Two thousand and twenty three will be a landmark year in New Zealand football for a number of reasons, with the Women’s World Cup being front of mind, at Ellerslie we have many reasons to celebrate this season:

• Women’s World Cup with Argentina basing themselves at Michaels Ave
• The opening of our new Clubrooms and Changing Rooms
• Our Club’s 70th Anniversary
• Our 30th Anniversary of winning the Bluebird Premier League – the greatest achievement on the men’s side of the club

With a number of new recruits signed up and the normal stars returning it’s an exciting season for Ryan Shiffman and his Women’s NRFL teams – can they break into the top 4 and make history by playing in the Women’s National League? We certainly think they have what it takes. Either way it will be exciting to watch.

MENS NRFL In’s, Out’s and Promoted

In’s

Charli Collard, Lyric Davidson (returning to the club) Abby Wright (Futsal/West Coast Rangers), Faith Moa (University of Canterbury FC), Mia Grgicevich (US College Football), Gracie Wilson-Cooper (Papakura City), Kate Lindsay (Fencibles Utd), Marilia Rocha Xerez Braga (Fortaleza Esporte Clube, Brazil), Morgan Attwood (Fencibles Utd), Paige Ihaka (Northern Rovers), Prisca Peters (Christchurch Utd), Rachel Nolan (Terenure Rangers FC, Ireland), Tia Lindbom (Birkenhead Utd), Vibha Godha (Auckland Utd)

Out’s

Jemma McCormick (Otago University), Marie Green (Wellington Phoenix Academy), Sarah Carpenter (Auckland Utd), Eilish McNeil, Katjana Grgicevich, Holly Marx, Grace Evans, Charlie Duffy, Aneshia Ratnam, Anna Howden, Ayesha Arora, Deb Tutty (all not playing), Maggie Jaques, Erin Mattingly, Tove Bennett, Ruth Bowerman, Kezia Kelly (all Uni-Mt Bohs), Ekaterina Lieshout (to Franklin Utd during the 2022 season)

Promoted

Alyssa Bellamy (U16’s), Bethany Stephens (U16’s), Kelsea King (U16’s), Hannah Barclay (U17’s), Lauren McCormick (U16’s)

NRFL Reserves 2023

Competition Notes

The Lotto NRFL Women’s Premiership (formally Lotto NRFL Women’s Premier League) has had no major rule changes (which is rare), however the competition that follows this one (the Women’s National League) is changing to allow the federations outside of NRF to engage clubs to partner with to deliver the national league portion of the season, this might be in the form of the top qualifying clubs in those regions or it might be a rep team run as a club team.  Remember for the NRF clubs the top four teams in the Lotto NRFL Women’s Premiership will qualify for the National League stage.

Below the Premiership is the new Lotto NRFL Women’s Championship which sees clubs from NRF and WaiBOP compete in a new second tier of Women’s NRFL for what I believe is the first ever time and something we have been pushing for. 

There is one promotion spot from this league to the Women’s Premiership but clubs must be able to get a national league license to be eligible for promotion. The Reserves league continues to mirror the Women’s Premiership the same as in 2022.

Links to 2023 Draws: https://www.nrf.org.nz/Competitions-1/LOTTO-NRFL/LOTTO-NRFL-Senior-Fixtures

Two thousand and twenty three will be a landmark year in New Zealand football for a number of reasons, with the Women’s World Cup being front of mind, at Ellerslie we have many reasons to celebrate this season:

• Women’s World Cup with Argentina basing themselves at Michaels Ave
• The opening of our new Clubrooms and Changing Rooms
• Our Club’s 70th Anniversary
• Our 30th Anniversary of winning the Bluebird Premier League – the greatest achievement on the men’s side of the club

It’s fitting then that we have put together a squad that is genuinely exciting and in true Ellerslie fashion packed with homegrown players, without further ado we would like to introduce the 2023 Men’s First Team squad, followed by some in’s and out’s for the 2023 season and then the 2023 Men’s Reserves squad.

MENS NRFL In’s, Out’s and Promoted

In’s

Devon Andrews (Mt Albert Ponsonby), Luke Robb (Auckland City), Muhammad Mohebbie (Waitemata FC), Sho Shigematsu (from injury), Shotaro Fukami (FC Asahi), Tawanda Marowa (Waitakere City), Eli Smith (Waitemata FC), Axel Andersson (Waitemata FC), Thomas Holmes (Auckland City), Zen Baatjes (West Coast Rangers), Brock Gunson (Auckland Uni), Caylem Nelson (FC Eagles – ASFA), Denish Chand (Uni-Mt Bohs), Jackson Gilbert (Papamoa FC), Nick Shaw (Roslyn Wakari), Oliver Kelly (Eastern Suburbs), Peter Hargrove (Northland FC), Zach Cabiling (Metro FC).

Out’s

Adam Scott (Retired), Daivik Naidu and Athan Ratnam (Manukau Utd), Hazem Alfayad (Fencibles Utd), Avi Enoke (Tupapa Maraerenga FC), Liam Buyck (Otago University), Denny Twigg (Futsal), Kyaw Mya (Futsal), Josh Lai (Overseas), Alex Clark (Overseas), Dan Evans (Overseas), Conrad Benefield (injury), Allan McBride, Sean Dartnall, Ethan Chan, Tadiwa Masiyakurima, Martin Lyon, Ryan Ajaz, Ryan Morrow, Chris Sinclair-Jones, Matt Calvert, Luke Mackay, (all TBC)

Promoted

Levi Johnson (U19’s), Karam Pilkington (U19’s), Charles Davidson (U17’s), Henry Jeffrey (U17’s), Thomas Lewis (U17’s), Sami Mustafa (U17’s)

NRFL Reserves 2022

Competition Notes

The Lotto NRFL Championship (formally Lotto NRFL Div 1) has a change to it’s U20 rules for the 2023 season – the new rule is that U20’s must play 7% of all available minutes in a season.  This averages out to 70 mins (rounded up) in a game (7% of 990 minutes), this replaces the rule in 2022 where one U20 must start and there must be one U20 on the bench.

In 2023 as part of the restructure of the leagues there will only be 1 side relegated from NRFL Championship – with the winner of the Lotto NRFL Northern Conference and Southern Conference playing off for that spot.

There are still two promotion spots to the Northern League but clubs must be able to get a national league license to be eligible for promotion.

The Reserves league still has a rule limiting a match day squad of 16 to a maximum of 5 players aged over 23.

Links to 2023 Draws: https://www.nrf.org.nz/Competitions-1/LOTTO-NRFL/LOTTO-NRFL-Senior-Fixtures