The Wellington Phoenix will usher in a new era in Western Australia on Saturday night.
A “completely different” Phoenix team will kick-off their 19th Isuzu UTE A-League season against the Perth Glory at HBF Park in Perth.
The Nix had a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, finishing 11th and missing the finals for only the second time in the past six years.
Head coach Giancarlo Italiano is excited about the new season, his third in charge after four years as an assistant.
“The vibe’s very good,” Italiano told media via zoom from Perth on Friday. “There’s a nice buzz in the group at the moment.
“We’ve cemented a lot of good pillars moving towards this day and…I think it’s been very effective.
“The players that we’ve recruited and brought in have given a really nice dimension to the team. We’ve been conscious about making sure that we fill the age spectrum in terms of having balance in the squad. I think that’s worked really nicely.
“Where I’ve been really happy is with how we’ve been playing. It’s completely different to what we’ve been doing for the last couple of years.
“It’s a little bit more aligned with who I am as well, which is exciting. It’s nice to coach like this. It’s given me a lot of energy and the players have fed off that as well.”
The new playing style has been more than 12 months in the making.
“Last year I tried to change it but because we had such a disruption in pre-season and bringing in a new bunch of players, nearly a new starting XI, it was hard to build that foundation.
“What’s been great about this long pre-season is I’ve been able to flesh out these ideas that I wanted to bring out last year.
“In terms of the style, I’ve always wanted to coach a team that dominates games, with the ball and off the ball. I think you’ll see a more clearer emphasis on that. How that looks will be different in games, but the trend so far has been very positive.
“I’m not expecting to win every game this season. What I’m expecting is to put our best foot forward, play attacking football and make sure our fans are entertained.
“For me the most important thing is that a gauge of our success is everyone wanting to watch us play week-in, week-out irrespective of the result.
“Obviously I want to win, there’s nothing better than winning, and I think our fans deserve a trophy and that’s what I’m here to do, but our focus is the now.”
Perth also had a campaign to forget last season, finishing with their second straight wooden spoon.
But Italiano is expecting a “very hard” opening round contest.
“They’ve been very competitive in all of their friendlies. I think what’s let them down is probably their second half performance when they’ve run out of legs or they’ve turned over the squad.
“Against Sydney FC they were nil-all at halftime, against Wanderers they were the same and then they made significant changes.
“They’re going to be very tough to break down. They’ve gone to a back five as well.
“Zdrilla (Perth head coach David Zdrilic) is also in his second year and needs time to mature as a coach.”
The Phoenix have spent the week in Australia after playing Central Coast Mariners in their final pre-season match in Gosford on Sunday.
Tim Payne and Lukas Kelly-Heald joined the squad in Perth on Thursday night after featuring for the All Whites in their international friendlies against Poland and Norway in Europe.
Italiano says Payne will be assessed by the team’s staff but he’s likely to start.
The all-time head-to-head record between the two sides in the A-League is level, although the Glory have won 14 of the 27 meetings in Perth.
However the Nix are unbeaten in their past eight trips to Western Australia, including their dramatic penalty shootout victory over the Glory in the Australia Cup in July.
The first round Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory is scheduled to kick-off at HBF Park in Perth at 11:45pm (6:45pm AWST) Saturday and will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sport 2 in New Zealand and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 27 July 2025 – Perth Glory 1 Wellington Phoenix 1 (7-8 pens)
All-time A-League head-to-head: Phoenix 21W, Glory 21W & 12D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted): 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 9. Hideki ISHIGE, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 12. Dan EDWARDS, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 24. Xuan LOKE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 37. Anaru CASSIDY, 39. Jayden SMITH, 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk).
Unavailable:8. Paulo RETRE (injured), 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC (injured), 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk) (injured).
Perth Glory squad (two to be omitted): 4. Scott WOOTTON (cc), 6. Brandon O’NEILL, 7. Nicholas PENNINGTON, 9. Jaiden KUCHARSKI, 11. Lachlan WALES, 13. Cameron COOK, 14. Nathanael BLAIR, 17. Arion SULEMANI, 18. Rhys BOZINOVSKI, 19. Josh RISDON, 20. Trent OSTLER, 21. Adam BUGARIJA, 22. Adam TAGGART (cc), 25. Sebastian DESPOTOVSKI, 26. Khoa NGO, 27. Will FRENEY, 28. Kaylan MAJEKODUNMI, 29. Matt SUTTON, 31. Joel ANASMO, 45. Brian KALTAK.
Unavailable: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI (injured), 3. Sam SUTTON (injured), 8. Callum TIMMINS (injured), 10. Luke AMOS (injured), 15. Zach LISOLAJSKI (injured).
Main image: Giancarlo Italiano in conversation with Alex Rufer at a Wellington Phoenix training session at NZCIS . Photo: Cam McIntosh/Photomac.
