The Phoenix are known for having some of the best support in the A-League. Photo / Photosport
The Wellington Phoenix men, who play at Eden Park on Saturday, are on course for their best campaign, despite dire pre-season predictions. Michael Burgess spends a day with the team, to find the secrets behind their remarkable success.
Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano pauses before he starts his address.
For the 19th time this season, he is about to give his pre-game speech, but this is a big day. The team are riding a nine-match unbeaten streak - on top of the A-League men’s table - but this is their last game in the capital for almost a month, so he chooses his words carefully as he stands in front of his players, deep in the bowels of Sky Stadium.
“Today,” he starts, “is a f**king great day to put on a good show. There’s going to be a big crowd. Today is our day.”
Walking into the room, the first thing you notice is the smell of liniment; the second is the nervous tension, mixed with excitement. The music (hip hop) has been turned down, while staff stand at the back. It’s 90 minutes before kickoff. The players have gathered in the team room, with high fives between everyone as they enter.
Captain Alex Rufer and fullback Tim Payne sit together in the back row, along with the little-and-large combination of speedy midfielder Ben Old and Polish striker Oskar Zawada. Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen leans back on a chair in the front row.
Italiano apologises for being late.
“I was trying to get some intel from Adelaide - didn’t find anything,” he jokes, before beginning his speech.
He’s calm but firm.
“The first 25 minutes is all about pressure. That’s our time to press, to put pressure. Keep yourself centred, it’s all about performance.”
With a red laser pointer, he goes through scenarios and footage to illustrate his examples. He discusses opposition weaknesses and strategies in succinct detail, before more clips.
There’s talk about the block, the counter-press and reminders of what they have done so well through the campaign, before the conclusion.
“We can win the game in the first half. I want to see us f**king stuffed when we come in [at halftime] because we’ve been doing so much running. Let’s focus on what we can control now and do what we’ve been doing all season. This is our time.”
After he finishes, the coach has a quiet word with Rufer and rookie Lukas Kelly-Heald, while Kosta Barbarouses gets a massage and Bulgarian international Bozhidar Kraev grimaces as he uses the foam rollers.
Earlier, when the Herald arrives, the coaches and staff are clustered together in their changing room. They discuss the freshly released Adelaide line-up and what it means before returning to their notes.
From the players’ dressing room next door, music blares - Low Life by American rapper Future. Payne and midfielder Finn Conchie are usually in charge of the playlist but defender Finn Surman is in control today.
Italiano requests some chewing gum and a bottle of water and then heads outside for a walk to “gather my thoughts”.
There must be a lot to ponder. The unheralded Australian, who never played professionally and was a lawyer before his U-turn into football coaching, starting with his Sunday league team, has been a revelation.
He was a popular assistant under former coach Ufuk Talay but not much was expected, given his lack of experience and the departure of several key players in the off-season. But the Phoenix have thrived under Chiefy (a nickname given to him almost two decades ago which has stuck). His team are noted for defensive resilience, game smarts and composure. He has been unafraid to blood academy products and they are on course for their best regular-season finish.
“If you believed all the predictions, we were going to come last. I guess they’ve changed their tune now.”
Match preparation
It’s the day before the game, inside the nerve centre of Wellington Phoenix FC at their Upper Hutt base, with staff gathered around a large table. A screen at the front of the room displays tactical plans, while assistant coach Adam Griffiths and team analysts pore over footage.
Italiano is leaning back in his chair, moving red and yellow magnetic counters around a small whiteboard resting on his knees. He adjusts formations, then changes again, trying to pre-empt what Adelaide will do the next day.
“If he is tracking here, do we still play out?” he asks Griffiths.
There are more switches, tweaks.
“That’s the worst-case scenario - I don’t like that.”
A sign on the door in the far corner is labelled “Chief’s office”. It’s a big room, with a separate area with a projector. He used to bring the team in during pre-season but patterns are established now. He also wouldn’t want to.
“I like to keep some distance between the players, so when I say something, it resonates. It’s a balance. I don’t like to be in their faces all the time.”
A large poster lists key values and principles, developed by the staff and players in pre-season. They include Sweat and Courage, Growth Mindset, Hard Work, Authenticity, Good People and Competitiveness.
Italiano’s are Accountability, Commitment and Togetherness.
“Without accountability, you can’t have commitment, and without commitment, you’ll never be solid and together.”
Italiano is big on the human touch - “you need to make sure your players are fine outside of football” - and people still talk about a pre-season video he put together, sourcing footage of every player’s professional debut, as well as interviews with their families.
As he mulls over tactical options, Italiano is constantly shuffling a pack of Qantas playing cards. Someone jokes that he is an amateur magician, while Griffiths smiles, saying, “that’s how we pick the team”.
A whiteboard maps out the season, with plans for each day, while another has photos of each player, separated into “training”, “modified” and “out”.
The day started at 8am. The first routine is the ‘coffee wheel’, deciding who shouts the hot drinks. The loser is removed from the list for the next day, before it starts afresh each week. There’s a player welfare discussion with the medical and performance staff, then a rundown of the day.
