The quickest and most accessible path to the pros for a young kiwi footballer these days is the Wellington Phoenix Academy. It’s been steadily brewing for a few years and we’ve now reached the point where every national age grade side, male and female, is saturated with WeeNixers. It’s definitely not the only route available – and we’ll see what Auckland FC is able to cook up in the coming years once they’ve had a chance – but it’s the busiest and it’s the sturdiest and based on the last twelve months it’s also a pretty handy stepping stone to go above and beyond the A-League as well.

When the Phoenix Men entered the 2023-24 campaign having lost half their previous season’s starting eleven all at once, they hardly looked outside the club at all. They simply used the vacancies to advance a bunch of academy players (with one or two exceptions). The covid seasons had already forced Ufuk Talay to lean on his academy and that gave everyone enough reassurance that the youngsters would swim rather than sink. So when Giancarlo Italiano came in, he took things even further. Chiefy gave out seven debuts to academy players in his first season and we’ve already seen three more this season (not including Corban Piper and Luke Brooke-Smith who aren’t academy graduates as they joined the first team directly). Three of the team’s youngest ever debutants have arrived within the past ten months...

Wellington Phoenix Youngest Ever ALM Players:

1. 16y 199d - Luke Brooke-Smith (22 Dec 2024)

2. 16y 250d - Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (9 Mar 2024)

3. 17y 128d - Liberato Cacace (2 Feb 2018)

4. 17y 178d – Jayden Smith (20 Oct 2024)

5. 17y 242d - Alex Rufer (9 Feb 2014)

6. 17y 244d - Kosta Barbarouses - (21 Oct 2007)

7. 17y 270d – Matthew Ridenton (6 Dec 2013)

8. 17y 281d – Tyler Boyd (6 Oct 2012)

9. 17y 292d – Ben Waine (30 Mar 2019)

10. 17y 294d – Luke Supyk (23 Dec 2023)

In other words, the Wellington Phoenix are a development club. You already knew that but it’s helpful to keep it front of mind when the times get a little tougher. It’s one thing to elevate Finn Surman, Alex Paulsen, and Ben Old to first eleven status and watch them each run rampant over the A-League... then watch the club pocket significant transfer fees for each of them. But they all had 2-3 years around the first team before their breakthroughs and the blokes who’ve had to step up and replace them don’t have that luxury. Hence we’ve been seeing a few mistakes along the way. Issues of inexperience. But the process is the same and there’s no reason why guys like Matt Sheridan, Isaac Hughes, and Alby Kelly-Heald won’t also be hauling in transfer fees one day. And when they do, the next wave will get their turn.

The Women’s Academy is a lot younger... but the existing framework of the Men’s Academy has allowed it to very quickly accelerate towards similar areas. They found room for seven fresh WeeNix debutants last season themselves. None so far in this current campaign but Brooke Neary has made the bench and Ela Jerez can’t be far away. Plus Macey Fraser’s A-League record transfer fee showed that there’s profitability here too. Nothing’s going to slow down either. The Wellington Phoenix recently entered into a partnership with New Zealand Football which effectively means that NZF will give them extra money/resources in order to continue the good work of developing young kiwi footballers (there’s stated intent to do the same with Auckland FC as soon as that’s possible too).

This article is based on one from two years ago, which highlighted five of the top prospects in the Men’s Academy at the time. Those players were: Isaac Hughes, Dan McKay, Noah Karunaratne, Charlie Beale, and Matt Sheridan. All have been NZ age grade reps and two of them, Hughes and Sheridan, have become regulars for the Nix’s A-League team. Dan McKay spent some time playing professionally in Ireland. McKay (Wellington Olympic), Karunaratne (Eastern Suburbs), and Beale (Auckland United) are all still around the traps at other clubs and could easily progress further.

With all of the academy grads who’ve broken into the two first teams since then, it’s time for an update on that idea for the Class of 2024. This will be mostly based on National League performances and we’ll do five nominees each from the Men’s and Women’s programmes. Nothing scientific, just the opinion of one person who watched all the games. There are plenty of good players among the rest of them but I can’t write about everyone.

The rules are that none of the selections can have first team contracts (including scholars) nor have already played A-League. Apologies to Fergus Gillion for that last one, he’d have otherwise been here after a very dependable campaign in which he was the only WeeNixer to start all nine National League matches. There was also only one WeeNixer to start all nine for the women and that was Mackenzie Greene (who has made the cut). The men used 30 different players and the women used 29 across nine games each so there was heaps of rotation – some of those were first-teamers dropping down, others were U17s stepping up. Copious prospects to choose from because these waters run deep. Here are a few standouts whose names are worth knowing.

