The Wellington Phoenix have appointed Giancarlo Italiano’s first support staff for the 2025-26 Isuzu UTE A-League.
Matthew Hastings, Grayson Harwood and Sebastian Bayliss have come on board as the men’s operations manager, head physiotherapist and equipment manager/analyst respectively, while Weijie Lim has signed on for a fifth season as the team’s head physical performance scientist.
They will be joined by rehab physiotherapist Jamie Hassett and analyst Tyron Curtis, who will continue to work across both the men’s and women’s first teams.
Hastings has cut short his OE to take up the operations manager role. He’s a trained lawyer and has until recently been the general manager of Selwyn United FC in Canterbury.
He will officially join the Phoenix at the start of August with women’s operations manager Toni West-Luamanu and outgoing head of football operations Jake Piper to deputise in the interim.
Lim has been at the club for the best part of a decade, having served an internship with the first team in 2015 before becoming the academy’s head of strength and conditioning in 2018.
Harwood will join the men’s first team from the Nix academy, where he is the head of physiotherapy.
He returned to the club this year after being the academy’s head physio from 2016-2020 before working with the Wellington Saints and Wellington Blaze in recent years.
Bayliss has been promoted to the fulltime equipment manager and kitman role with the Phoenix after serving as an intern with the men’s first team for the past two and a half years.
Phoenix director of football Shaun Gill has welcomed Hastings to the club and is looking forward to continuing to work with Lim, Harwood, Bayliss, Hassett and Curtis.
“Matt has big boots to fill as operations manager, but we think he’ll be a great fit and will hit the ground running,” Gill said.
“Weijie has done a fantastic job leading the club in the physical performance science space for the past four years and is passionate about helping turn around the men’s fortunes next season.
“Grayson is a vastly experienced physio and knows the club inside-out from his time at the academy, while Sebba has served a long apprenticeship and has built a great rapport with the players and staff.
“And Jamie and Tyron are great assets for both the men’s and women’s programmes and are both a safe pair of hands.”
Giancarlo Italiano’s new assistants for the 2025-26 season will be announced in the coming weeks, with the squad due to report for pre-season training at the start of July.
Phoenix men’s support staff for the 2025-26 A-League:
Operations manager – Matthew Hastings
Head physical performance scientist – Weijie Lim
Head physiotherapist – Grayson Harwood
Equipment manager and assistant analyst – Sebastian Bayliss
Rehab physiotherapist – Jamie Hassett
Assistant analyst – Tyron Curtis