The detail is meticulous - drill by drill - but there’s also time for banter.
Operations manager Jake Piper emerges with some gifts from newly arrived Costa Rican import Youstin Salas, including snow globes, before director of football Shaun Gill arrives with the coffees.
“I thought you got lost,” said Italiano.
Vice-captain Scott Wootton, who played under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, goes through set-piece plans with Italiano and Griffiths.
10.30am team meeting
Players do stretches and juggles in the gym inside the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport, which is big enough to house two professional teams. There’s a high altitude room next door with 36 stationary bikes which doubles as a heat chamber. Along the corridor is the swimming area, with a hot and cold plunge pool and a resistance pool.
“It’s kicking my arse,” says Phoenix women’s captain Annalie Longo with a laugh as she completes a workout.
The men’s changing room nearby feels as big as a tennis court. Each player’s cubicle is personalised, listing the previous players to wear that number.
“It’s a reminder of the heritage,” says Piper, as memories come flooding back.
No 7 mentions Ross Aloisi, Leo Bertos and Nathan Burns, while the previous No 9s include Shane Smeltz, Chris Greenacre and Kenny Cunningham. The shirt of 10-season legend Andrew Durante (No 22) is the only one retired.
Upstairs is a players’ lounge, with pods for relaxing and making calls, a pool table, a darts board and a table football. The team room has 25 chairs, with staff standing at the back. Players greet everyone, including the Herald, with handshakes as they enter.
The meeting starts with analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Adelaide United goalkeeper, before Griffiths takes centre stage.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” he starts, quoting lines from William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.
When the laughter subsides, Griffiths gets serious.
“Expect the unexpected tomorrow,” says Griffiths. “We don’t know exactly what they’re going to do in terms of delivery, so expect anything. We were average defensively last week; we need to be very good again.”
After going through defensive plans, Wootton outlines the attacking set pieces, while Italiano watches on.
“It’s good for me to have a break,” he explains later. “And it’s good for them to hear from someone else.”
11am Training
After some activations in the gym, training starts on one of two pristine fields. Italiano is encouraging but firm.
“That’s too slow - why aren’t we listening? Speed it up.”
The ball work looks nippy and efficient but standards are high. A young player gets admonished by a senior teammate as he hesitates to shoot - “have confidence, man!” - and the finishing drills get a bit sloppy.
Italiano, who often comes across as an avuncular uncle type figure, has eventually had enough, ordering everyone down for 100 press-ups.
Some players think they have misheard, others stop halfway through and roll on their backs in pain. Ben Old and Nicholas Pennington complete the century, with one player telling me later that 140 push-ups was the punishment in one pre-season drill.
The team then rehearses free kicks. It’s intense - “on toes, lads, toes, toes, focus” - as balls are pinged in and cleared away, with Wootton encouraging them to refocus each time.
That’s followed by attacking set pieces before Italiano calls a halt after a smashing goal from a corner.
“That’s enough, boys, great, let’s end on a good note.”
Rufer practises penalties, while others, including David Ball, Barbarouses and Old, take some long-range free kicks.
1.30pm Staff meeting
After lunch at a local eatery - omelettes and scrambled eggs - the staff reconvene. There are more injury updates, then a final discussion around the starting XI and bench.
“Is he ready? Who’s next off the rank? What about fitness?”
There’s analysis before feedback is requested on one player’s overall week. It’s a tight team. The hours are long, the pressure high and there’s always more to do.
“We try to have some fun as well,” says Italiano.
Aside from the daily coffee wheel, on the Friday before each home game, one of the younger members of staff has to race across the courtyard to the onsite cafe to deliver some match tickets. The runs are timed, with a leaderboard displaying the leading efforts (the best is 1m 32s).
There’s also a tipping competition, with predictions across European leagues, plus the New Zealand National League.
“It’s hard to switch off but you have to try,” says Italiano. “If we win, we’ll have a night out; sometimes play some golf, or go to the beach as a staff. We do stuff to break the routine.
“But I’m always thinking about the team 24/7. I had my first day off two months ago since I started [last May]. But I like coming into the office and watching football. And I like my days off when there’s no one here because I get more work done.”
Griffiths, who swims in Island Bay most days, all year round - “it’s great to clear the head” - departs at 3pm, with instructions to call the players who haven’t made the bench, while Italiano and his analysts complete some final work.
They will finish after 5pm, when Italiano heads back to Petone, where he lives with his mother, who moved over from Sydney last year.
“That has grounded me quite well, knowing she’s safe and here with me.”
Not everything goes to plan the next day. The Phoenix look weary in the first half and struggle to impose themselves before a late revival seals a 3-2 win in front of an ecstatic crowd and the job is done.
“We have a lot of challenges to come - hopefully the next month sets the tone,” says Italiano, allowing himself to relax for the first time in seven days. “If I tried to guarantee the results, you’re in for a lot of pain, but we can try to control the performance. I’m not sleeping well though... I have to sort that out.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
The pitch-invading pup managed to evade capture for almost a minute.