We knew that the Wellington Phoenix lads were going to lean heavily on their academy players this season. We knew that because they told us they would. The message was that they wanted to be a more financially stable/sustainable club and the way to do that was to produce their own players, then hopefully sell one overseas every couple of years. It wasn’t a secret. It was spoken loud and proud.

This was a ploy they’d already seen succeed through the examples of Sarpreet Singh, Liberato Cacace, and Ben Waine. Now they were ready to go all-in on the strategy... with the women’s academy holding similar ambitions. At least as far as the pathways go, that is. Transfer fees are still minimal on that side, even amongst the world’s biggest clubs – although the record transfer fee has been broken twice within the past month, first by Mayra Ramírez’s move from Levante to Chelsea for a reported £426k, then Racheal Kundananji moving from Madrid CFF to Bay FC for an estimated £685k.

These things aren’t always made public but there are no reported transfer fees involving New Zealand female footballers – the closest was Ali Riley’s trade to Angel City, which came in exchange for ‘allocation money’. Sounds a bit like monopoly money but it basically meant bonus salary cap resource (and they’re slowly getting rid of allocation money under the new NWSL collective bargaining agreement). So, yeah, on a financial side those male transfers are going to need to fund the Welly Nix women’s academy same as the men’s... but the disgusting amount of money that gets thrown around in men’s footy means that’s no drama. And the intention remains the same on both sides: to produce homegrown players capable of having professional careers overseas.

We knew that the academy was going to be a focus coming into the season but we also kinda feared it. They made zero outside transfers beyond that of a backup goalie (Jack Duncan) and an extra midfielder (Mo Al-Taay), and now eventually a final import (Youstin Salas). This despite losing a whole bunch of starting-level players: Clayton Lewis, Oli Sail, Steven Ugarkovic, Yan Sasse, Joshua Laws, Callan Elliot, Lucas Mauragis. They did still have a top notch goal-scoring import striker in Oskar Zawada so that was enough to dodge worst-case scenarios... but the kids were being asked to step up and fill out the squad and you’d be forgiven for having reservations about how that would look.

Because normally that doesn’t lead to success. Normally thrusting the youngsters into more prominent roles is a low-key tacit acknowledgement that success isn’t even on the cards and that priorities have switched towards building for the future. Apparently this Nix team isn’t normal, though. We’re past the halfway point of the season and they’re sitting five points clear at the top of the A-League Men’s standings.

They’ve done that with goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and central defender Finn Surman having played every single minute. Left-back Lukas Kelly-Heald has started most games, despite the 18yo never having played ALM prior to this season. Ben Old is in the midst of a breakthrough season as an attacking midfielder. Sam Sutton was doing nice things at left-back, swapping around with LKH, until injury curtailed his progress. Oskar van Hattum has begun to have an impact in that forward line with a few assists. Plus we’ve seen further debuts for Fin Conchie (midfield), Luke Supyk (forward), Isaac Hughes (defence), Matt Sheridan (fullback), and Fergus Gillion (midfield); while Alby Kelly-Heald (goalkeeper), Josh Rudland (forward), Charlie Beale (midfield), and Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (forward) have all made matchday squads without yet playing. Chuck in a wee cameo for Jackson Manuel (midfield) at the start of the term as well, having previously made his debut a couple years ago.

Admittedly, a few of those players have since left the club at the start of the year as they age out of the U20s range. Beale (and Ben Wallace) has been announced at Auckland United, along with fellow U20s fella Josh Tollervey and former Nix youngster Boyd Curry who has been away at college in the USA. Rudland seems to have moved across town to Wellington Olympic, along with Kaelin Nguyen – those two didn’t play ALM but they did combine for the winning goal against Peninsula Power in the Aussie Cup during preseason. That’s how this gig goes – there isn’t room for everyone.

But damn just look at how much room there has been. We’re talking about 12 academy players to have gotten minutes this term, including six debutants. That adds up to 35.5% of the total available ALM minutes. Academy grads combine for 61 starts and 47 substitute appearances, 2 goals (both from Old), 6 assists (2 each for Old, OVH & LKH), and 9 yellow cards. We’re at the stage where it’s normal to see a bench with all its outfielders stemming from the academy – and if Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, who has been in four matchday squads so far, can sneak on for a debut this season then he’ll become the club’s youngest ever player. He doesn’t even turn 17 until July.