Welly Nix Men’s Academy

Lachlan Candy

Winger/Attacking Mid – Born 22 August 2005

This is a frisky one because this article was outlined a few weeks ago and in that time Mr Candy has snuck onto consecutive A-League benches... although he didn’t get on the pitch either time so there are no rules being broken here and we’ll stick with the list as originally crafted. Candy’s promotion comes at a time when Oskar van Hattum and David Ball have recently been released and Marco Rojas is out injured so they needed to dig deeper to fill out the bench with attack-minded weapons. It was Lachlan Candy that Chiefy and his staff settled upon. Same as they did when he made a first-team debut off the bench a few months ago, getting 13 minutes of the Aussie Cup defeat to South Melbourne (again, not A-League so no rules are being broken).

Candy’s a versatile forward who can also play a little midfield at a pinch, though is best used as a ten or as a winger. That’s where we’ve tended to see him for the WeeNix. Except for when he temporarily left the WeeNix: Candy is one of the rare cases of a Phoenix Reserves played who got loaned out to another senior club. Jackson Manuel once did it with Western Springs, where he’s now playing permanently, and Candy spent the first half of 2024 on loan at Waterside Karori. Not a lot of other such cases. But it worked a treat for Candy who was able to get good minutes, scoring four goals in ten matches, leading up to the Oceania U19 Championships. He probably didn’t feature as much as he’d have liked with those U19s... but then neither did Nathan Walker who then became an A-League regular within six months. We’ll see if the hierarchy has changed when the U20 World Cup swings around later this year.

With this guy, look for his speed and mobility but also keep an eye on his smart technique. He’ll make the run in behind but he’ll also drift around and link up. Good touch in close spaces. Capable of skipping past a defender with a bit of skill. Candy made seven appearances for the Nix Reserves during the National League with a goal and two assists. The goal was a real beauty too, a lovely solo effort with a great finish. Lachlan’s sister Sienna Candy is also pretty prominent in the Women’s Academy, sharing the family trait towards nifty attacking midfielders with a penchant for classy goals.

Anaru Cassidy

Midfielder – Born 26 February 2006

First off, gotta point out that Anaru Henri Carbonatto Cassidy has one of the best names in kiwi footy. Resplendent nomenclature. Beyond that, this guy is a tall midfielder with fine passing sensibility and a dash of creativity. Doesn’t score a heap of goals but is very good at helping instigate them. As he matures into a little more physicality he should be able to comfortably slide between the six, eight, and ten positions and that could easily put him on the scholarship contract shortlist. Of the seven current Phoenix scholars, Corban Piper is the only one who plays in the midfield and even then they signed him with the intention of converting him to a defender (he’s played right-back, centre-back, centre-mid, and both left and right wing in the ALM already so ‘utility’ might be a better word for his situation). There’s room/need for an academy midfielder to rise up and Cassidy’s in a great place to do exactly that.

Anaru Cassidy didn’t actually play a whole lot last season. There were a couple of older midfielders ahead of him in the queue (Liam Gillion and Hayden Thomas with a bit of Lachlan Candy and some Finn Roa Conchie cameos) and so often when he did play it was as a winger, fitting in where he could get in. The midfield is his long-term home though and we can expect to see him taking control of that spot this year as Gillion ages out of the squad. AC was also part of the most recent U17 World Cup, starting once and coming off the bench in another game. He was a Waterside Karori junior prior to joining the Nix.

Lewis Partridge

Fullback – Born 7 January 2005

It’s possible we’ve already seen the last of Lewis Partridge in the Nix Academy seeing as how he turned 20 a couple weeks ago. Even if he sticks around (it’s not entirely clear how that works with the U20 stuff), it’s unlikely that a spot in the first team will open up on schedule, what with Lewis Partridge being a right-back at a club who’ve already got Tim Payne and Matt Sheridan locked up long-term and Xuan Loke and Corban Piper on scholarship deals. As it happens, Partidge is a Canterbury lad just like Sheridan, though he came through Christchurch United whereas Sheridan (and Finn Surman) was a Selwyn United fella.

Partridge can also play on the left edge – two of his eight starts in the 2024 Nats came at left-back so he’s got that arrow in his quiver. But it was on the right that he looked most dangerous, able to combine his quality positional sense with a tireless determination to get forward and Make Things Happen. His goal in a win against Wellington Olympic was a belter. Really fun player to watch. Full of energy. If he stays at the Nix somehow then that’ll be sweet, if not then guys with his track record tend to land on their feet so no worries there either. Prospect Watch isn’t only for A-League purposes.

