple years that he was converted to that position. Before that he was a midfielder but this was at a time when the likes of Fin Conchie, Dan McKay, and Charlie Beale were also competing for those reserve team minutes. Sheridan made 8/9 starts in the 2022 National League – six at right-back, two in midfield. By 2023 he was in and around the first team framework so he only made three starts and all were at RB. This year he didn’t play at all for obvious reasons, being busy in the A-League and all that.
So he’s got that midfielder’s skill set of being comfortable on the ball, good under pressure in tight areas, and with 360 degree awareness. Thus he’s very used to playing through the middle of the pitch, something that a lot of fullbacks don’t really have, hence you sometimes see them in back threes but rarely in CB duos. Funnily enough, Matt Sheridan just so happens to have been tasked on the right side of a back three several times already this season. Playing centre-back in a back four is quite different but Sheridan’s a more natural option at CB than perhaps his reputation suggests... and that’s what we saw.
The safer guess might have been to expect Tim Payne to slide infield and have Sheridan out wide, given how Payne was allegedly dealing with an injury. Allegedly... because this is the second time this year that a senior Nix player was “ruled out” in the days leading up to a game only for them to turn in a flawless ninety minute performance anyway. Alex Rufer did the same thing before the first derby. Either shenanigans are afoot or those Nix doctors are like trigger happy cricket umpires. Keep those reviews handy.
But T.Payne’s been essential to Chiefy’s tactics this season out wide on the right, particularly his workrate getting forward and those sumptuous crosses that he delivers (albeit often aimed at the hobbit-sized Barbarouses and Ishige), and Sheridan’s opportunities have had to work around that locked-on spot. This was merely another example of it. As for why Sheridan keeps getting shoehorned in? Well, he’s played 634 minutes during which the Nix have scored 11 goals and conceded 7. In the other 176 minutes without him they’ve scored once and conceded five. So... he’s clearly doing something right to have the best goal difference in the entire squad during his minutes played.
That did two things to the Nix quartet. One, it meant that Isaac Hughes was given a spell after his horror run of goal-causing errors. There was an own goal in the derby. There was the silly handball that conceded a penalty in the Macarthur loss. There was the slip that allowed Western Sydney to score early in what became the first match in which an Italiano-coached Phoenix side had conceded four times. Hughes rightly got plenty of praise for how he performed in the first five weeks and he showed some serious resilience to get through the rest of those matches without being too affecting. But sometimes you’ve just gotta get a fella out of the firing line. Protect a 20-year-old defender from making it four on the trot... and also punish a 20-year-old defender for the other three. They may have all been uniquely accidental but this team is trying to win games and you can’t expect an unchallenged starting role if you’re costing your team goals each week. Hughes is a fantastic defender who has, on the whole, exceeded expectations with how he’s being going (a common trend for academy dudes under Chiefy’s guidance). However, if you’re making mistakes every week then you kinda do need to be dropped. Can’t complain. He’ll be back better soon enough.
The other thing this did was it allowed Scott Wootton to play on the left side of the CB pairing instead of the right. Slightly weird one because all of these defenders are right-footers. But you can blame Finn Surman for this. Hughes played a lot of LCB alongside Surman in the academy team and then Wootton was LCB alongside Surman for the first-team last term. Maybe this doesn’t mean that much, we’ll see what happens down the line, but it’s one more thing this performance had in common with those grinding wins of the 2023-24 crew.
Actually, there’s a third thing about Sheridan’s CB stint because this now puts him firmly in the centre-back depth chart:
Scott Wootton and Isaac Hughes are there too, obviously.
Lukas Kelly-Heald made his return from injury two games ago (an actual left-footer, though is probably seen more as a left-back deputy to Sam Sutton for now).
Corban Piper is being brewed for this role and started ahead of Sheridan in a trio in the previous game (which doesn’t count in his favour considering how that WSW game ended up).
Don’t stress about Tim Payne playing there anytime soon but Jayden Smith debuted off the bench in week one. He’s super young, in fact he’s only a year older than Luke Brooke-Smith. But with his height and courage there are clear reflections of Finn Surman in the water there.
And don’t forget Dylan Gardiner who was superb for the reserves through their National League efforts – he’s another strong, combative, confident, and central defensive option. Another tall one too.
Kosta Barbarouses Carrying The Weight
Decent finish, this...