Now, there is a limitation to all this. The top of the table 0-0 draw with Central Coast on Waitangi Day was a celebration for the academy, with five academy graduates in the starting line-up and six more on the bench (this was one of those occasions when every single bench outfielder was from the academy, with only backup goalie Jack Duncan bucking the trend). Eleven lads in one team, that’s superb. Buuuut... Chiefy did also say afterwards that he only made two subs throughout, despite his team having played a four days earlier, because he didn’t feel he had the firepower on the bench to change the game. Young players are still young players. They’re still learning, they’ll make mistakes. Limitations do exist.

It’s interesting to see that the full dirty dozen to have taken the pitch (so far) are spread out across every position. In fact it isn’t hard to go about making an eleven out of them: Paulsen | Sheridan, Surman, Hughes, LKH | Conchie, Manuel/Gillion, Old | Sutton, Van Hattum | Supyk. There ya go.

However, the players who’ve had the biggest impact are definitely more on the defensive side of things: Paulsen and Surman, with Kelly-Heald following close behind. That’s funky because theirs are positions where organisation and consistency are most required, as opposed to the attacking areas where you get to take more risks and make more errors in the quest to do something special. For that reason, it’s usually in the attacking areas where teams are more willing to give the youngsters a run.

The Nix put a lot of energy (and money) into their youth system, and it’s clearly been a boost to all involved to see those first team pathways suddenly so unobstructed. Effectively they’ve stripped away the depth of their squad and decided that the academy can cover the distance. The first eleven is going to be as good as possible but when the choice comes down to a 32-year-old Aussie veteran or a 19-year-old academy player sitting on the bench, they’re now leaning on the academy lad.

That requires two things: first, the academy has to be producing players who can do a job in the ALM. Second, there needs to be a coach willing to trust them to do so. Giancarlo Italiano is that man. He’s now one shy of giving debuts to a record number of academy grads in a Phoenix season. As always, these things don’t happen in isolation. There has been a change in approach under Italiano but that’s evolved out of what Ufuk Talay did which evolved out of what Mark Rudan did. Those years, especially the second covid year with Talay where he had no choice but fill out his squad with juniors, laid a platform for what we’re seeing now. And what we’re seeing now is this...

M/Day is Matchday Squad inclusions, so that’s counting unused subs. The Rudan year was dominated by Singh and Cacace, though he did also give debuts to Ben Waine, Callan Elliot, and Gianni Stensness. Talay then had to find ways to replace those two in consecutive years, while bringing through Sam Sutton and then Ben Old. His six debutants in 2021-22 were: George Ott, Finn Surman, Alex Paulsen, Jackson Manuel, Riley Bidois, and Oskar van Hattum. All very tidy players although the hit-rate is 50% as far as them sticking around in the first team two years later. We’ll see how this current campaign’s crop of debutants develops down the line but, to be honest, 50% would be an excellent rate considering how many blokes are getting these chances.

And, yes, this 2023-24 season is only two-thirds of the way. That means Chiefy is on target to better all of those recent academy appearance numbers. Not so much with the goals and assists, blame Sarpreet Singh (and a bit of Ben Waine) for that, but Alex Paulsen does have a bunch of clean sheets if that helps.

That’s the thing about all this: it’s one thing to play the youth, it’s another thing to play them and to be on course for your club’s best ever league finish. Maybe they could have done that without the fringe lads helping close games out off the bench but there’s no way they’d be where they are without Alex Paulsen. He’s not a debutant... he’s at that crucial stage which comes afterwards where you have to try and lock down a permanent spot in the side. After watching the entirety of last season from the bench, Italiano trusted him to take over from the departing Oli Sail and not only did he take over but he improved upon his predecessor. Seven clean sheets in 17 matches. Sometimes clean sheets reflect a goalie not having to do much work. This ain’t that. Paulsen’s save percentage of 79% is the best in the comp. He’s made the third-most saves overall yet is only conceding barely a goal per game (18 goals allowed in 17 games). Let us not forget that he has saved three of the four penalties that he’s faced either. He has been truly spectacular.

As has Finn Surman. He’s been helped by a resurgent Scott Wootton alongside him... though Surman has also helped in bringing about that resurgence. The pair of them are superb in the air, as well as having the courage to launch themselves in front of shots at a crazy rate. The Nix allow a lot of shots but they’re mostly shots from less dangerous positions. Those two CBs have forged a forcefield around the penalty area and Alex Paulsen takes care of everything else. Honestly, Paulsen and Surman probably deserve their own spotlight at a later date. There’s too much to say about what those two are up to.

Point being some of these academy lads have been absolutely essential to the team’s successes this season. These aren’t empty minutes. They’re not just there to make up the numbers, they’re contributing big time. Remember that Paulsen signed a new contract prior to the season... he’s not going to see that contract through but that contract is going to ensure a transfer fee comes the way of the Wellington Phoenix when he leaves (whenever that may be). Finn Surman might be on course to draw a fee himself someday soon while Ben Old has the same potential if he can keep piling that end product on top of his scintillating midfield dribbling. Only the best of the best are going to entice the foreign money that funds this project but there only needs to be one of those fellas every couple of years to make it work. No pressure, AP, but... y’know.

