Oli Sail has become a mainstay between the sticks over the last couple of seasons for Wellington Phoenix, establishing himself as one of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s and New Zealand’s top goalkeepers.
But for a long time, Phoenix captain Sail had to bide his time and wait for his opportunity in the wings as Wellington’s back-up for the first few years he spent at the club.
And one of the people he leaned on for advice during his tough period as back-up, was none other than NRL Premiership-winning head coach with Penrith Panthers and family friend, Ivan Cleary – describing his influence as “massive”.
In season 2022-23, you can listen to Robbie weekly on his new KEEPUP podcast – The Players Pod, with Robbie Cornthwaite. This week he chats to Wellington Phoenix goal-keeper Oli Sail and Brisbane Roar captain Tom Aldred. Listen below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
“I’m an Auckland boy, grew up in Auckland and during his time coaching the (New Zealand) Warriors, our families became really close and… I leant on his his advice and his mentorship during times like that when things weren’t going my way and he also prepared me for playing in a team,” Sail said on The Players Pod.
“We’re the only New Zealand team in an Australian competition and certain things that are harder in certain aspects so he’s been a big help for me in that role, and it’s been fantastic to see him be so successful over the last few years and he deserves it.
“They’re a brilliant family. He’s got a brilliant sporting mind and obviously Nathan (Cleary) as well is some player. Great kid and he’s already at big things, let alone on his way to big things. So he’s on his way to being one of the true greats of the game. So it’s so cool to see those two do fantastically. I’m so chuffed for them.”
Sail also went into detail about his relationship with 2021 NRL Clive Churchill medallist Nathan Cleary – who he grew up with while his dad coached the Warriors.
“The last couple of years we have obviously been based in Sydney, so popped along to a few of his games and played some golf and caught up with him,” Sail said.
He’s a good mate and we used to spend all our Christmas’ and stuff together as family so he’ll be missed up north this year but yeah, he’s actually just been on a ‘worldie’ of a holiday so I’ve been sending him some very envious messages!
‘We can beat anyone’
Are Wellington Phoenix shaping up as one of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s team to watch this season?
Ufuk Talay’s Phoenix have had an up-and-down start to the 2022-23 campaign, winning twice, drawing four times and losing twice throughout their opening eight games.
Wellington sit sixth heading into the Distance Derby against bottom-placed Perth Glory at Macedonia Park on Friday night, but will go into the fixture full of confidence after knocking off third-placed Adelaide United a 3-1 at Sky Stadium in Round 8.
But last week’s performance isn’t surprising to Phoenix goalkeeper and captain Oli Sail, who believes his side can take it to anyone in the competition.
And the results do the talking, with not only a win and draw against the Reds already in tow, but also draws with each of the league’s top-three sides – Melbourne City, Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners – and a 4-1 thumping of fifth-placed Macarthur FC.
However, Sail does admit consistency has been the issue, with losses coming against 10th and 11th-placed Newcastle Jets and Western United, but is confident things are on the up for the ‘Nix.
“I think there’s been patches of that over the last two-to-three seasons where we can beat anyone on our day and when we have got it right, the performances have been fantastic and we’ve taken the sword to some of the top teams in the competition,” Sail said.
“The frustrating thing is we haven’t quite been able to have the consistency in our performances and that’s something we are striving for and… on the weekend it kind of clicked.
“The foreign boys we’ve brought in this year have done a fantastic job, three of them were on the scoresheet so it’s starting to take shape and we’re really excited with the squad we’ve developed.
Also… the adversity we’ve faced over the last couple of seasons has stood us in good ground for what’s to come so we’re really excited.
But the trip to Perth won’t be easy for the ‘Nix, given the adjustment to a completely new time zone and long travel times that come as a result of making the trip out west.
“It’s a lot, obviously we go out an extra day early to try and give us as much time to recover from the travel as possible,” Sail said.
“It’s a bit of an ugly time difference. it certainly takes it toll and the heat as well is another aspect. It’s 36 degrees in Perth as well so you add that into all the travel and it’s certainly adds an impact to your performance.
“We’ve tailored training this week and we’ve tailored conditioning, as you guys might be aware, we’ve just opened up a world-class training facility here in Wellington alongside the rugby team, the Hurricanes.
“We’ve got a heat and altitude chamber in there, which we’ve been conditioning in for the last few weeks to prepare us.”
‘He was a great character’: Aldred reflects on Austin’s Brisbane’s tenure
Brisbane Roar captain Tom Aldred also joined The Players Pod and opened up on the impact of now, former team-mate Charlie Austin at the club.
Ex-Premier League striker Austin played his final game with the Roar after he opted to return home to England for family reasons.
Aldred praised his impact on the locker room, but wished they could have got a little more out of him on the field during his six-month stay.
“Yeah, look straight away when he came in July. Off the pitch, great lad, comes in with a huge pedigree played in the Premier League, scored goals wherever he has been,” Aldred said.
“He was a great character in the dressing room, we’ve got quite a young group there. Just to have him in there was brilliant. On the pitch look, he scored two goals. He was effective in the [Australia] Cup.
“We just couldn’t, with the break. He just never really got into his stride of really scoring goals and I think that was all to come for Charlie.
“And I could tell that probably six weeks previous to now, I sorted of smelled, myself and Jay, he was speaking with us just how he’s family probably not settled and he did have family back in the in the UK that didn’t travel over with him.
“Yeah, it was annoying for us because we know what he’s capable of and we just wanted to get him going. We tried our best to try and obviously try to push him to stay but realistically when it comes to family, and you’re not settled and you’re so far away from home, just his mind was set on that and that was it, really.
But yeah, great lad. And obviously a top player and like I said it was just more of a frustration that he only played his seven games and we just needed to see more of him and we would have probably reaped the rewards of that.
