Everybody say kia ora to the Men’s & Women’s Central Leagues, which got underway this week. Might as well lead off with them and might as well start with the (perennial) defending champions, Wellington Olympic, who were away against rivals Miramar Rangers at David Farrington Park

Friday night at Fred Taylor Park marked the start of the 2026 football season in New Zealand, as defending National League champs Auckland United were hosted by defending NRFL Premiership champs West Coast Rangers

After 56 games of Men’s National League football, one of the most unpredictable campaigns we’ve ever seen ended in the most predictable manner: with Auckland City lifting the trophy

Both the Women’s and Men’s National Leagues were wide open in their latter weeks only for the defending champs to swoop through and win it again. Funny how that goes.

Just like in the Women’s National League, the two most recent champions made it to the Men’s National League grand final. There had been wobbles along the way for both Wellington Olympic and Auckland City but…

As the final round of the Men’s National League began, there were four clubs still in with a mathematical chance of qualifying for the grand final. These two clubs were at the forefront of those convos…

It’s an incredible situation that we’ve got ourselves into where four separate teams held their grand final fates in their own hands ahead of the penultimate weekend. Any combination of Western Springs, Auckland City, Wellington Olympic, or Miramar Rangers could end up in the top two

Despite the reputation that Auckland United bring with them, making them favourites everywhere they go, there was actually nothing between them and Eastern Suburbs during the National League regular season

The blokes still have another fortnight to go. That means that there wasn’t quite the same desperate jostling for spots in the top two... although there will be soon because this whole round was bonkers.

Sorry to say this but we’ve come to the end of the Women’s National League. This was the final round of the regular season (with just the grand final next week to follow)

On Friday night at Fred Taylor Park we witnessed one of the most consequential games of the entire season. Eastern Suburbs were five games unbeaten. West Coast Rangers had won five of their last six.

While it does seem like Western Springs and Wellington Olympic are headed towards a grand final showdown, having pulled away from the chasing pack, there’s still time for that to change

Old mates at Wests had gone loss, win, loss, win, loss this season so it stood to reason that they’d beat Auckland FC Reserves... except for the pesky fact that AFC were buzzing after a 3-0 win against Birko

With the way that the last couple weeks of results have broken, Wellington United are right back in the mix for the final. They’re also smack bang in the middle of a run of fixtures that sees…

The parity around this competition meant that Christchurch United and Auckland City were both within three points of second place as this game kicked off so technically they are both still title challengers... but the vibes have been peculiar.

Last Saturday, Auckland United nearly got stuck against a magnificent defensive display from West Coast Rangers until a controversial late penalty maintained their 100% record... and it wasn’t going to get any easier having to play four days later, on a Wednesday night, away against an Eastern Suburbs

Birkenhead were grand finalists last year. Wellington Olympic just won the Chatham Cup. Both have intentions of getting back to North Harbour Stadium (or wherever the final happens to be) in a few weeks but they also both lost last in round four. Gotta bounce back.

Now, this was one of those games that you circle on the fixture list. The premier dynastic club in the country against the team that pipped them to the NRFL Premiership title.

It’s taken this long for Eastern Suburbs to finally have a home game... their men didn’t qualify so Madills Farm has been solely for the dog walkers over the past month. But the club flags were up on Sunday as Canterbury United came to town

Western Suburbs won 8-0 against Coastal Spirit two weeks ago in the biggest Men’s National League victory for a decade... and yet managed to bookend that record win with a pair of defeats….