That was Kosta Barbarouses’ 99th goal in the A-League and of the 21 that he’s scored since returning to the Wellington Phoenix, this is the only one that’s come from outside the area. He’s been on an incredible run of late, scoring six goals in nine games from an xG of just 3.87 from only 21 total shots and 9 total shots on target. Tremendous efficiency to carry on – if not raise the bar – from last season’s lovely mahi.
But this is where the attacking depth issue rears its head because at least last season Kosta Barbarouses (13 goals) was aided by Oskar Zawada (7), Boz Kraev (6), and Ben Old (5). Now they’re all gone and the only player with multiple ALM goals for the Nix so far is Hideki Ishige. He’s got two, Kosta’s got six. Nobody else has more than one. It’s nice that Ishige’s two have been a pair of goal of the season contenders... but that’s probably not a great indicator that he can take the load off Kosta’s back.
At least Paolo Retre scored a ripper later on in the Newcastle game because other than KB and HI the other goal scorers had all been defenders: Payne, Wootton, Sutton. The Nix are built to get their wide defenders involved so that’s promising (although neither has an assist yet), same as how the two assists each from Marco Rojas and Kazuki Nagasawa are promising. Nevertheless, this team desperately needs more goal-scoring outlets and a midfield trio of Nagasawa/Retre/Rojas, for all their other advantages, probably isn’t going to provide it. One avenue they could explore is cutting David Ball loose and making actual use of their fifth import spot when the transfer window re-opens. Granted, that could be expensive for a team that doesn’t operate with much petty cash. In hindsight, giving Bally a two-year extension at the end of a season when he’d scored two goals in 24 appearances aged 33 might have been a mistake.
Additionally, they won’t be able to call upon Marco Rojas for a couple more weeks... in which case the burden is all on the youngsters. Oskar van Hattum’s not made the last three matchday squads despite a bit of a breakthrough season last year, with one goal and three assists. Okay then, perhaps the speedster Nathan Walker will bring the fizz. Or the prodigy Luke Brooke-Smith. There’s also Luke Supyk on the fringes with his silky dribbling and sneaky movements. Haven’t seen Gabe Sloane-Rodrigues yet but based on his National League efforts he’s been levelling up in the background. Perhaps academy forwards like Lachlan Candy, Ryan Watson, or Luke Flowerdew could be of some assistance. It’s unlikely that they can rely on any of these teenagers on a consistent basis but in short spurts they’ve all got something funky about them. Better hope so because Shane Smeltz, Ben Waine, Oskar Zawada, Roy Krishna, and Paul Ifill ain’t walking through that door.
Luke Brooke-Smith: The Prodigy
Last week, Luke Brooke-Smith became the youngest ever Wellington Phoenix player. This week, Luke Brooke-Smith made his first start. He only lasted 45 minutes, looking a bit tired before finding himself the sacrificial lamb in a tactical alteration, but there was plenty about those 45 minutes – and his quarter of an hour on debut – to justify the hype. For a 16yo, he’s out there riding challenges like a seasoned pro. He’s not grown man strong like Corban Piper but for his age he’s a little Hercules. Threw in a few nutmegs too, all from the same move chopping back with the outside of his right boot – always cool to see a trademarked move from the get-go. Plus he’s fast. Plus he’s good technically. Plus he made a few clever decisions with how he combined with teammates, especially in his own half. Arguably the most impressive aspect was the mental one because he certainly wasn’t overawed, taking it all in his stride.
Sure, he didn’t go on any twinkle-toed dribbles or whip something into the top corner (not yet anyway)... but it has to be stressed that the attributes listed in the previous paragraph are not normal things to say about a 16-year-old footballer.
LBS grew up in Whangarei before moving to Cambridge initially to pursue his very promising BMX career (he was an eight-time national age grade champion – his dad Phil was an age-grade BMX champ in his native England too), but he also already had links to the Ricki Herbert Academy. Through RHA, he soon found himself playing regular senior football for Cambridge FC, having barely turned 15, before making the short trip to Hamilton Wanderers where even in the Northern League he continued to get big minutes. It’s not only the age he was when he debuted for these teams, it’s how integral he was for them. In amongst that he’s also represented New Zealand at U16 level and will surely be one of the key players at next year’s U17 World Cup. A trial at the Wellington Phoenix back in August quickly led to a three-year contract. Now he’s already getting first team footy. This kid is special.
