Sad to see him go.  Good luck on his move.

Yeah, agree with this. We need a consistent front man, no disrespect to DWH but I don't think he should be our front man. More of a second striker or something similar. We should absolutely expect 5 - 8 goals from players like DWH and Danzaki but we really need a number 9 just in the middle adding 10+ as well. Hell, I don't expect a J.Mac just someone who can consistently score every other game or so. For me that was the difference in so many of our draws this year and therefore challenging for a top two spot.

Sad to see Gillesphey go but get why, wish him all the best. The silver lining is we wont have to watch him play for another A-League side just yet.

Also I'm a bit mixed on Champness atm. No doubt the kid has talent and has absolutely had some brilliant moments but he also spends a lot of time being largely anonymous. Where as players like DHW and Danzaki are always busy and creating for others even when they're on a dry spell.

Agree with this, Champness was effectively missing for the second half of the year we needed him to step up and score 5 or 6 goals. When he is on he can be an absolute game changing player, but that only happened 3 or 4 times during the season which is really just not enough. Riku overachieved for mine and DWH hit a rough patch and just had some bad luck at the same time, it happens but we need that other attacking player who can take the pressure off him, which Champness never did (like SMac did).

hopefully we can start signing/announcing players soon and start building the hype for next season.

What's the deal with Tomer Hemed at Wellington? He seems to be on his way out. He's not prolific but he was somewhat consistent in front of goal.

The problem with players like Champness is they are not natural athletes.He has the tricks and threat,but not the drive and legs to defend and make runs like DWH.
Its the difference between being an average or good player.All those high level Euro players have to  work their butts off to make it.Even a player like Azani falls down in that way.If Azani competed  like Devlin or Nisbet,he would go far.

Yeah I've often thought the same thing. I'm kinda of hoping in the case of Arzani, this tough spell he's been on reminds him that what he has is not to be taken for granted and  actually pushes him to really want it and work hard to come back.

It reminds me a bit of players like Kaz Patafta or more recently Devante Clut. They had immense talent but never really the drive to take them further. There were moments of brilliance but then they could go completely anonymous for games on end.

What a good and successful season we have had. Why?

- 4th on the table matching last season
- Played more attractive football, rarely boring
- Young local manager rather than an expensive foreigner
- More young and local players rather than sterile imports

Wasn't the German DM that played for the nix joining us. Steinmann?

That should hopefully allow O'Shea to move up with Steinmann and Akbari holding it up. Then I'll have two upfront.

All quiet on the Matti Steinmann front.His name popped up during our winless run.Maybe now he is not wanted or someone else has jumped in.WP seem to be recruiting their old players.

He literally signed for you guys today.

😂😂😂
And a welcoming chat with Thomas B.Nice

Yeah that was pretty late announcement today. Obviously didn’t wait long for Gillesphey’s visa spot to go cold.

So is Kudo staying?

I can’t imagine a situation where he would be, just didn’t seem to fit in the plan and it would be madness to use a visa spot on a player who may get some minutes as a last resort.

Steinmann is an odd signing for mine given we already have 3 good DM’s plus Trewin can fit in as well seems like overkill for that position, unless we are looking at changing the formation next year.

I think the intention will be to push O'Shea further forward and play Steinmann alongside Akbari/Daley. That gives us one player cover in that position as well. Plus, with Gillesphey gone, I suspect Trewin will be kept in the back line given how he went this year.

Just watched the interview, god I miss the Legend, anyone have any highlights of Steinmann while playing for Phoenix?
Any Nix fans who may see this or people who remember him in general, care to comment on him?

Seen the highlights from Indian Super League, despite the league of course he does looks promising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE18tZYRIvg

Steinmann is a great signing for our team. A common theme this season has been "oshae is a fantastic creative player but is too deep to really create anything for us up front". this allows oshae to play in a forward role ala SMac and create the chances for our strikers. I suspect that we will see a slight change in formation though. either an out and out 4-3-3 (if we keep danzaki) or more likely a 5-2-1-2. 

with osahe in behind a front 2 of DWH/new striker and Parsons/DWH/champness. brown and hingert/JBS to provide the width in the wing back roles. though our current system will work with steinman and oshae playing the CM roles and Akbari/daley on the bench. I still think we are likely to loose one of those two though.  

Given we played most of last season without that central attacking mid (to our detriment in my opinion) that would mean a change in formation. I wonder if we are looking to be able to play multiple formations depending on the opponent or if this is Moon reshaping to the squad to suit the specific way he wants to play, which he couldn't do last season with a squad that was still largely Fowlers.

4231 looks likely as an option 

Rumour I saw on Twitter is that we are signing Nikola Mileusnic, which if true would be a real statement of intent from the club on what we want to achieve next season. Would be a fantastic signing and a massive step up from Champness.

That would be a great get for the club if true.

With the new TV deal now settled, there's no excuse for the club not to look at making some serious investment in the team

Make it happen.Some serious pace for those fast transitions.Which will make teams  think twice about pressing is  high up the pitch.🤫

Mileusnic would be a good addition, I suspect we're going to be doing quite a bit of business in the front third. Danzaki and Champness have returned to their clubs now that their loans are over - The club are saying they'll try top get them back for next season but realistically we'll loose at least one (Probably Danzaki). With a new coach coming in at Newcastle they may be keen on Champness staying put as well. There's also been talk about DWH being keen to test his worth on the market.

If we signed Mileusnic I wouldn’t be worried about losing Champness, and I would be surprised if we could get Danzaki back. 

Anyone seen Waz around?  He was always good for some inside info from the club.

Paul - this has to be the best positive post you have made these past 10 years. Agree with all four pertinent points and definitely on a lower budget. Just need to get that one prolific No 9, even if it cost, and hold the younger players coming through, who currently show immense promise and have the potential make good Aleague standard, and more, if they want it enough. BTW I definitely see a future for DW at the Roar working around the No 9.
Just my 1 Cents worth.

Yeah JCP is a big loss because i think he has a big future in football, but i think there is enough cover in the back line (though i would like a better replacement than JBS). i think i prefered 5 will be 

hingert Neville Aldred trewin Brown. replacements are JBS and Powel (who i am surprised didnt get a run at all this season) with hingert and JBS able to play CB. I dont really know our youth team defenders but if there is no up and comers i suspect we will bring in a squaddie. 

I hope we dont bring champness back but Moon loves the kid so i think it is likely he will. I really hope we can bring danzaki back but i doubt we will. interesting that we seemingly have kept Kudo. i though he was on a 1 year deal and has shown absolutely nothing worth keeping, especially for a visa player. we need to get him out so we can bring in someone that will actually contribute to the team. 

I think we need a better RB than Jack for next year.  Jack can provide decent cover across the backline if needed, but neither he nor Brindel-South are the answer.  Is there any reshuffling we can do to get Powel on the pitch with Trewin, Brown, Aldred and Neville?

Agree on that preferred 5, not sure Powell is going to hang around given he hasn't featured for the last couple of years, so with JCP I think we need to recruit 2 players, a back up LB (do we have a youth player for this?) and a young centre back (assuming we keep Ramazani), I would probably just take the best u23 CB out of the NPL and see what happens though as they will probably fit well back in the pecking order.