Auckland United defeated Melville United 2-0 in New Zealand Northern League action. First a quick word about how the New Zealand structure works. In the first phase of the season, teams play in three regional leagues with the top teams qualifying for the national league at the end of the season. Officially all of the teams are amateur but you need only glance at any of the league tables to see that some of these teams are quite a bit more amateur than others. I was planning to wait until the national phase to do reports on the league since there are some very lopsided matchups in the first phase and only one game is broadcast per weekend until the national phase. But this match was broadcast between two teams who look very likely to qualify for the national phase so I thought the match report would be meaningful. Overall the level of domestic football in New Zealand is not very high but almost every single player called up by the all-whites got their start there. Lots of them play in Leagues like MLS, the Danish Superliga, Scottish Premier League, and of course, there’s English Premier League veteran Chris Wood. So it is very much possible to find good players in the league.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, re-watch
- D – Below average in this match
Joshua Galletly
Player Profile:
- Nationality: New Zealand
- Age: 19
- Date of Birth: 03/05/2003
- Current Club: Melville United
- Career: Wellington Phoenix (Y)
- Position: Central Midfielder
- Preferred Foot: Right
Joshua Galletly played as part of a midfield double pivot in this game and was extremely impressive in a deep-lying playmaker role. Galletly showed a fantastic ability to progress the ball through passing. He had great vision, able to pick out teammates in space over both long and short range. There are no advanced stats (that I am aware of) for the NZNL but I counted at least 6 successfully completed progressive passes from open play. Some of his long-range pass attempts did not work out but that’s to be expected of any player. Overall his accuracy and desire to play forward were both very strong.
He was also on free kicks for Melville and had several dangerous deliveries that almost resulted in a goal. Galletly demonstrated a good first touch and some dribbling ability. He is definitely more of a passer than a carrier but he was able to make things happen with his dribbling. He was not at all shy of having a shot at goal from range. He almost chipped the keeper from about 40 yards out and had a couple of other decent looks. He is a good striker of the ball and his shot selection did not feel wasteful. I wouldn’t say Galletly is a ball-winning midfielder but he was able to do some good defensive work. He was quite good at harassing opponents and if he did not win the ball then he often put a teammate in a good position to do so. Overall I think he would fit very well in a team that presses and plays very directly at a higher level.
Rating – A1
Galletly was cut loose by the Wellington Phoenix organization after last season so an opportunity with them probably isn’t immensely forthcoming. But “a higher level” would be any league that (officially) pays him money. I think he could do quite well in a small professional league and that he would have the potential to go higher in the long term. Stars of New Zealand domestic football that didn’t quite crack the Phoenix have done well in leagues like the Finnish Veikkausliiga, Irish Airtricity League, and the Canadian Premier League (though lack of data collection might make him unlikely to turn up on the radar of the CPL). I think this is a path that Galletly could follow quite successfully.
Oliver Colloty
Player profile:
- Nationality: New Zealand
- Age: 19
- Date of Birth: 04/07/2003
- Current Club: Melville United
- Career: Roslyn-Wakari, Western Suburbs, Southern United Youth, Christchurch United
- Position: Striker
- Preferred Foot: Right
When you see a young striker at the top of the scoring charts you naturally get quite excited. But Oliver Colloty was not able to deliver the goods in this game. Colloty is a very tall and lanky striker with pretty good speed for his size. He did win a header or two but I would not say he was physically dominant. He did a great job of closing down opposition players and put Auckland defenders in trouble quite often. He had a knack for pressing them when they were at their most vulnerable and was a bit unlucky he did not generate more from those situations.
But with the ball at his feet, he was quite poor. His first touch was bad and he was not able to beat players with dribbling. He did have one really impressive through ball but that was about it for his offensive ability. Colloty was coming deep to get the ball a lot and quite a lot of moves died with him, though he was hardly the only offender on the Melville team. He was limited to two long-range shots that did not even look slightly threatening. That’s about all there is to it. Colloty is mobile and he does a lot of very good defensive work. But this is the New Zealand National League we’re talking about and if you’re not a goal threat game in and game out as a striker then you’re probably not going to rise very high in the professional game. Colloty is 19 so there is still lots of time for improvement but I wouldn’t recommend him at this stage.
Rating – B1
Colloty is probably worth checking in on every now and then in case his offensive prowess takes a big leap (this is a bit of a weird thing to say about a guy with 11 goals in 19 appearances but goal totals in New Zealand are very inflated) but right now the best thing for him is to stay in New Zealand. He does have some good physical traits and is very good at disrupting opposition build-ups so if he can improve the technical side of his game he would be a very useful player.
Target Scouting 