But he’s not an academy graduate, just to be clear. Brooke-Smith was signed straight to an A-League scholarship from Hamilton Wanderers. Same deal with Corban Piper joining from Birkenhead United. They each played academy footy for the Nix but they did so with ALM contracts. That’s just a bit of housekeeping. Nathan Walker and Jayden Smith are the only two academy grads so far this season, although Alby Kelly-Heald and Xuan Loke have also made matchday squads.
Wellington Phoenix Youngest Ever ALM Players:
16y 199d - Luke Brooke-Smith (22 Dec 2024)
16y 250d - Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (9 Mar 2024)
17y 128d - Liberato Cacace (2 Feb 2018)
17y 178d – Jayden Smith (20 Oct 2024)
17y 242d - Alex Rufer (9 Feb 2014)
17y 244d - Kosta Barbarouses - (21 Oct 2007)
17y 270d – Matthew Ridenton (6 Dec 2013)
17y 281d – Tyler Boyd (6 Oct 2012)
17y 292d – Ben Waine (30 Mar 2019)
17y 294d – Luke Supyk (23 Dec 2023)
David Ball In Exile
One thing that nobody should be doubting about David Ball is his professional attitude. Rumours swirled during preseason that he’d been told he wasn’t in the plans moving forward, something that Giancarlo Italiano denied by reiterating that all his players are in the mix and the ones that are playing best will be the ones that get picked. As a coach should be saying. The problem for Ball is that he simply hasn’t been playing well enough. Going back a few years, the reputation he had was that of a team-first soldier whose workrate overrode the lack of goals. But then the lack of goals became even more severe and a line’s gotta be drawn somewhere. Bally recently went an entire season without scoring. This is an import player that we’re talking about, not an academy bloke trying to figure it out. Having run through metaphorical brick walls for the Nix in the past, this time he seems to have run straight into one.
| David Ball for the Welly Nix | 2023-24 | 2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes | 1519 | 1722 | 1925 | 2046 | 2003 |
| Goals | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Assists | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| xG per 90 | 0.14 | 0.20 | 0.18 | 0.31 | N/A |
| Shots per 90 | 1.07 | 1.41 | 2.15 | 2.11 | 2.79 |
| xA per 90 | 0.19 | 0.14 | 0.09 | 0.12 | N/A |
| Touches per 90 | 41.47 | 39.15 | 37.78 | 42.84 | 38.64 |
| Touches in Opp Box per 90 | 3.61 | 4.55 | 4.86 | 6.11 | 5.98 |
| Successful Passes per 90 | 22.63 | 20.23 | 19.03 | 22.65 | 17.25 |
Ball got 18 minutes off the bench in week one and has not been seen again since. There’s been no fuss about it. He’s working hard with his junior coaching stuff and helping the team where he can, including featuring for the reserves a few times. Not the first import player to feature for the Nix in the National League - Gary Hooper and Yan Sasse preceded him there - but an import playing four times is a bit excessive. In the first of those appearances, he looked like a first teamer just trying to serve his allotted minutes... but as he continued to feature, the other games brought out a different side of Ball. He carried himself more like a coach out on the pitch, driving standards and keeping his young teammates alert. He scored a banger of a goal in a match against Birko too.
Chiefy continually said that Ball was merely building up his match-fitness with these Nats games... but the season ended a month ago and Ball’s not yet reappeared for the ALM side. Either it wasn’t about match-fitness, or he didn’t get enough of it and now there’s no more to go around. With Brooke-Smith and Supyk now getting selected ahead of him, it seems those preseason yarns weren’t so far off the mark after all.
It’s a pity he didn’t seem to get that citizenship thing sorted in time - there was confusion over how the covid year in Wollongong would count towards his residency... the fact that nothing ever happened there would suggest the ruling went the wrong way for him. But David Ball’s still hanging around. He was out there wishing LBS good luck before his first start. He’s keeping a smile on the ol’ dial (very different to how Joey Champness allegedly responded to finding himself in a similar spot for Auckland FC).
Some have said that his freeze-out isn’t a very nice way to treat a senior player of his repute... yet we don’t know the situation. If he’s not got any other feasible offers then actually the club are doing a very generous thing by keeping him on the salary sheet despite being out of the picture – although if they really wanna say cheers then they oughta get him a coaching gig in the academy.
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