The financial stuff is for the bookkeepers to worry about though. We just wanna see great footballers emerging out of Aotearoa. Right now the Wellington Phoenix are making that a priority, hence the celebratory article (credit where it’s due, as always). But there are other pathways available. Plenty of current All Whites didn’t come through the Nix system, which is as it should be – a variety of options means more players can find the development path that suits them.

However the women’s scene isn’t quite as developed, so while the Nix Academy is only really one year deep as a fully functioning system (ie 2023 was the first year in which they played competitively across all the grades, including an U20s/Reserves team in the National League to mirror the men), they already seem to have a massive presence across the national age rep teams. To be fair, part of that is from signing players who were already on that trajectory... but if the Nix Academy is where those players think they’re best suited to advance then that’s still a compliment to the Nix Academy (even if they have to share some of that development credit).

For their third year in existence, the Phoenix’s ALW side is being coached by Paul Temple who’s previous job at the club included coaching the Women’s U20s. That’s created a direct line to the first team which has allowed players such as Macey Fraser, Emma Main, and Manaia Elliott to thrive in the A-League. We’re going back a few years but Fraser was actually there (along with Tui Dugan) at the unveiling of the women’s team back in the day. Annalie Longo was also there as part of her role with NZ Football.

Macey Fraser has popped up in a few different spots (Canterbury United and Southern United in the National League, NZ U17 and U20 World Cup squads, Ole Academy and Welly Nix Academy, Waimakariri United as a junior). Yet she’s dug in at the Nix for the last few years and seeing how instantly she’s become not only a key player for the Phoenix but also potentially now a regular Football Ferns selection... it makes you wonder why it took so long to give her a chance. She has had some injury issues along the way so can’t be too critical. Regardless, she’s where she is now in large part due to that Nix Academy and that’s the bit to focus on.

Probably can’t count Zoe McMeeken as an academy player since she was initially signed to the first team... yet there’s no doubt that that U20s team allowed her the room to grow into her free-roaming habits that we now see in the ALW – she was doing that same wandering fullback thing all throughout the National League. Michaela Robertson counts as an academy player. In fact she was kind of the OG academy player. She (and then Macey Fraser) were training with the boys before they even had a women’s squad. Likewise, Emma Main wasn’t too far behind.

Those are the trailblazers. But it’s the Class of 2023 where the academy truly takes shape, with several of those players already having broken into the first team. Manaia Elliott, Helena Errington, Ella McMillan, and Daisy Brazendale have all debuted, with Elliott playing most games and even getting on the scoresheet. Also, Aimee Danieli has made the bench a few times as the third-choice goalie, while Olivia Ingham is finally back to fitness after missing all of 2023 due to an ACL injury.

Again, this lot aren’t necessarily ‘club prospects’ in the same way as most of those fellas are. Elliott is from Melville/Waikato and was playing for Auckland United in 2022. Errington is a Wellingtonian though spent the best part of her youth stuff with the Ole Academy – and left the Nix mid-year for an opportunity with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal, though technicalities prevented her from signing properly so she returned for the rest of the ALW term. McMillan, who captains the reserves, is also from Melville/Waikato, as is Aimee Danieli (though she moved to Auckland in between, playing alongside Elliott at Auckland United when they won the Kate Sheppard Cup in 2022). Brazendale is from Nelson. At least Ingham is a Wellingtonian - according to the club she was the first player to officially join the women’s academy back in 2021.

The men’s academy recruits from all over the nation too, they just usually get them a little earlier. That’ll balance out in time. Finn Surman is from Christchurch. Fin Conchie from Hamilton. There was that yarn about how Oskar van Hattum played junior footy in New Plymouth with Mackenzie Barry...

It’ll be curious to see how this adapts when the Auckland A-League side comes into existence but as it stands, yeah, quite a few recruits are also from Auckland. In the first team we’ve got Ben Old, Alex Paulsen, Sam Sutton, for example. Lukas Kelly-Heald and Luke Supyk are Wellingtonians though. Keeping it even.

And... that’s where we’re at. The Welly Nix blokes are seeking a Premier’s Plate and a finals run, while the Welly Nix ladies are still a good shot of sneaking into the finals for the first ever time. Both while putting a greater emphasis on their own academies than ever before. Maybe that’s a coincidence. Or maybe these young kiwi footballers are just really, really good.

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