Dylan Gardiner

Central Defender – Born 10 July 2006

Big man with the bald head, you can’t miss him. Jayden Smith got a scholarship contract ahead of him but there’s not much between them and Gardiner did make it onto the bench for this season’s Australia Cup game. Smith’s ALM preseason antics meant he was only made a couple of appearances in the National League and only one of those was alongside Dylan Gardiner. That game happened to be against eventual champs Auckland City and JS/DG formed a very formidable centre-back in a thrilling 4-3 WeeNix victory against the eventual champs, particularly in the first half of that match (the Nix Ressies tired badly in the second as City’s deep bench instigated a three-goal comeback in the last twenty... only for the WeeNix to grab a stoppage-time winner anyway).

Those glimpses were enough to see the vista. But while Smith was only an occasional presence in the National League, Dylan Gardiner was doing that stuff every single week. The only game that he didn’t start was when Jayden Smith and Corban Piper were paired together and DG still got minutes off the bench that day. Across his eight starts he had four different CB partners (Piper, Smith, Seth Karunaratne, and Joe Cornille). No dramas there. He was as consistent as they come, nailing down a commanding presence despite all the rotation around him. A lot of people like to think of scouting in numerical terms, like they’re playing Football Manager. But really what you’re looking for is traits and a teenaged defender who can hold his levels regardless of who he’s paired with is a big white flag.

Gardiner’s another example of a particular type of CB that the Nix seem to love: tall, powerful, imposing, aerially dominant. Call it the Finn Surman model – Jayden Smith fits into the same mould while Corban Piper lacks the height but fulfils all the other criteria. Gardiner came through Hamilton Wanderers and, like Luke Brooke-Smith after him, was already playing Northern League football before he joined the Nix Academy... a switch that came after he was a starting eleven lad at the U17 World Cup. More white flags. Remember the name.

Luke Flowerdew

Striker – Born 2 June 2006

That win over Auckland City that we were talking about before? It was this guy who scored the winning goal. That was one of three goals that Flowerdew scored throughout that National League, partaking in all nine games though seven of those were as a substitute. The ability to pop up off the bench and score goals is one not to take lightly – he was the team’s top scorer, equal with Gabe Sloane-Rodrigues and Ryan Watson. Always important to step back and recognise the production. Finishing is a deceptively tricky skill, especially at a young age, and lots of WeeNix forwards have had issues converting their chances through the years. Flowerdew’s not quite Ben Waine but he’s one of the better ones.

Having joined the academy a couple of years back from Tawa FC, Luke Flowerdew was part of qualifying during the last U17 World Cup wave though he didn’t make the squad for the main event. His chances of starting for the WeeNix during the 2024 MNL were largely blocked by the presence of Luke Supyk, Gabe Sloane-Rodrigues, Luke Brooke-Smith, and even a bit of David Ball. Tough yakka when the first-teamers are getting in the way. And yet he kept getting minutes and kept scoring goals. This’ll be a pivotal year for him and we’ve all seen how suddenly things can happen at this club. There’s always a need for clinical goal-scorers.

Welly Nix Women’s Academy

Rebekah Trewhitt

Fullback/Utility – Born 13 December 2005

One of a bunch of players that have moved to the Nix Academy from the Central women’s team over the past few years and it feels like she’s been around for ages – probably because Trewhitt was only 14 when she debuted in the National League. Those Central teams always tend to lose a lot of games and concede a lot of goals... but they also produce some excellent footballers. Trewhitt’s got ex-Central teammates like Isla Cleall-Harding and Georgie Furnell in the WeeNix who could easily be get Standout Prospect nominations themselves. New Plymouth’s Mack Barry has been flying the flag at the Nix since the beginning. However, it’s ex-Nixer and ex-Centraller Charlotte Lancaster who is the best comparison for what Trewhitt does.

Like Lancaster, Trewhitt is tall and strong. She’s an imposing player who won’t shirk a challenge and is happy to make those bursting runs up the line. Doesn’t quite have the same rocket of a left foot but Trewhitt’s still got power – as she proved with a banger of a goal away against Canterbury United last season. Trewhitt is ostensibly a wide defender but the WeeNix have used her as both a fullback and a wingback on both sides and she even logged a few games as the right CB in a three. Her U17 and U20 World Cup appearances all came at either left or right fullback.

Trewhitt was the WeeNix’s most reliable player of the 2024 National League term. During the year they’d had the likes of Zoe McMeeken and Manaia Elliott to help them out but by the time the WNL arrived those first-teamers were mostly busy and the absence was stark. The Phoenix Reserves only took four points from nine games (three of them coming in a 5-0 win against the even-more-youthful Central Football side). But Bex Trewhitt always ensured there was some fight out there. She turns 20 in December, right after the WNL season ends so hopefully she’s allowed to play another year. Dunno what the eligibility is there. If she’s going to get an A-League spot then it’ll have to happen soon... but Trewhitt has the type of game that should scale upwards if the chance comes along.

