WELCOME FROM GM DAVID DOME Nau mai, haere mai and welcome to Central Coast Stadium for what is the men’s first Isuzu UTE A-League match in 18 days. Tonight’s match against Newcastle Jets is the first of five catch-up games the team must squeeze in between now and the end of the season. The postponement of Sunday’s match against Melbourne City was the last thing we needed as we try and juggle an already congested schedule, but the extreme wet weather in New South Wales and Queensland is affecting others much more than us. Our hearts go out to all of those who have lost loved ones or homes as a result of the flooding. Heavy rain made the pitch at Leichhardt Oval unplayable on Sunday but the ground underfoot shouldn’t be a problem at Gosford. Remarkably Central Coast Stadium looked picture perfect on Saturday night for the Mariners’ match against Brisbane Roar.
Central Coast Stadium is the team’s fifth different ‘home’ venue this season and I’d like to thank the Mariners, in particular their CEO Shaun Mielekamp and event manager Chris Farnon, for hosting us after their match against Melbourne Victory. I know how much work goes into staging an A-League fixture, let alone two! Our opponents tonight Newcastle Jets have played three times since we last took the field, winning the first and drawing the second before losing 2-1 to top of the table Western United on Saturday. The Jets sit three points behind the Phoenix on the ladder, but will have fond memories of their last match against us in December, when they won 4-0 in Newcastle. We are not the same team that was well beaten that night. Ufuk has been able to field a consistent XI for the past two months and it’s resulted in the team going on a six-game unbeaten run.
Wales for the past six weeks. The team have made themselves at home in Chatswood in Sydney’s lower north shore and are looked after well by Football NSW at Valentine Sports Park, where they have top quality training facilities. This wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the support of our commercial partners on both sides of the Tasman. Spark, Oppo, Chemist Warehouse, ELMO and Gazley-Skoda are the men’s biggest supporters and the team also gets great local assistance from Fraternity Club, BaiMed and Southern Classic Cars. Nothing happens on the pitch without the support of these great businesses. The players are desperate to play again and I can’t wait to see them out on the pitch. COYN!
We have also benefitted from playing exclusively in New South
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YOUR 2021/22 WELLINGTON PHOENIX SQUAD #3
DEF
#4
MID
#8
GAEL SANDOVAL
# 11
JAUSHUA SOTIRIO
MID
# 18
FWD
BEN WAINE
#6
#9
FWD
# 14
# 10
# 16
ALEX RUFER (CAPTAIN)
DEF
SAM SUTTON
MID
RENO PISCOPO
MID
# 19
DEF
TIM PAYNE
DAVID BALL
NICHOLAS PENNINGTON
DEF
CALLAN ELLIOT
MID
# 13
DEF
JAMES McGARRY
BEN OLD
FWD
# 17
#5
SCOTT WOOTTON
MATTHEW BOZINOVSKI
#7
DEF
DEF
LOUIS FENTON
# 20
GK
OLI SAIL
YOUR 2021/22 WELLINGTON PHOENIX SQUAD # 21
DEF
# 23
MID
JOSH LAWS
# 33
CLAYTON LEWIS
DEF
# 34
FINN SURMAN
# 88
# 31
DEF
KURTIS MOGG
MID
# 40
JACKSON MANUEL
FWD
GEORGE OTT
GK
# 43
ALEX PAULSEN
FWD
FWD
OSKAR VAN HATTUM
10 Oliver Boumal 11
Daniel Penha
FWD FWD
14 Mohammed Al-Taay
DEF
15 Dylan Murnane
DEF
16 Kosta Grozos
MID
17 Valentino Yuel
FWD
19 Taylor Regan
DEF
20 Michael Weier
GK
1
Jack Duncan
GK
21 Savvas Siatravanis
FWD
2
Dane Ingham
DEF
23 Eli Babalj
FWD
3
Jason Hoffman
DEF
25 Sam Silvera
FWD
4
Jordan Elsey
DEF
26 Archie Goodwin
FWD
5
Ben Kantarovski
MID
27 Lucas Mauragis
MID
6
Matthew Jurman
DEF
28 Blake Archbold
DEF
7
Jordan O’Doherty
MID
32 Angus Thurgate
MID
8
Mario Arques
MID
44 Riley Warland
DEF
9
Beka Mikeltadze
FWD
Coach: Arthur Papas
GARY HOOPER
COACH UFUK TALAY
# 32
FEATURE:
ENFORCED BREAK JUST A LITTLE
BUMP IN THE ROAD FOR THE PHOENIX First it was COVID-19, now it’s the extreme wet weather in New South Wales that has been side-lining the Wellington Phoenix in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