Mackenzie Greene

Central Defender – Born 4 January 2006

It gets a bit confusing with Mackenzie Greene and Marie Green both starting in the same backline, as is often the case. But credit where it’s due because Greene (with an extra ‘e’) was the only player who started every single game for the Phoenix Reserves in the WNL. Green’s not the tallest centre-back going around. She’s not even necessarily been a centre-back at all for very long, since the reserve squad stuff on the Phoenix’s website (which is at least a year out of date and no longer linked) lists the former Petone player as a fullback. She hasn’t made major youth team squads for New Zealand either.

Lots of things that potentially count against her... but 2024 was different gravy for Greene, largely because she was amongst the team’s best when it came to playing out from the back. Very comfortable presence, usually on the right side of a three. Reads the game nicely. The Nix Reserves conceded a lot of goals (28 in nine games) and more than a couple stemmed from getting caught against the press – which highlights how valuable Greene’s skill set was in a backline that struggled with that build-up aspect. After taking a huge leap last season, MG’s got one more year as an U20 to take things even further.

Alyssha Eglinton

Midfielder – Born 16 January 2007

The first couple nominees are older players (relatively speaking) who’d do a decent job if the first team comes calling but time’s not necessarily on their side there. Maybe they’ll play A-League, maybe they won’t. But Alyssha Eglinton absolutely should get to the ALW someday. The Petone junior only made three WNL appearances in 2024... because she was away captaining Aotearoa at the U17 World Cup for a large chunk of it. When she returned, she was surprisingly used as a central defender while the WeeNix were shuffling for answers at the back (aside from Mackenzie Greene). Eglinton did a very tidy job there, instigating that build-up with her classy passing, but she’s a midfielder by trade.

There are shades of Helena Errington about how she plays, albeit without the same flash and pizazz in the attacking third. But the way she can set the tempo with how she whips the ball around... that’s the good stuff. This was the role she played in the 2023 WNL as a 16yo when she appeared in eight matches and even scored a goal in a game against Waterside Karori. Eglinton will be one of the main features in the next NZ U20s wave and will probably emerge as one of the leaders of this WeeNix group too. Prime candidate for a scholarship contract when the next intake comes along.

Lily Brazendale

Winger/Striker – Born... dunno

Here’s someone who joined the Nix Academy so recently that I don’t even have a date of birth yet (she’s around 18-19 years old). In case you’re wondering, Brazendale is no relation to Daisy Brazendale from the first team. Daisy came to them via Nelson. Lily turned up after a few years with her hometown Hamilton Wanderers where she scored six goals during the winter season which is even more impressive if you know that Wanderers were relegated in last place with only 14 goals in total. Waikato has proven an even happier scouting territory than the Central regions for the Nix Academy (Ella McMillan, Aimee Danieli, Manaia Elliott, Grace Wisnewski, Kelli Brown, etc.) so next thing you knew she was in yellow and black, linking up just in time for the National League.

The pace is what stands out first and foremost. Brazendale is lighting across the turf. With four starts and four games off the bench in 2024, she spent most of her minutes on the wing but those runs in behind also got her some looks at the top of the formation. She scored in the win against Central and there’ll be plenty more where that came from in the future. Hasn’t done a whole lot in a Nix jersey yet, hasn’t had the chance to, so this is a bit of a speculative pick. But Brazendale’s speed and finishing gives her exactly the sort of x-factor that the ALW side should be nurturing.

Katie Pugh

Striker – Born 18 September 2008

Born in 2008? Damn. Katie Pugh was the second-youngest player in NZ’s squad at the U17 World Cup last year. That tournament was in October and she was still listed as a Nelson Suburbs player at the time (she’s originally from Blenheim). Despite her youth, it was Pugh who scored the 90+4th minute winner against Fiji that qualified NZ for those U17s... and because FIFA decided that the U17 WC should now be held every year, she was also part of qualifying for the 2025 edition where she also scored in the grand final. This time it was the opener in a 4-0 win over Samoa (Pia Vlok x2 and Laura Bennett got the other goals). Those qualifiers took place before the 2024 U17 World Cup tournament... meaning that Pugh had scored goals to qualify New Zealand for two separate U17 World Cups before she’d even played in one.

Pugh started all three games at those U17s but the team didn’t do so flash. Never mind. When she returned it was to join the Wellington Phoenix Academy where she made four appearances at the end of the National League. A very exciting addition and yet another example of the Nix Academy raiding the NZ youth teams for talent as they do so well. Pugh is short for a striker but she’s dynamic. Bit of a pocket rocket. And best of all she’s got that precious knack for scoring goals. Could be something special here, just sayin’.

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