The heavy rain and flooding in Sydney forced their last two matches to be postponed and created a two-and-a-half-week midseason break. “It’s been frustrating. You know we had a short turnaround of five games in 14 days and now we’ve had two weeks of no games,” head coach Ufuk Talay said. “Obviously we can’t control Mother Nature. It’s been raining for the last couple of weeks here and it’s still continuing at the moment, so fingers crossed we get to play this game on Wednesday night. “It’s been challenging the last couple of seasons I’m not going to lie. But we can only focus on what we can control and it’s staying focused and hopefully we can play the game…and get back on a roll.” The Phoenix haven’t been beaten in the league since New Year’s Day and Talay believes tonight’s match against Newcastle Jets will show if the enforced break has halted their momentum. “The boys are pretty keen and eager to play. They really wanted to play the game against Melbourne City at Leichhardt the other day. “They were very keen to play and very disappointed that we didn’t play the game so hopefully that can continue.” Phoenix captain Alex Rufer is adamant the 18 days between
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games will have no impact on the team. “For us nothing’s changed. Yes some games have been cancelled but that doesn’t stop our momentum, that doesn’t stop our confidence,” Rufer said. “It’s just a little bit of a bump in the road and now it’s down to us to keep that run going [and] to keep that momentum going. “I’m confident in the team and I’m confident in the lads that we will do that.” Tonight’s match against Newcastle is one of five extra mid-week matches the Nix need to squeeze between now and the end of the season and Rufer says “the more the merrier”. “It looks like it’s going to be a bit of a hectic schedule, but look the boys are ready, we’ve got a big squad and I think every player is dying to play so the more games the better for us. “Two games a week, that’s what we’re here for.” The Phoenix have played only 12 of their 26 league matches over the first three and a half months of the season and Talay says the club has talked to Australian Professional Leagues (APL) about how’s best to schedule their remaining fixtures. “We’ll have to manage it. We’ve already put in our ideas of where we can fit in those games to the
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“Yesterday (Monday) we just went down to a local park and found some grass to work on,” Talay said. “I’ve got to give it to the boys. It wasn’t the best pitch to train on but it was grass. “Then the rain came down pretty heavy so it was flooded, but we got through the session the best we can.
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APL and hopefully we can get them scheduled where if…we play three games in a week then we have a week where we don’t have a game mid-week. “It’s going to be challenging and we might have to use all of the players that we currently have here to get through those games. “The players that come in, they all know their role and their responsibility within the team if we need to rotate players…so we’ll use every player that we have and I think we’re going to have to the way the season is going.” Ufuk Talay believes the regular
season may have to be pushed back into May. “The APL will have a look at it and I think if it needs to be extended they may extend it for a week or so to make sure these fixtures are played. “I’m not really pushing for [it] but just using common sense.” The extreme wet weather has also limited the amount of time the players have been able to spend on their training pitch at Valentine Sports Park. The team have primarily trained on synthetic grounds in the past week and even used a futsal court on Saturday.
“The boys have got a great attitude, which is great for me, and they get through the session and do the work that needs to be done.” And while conceding the weather has hindered their preparations, Talay has put their challenges into context. “If I look at what’s happening around the globe on the other side of the earth I think we’ve very fortunate people. “These guys play a game that they love and actually get paid for it so the focus is there. “Yea we have challenges but not challenges that are life threatening so I think the boys are pretty focussed and pretty keen to play some football.”
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THE PHOENIX WISHES TO THANK THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES & ORGANISATIONS FOR THEIR SUPPORT THIS 2021/22 SEASON: P R I N C I P A L
P R E M I U M
C O R P O R A T E