BILL TUILOMA | Wellington Phoenix defender on opening win against Melbourne Victory

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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SPEAKER_2 (0:15)

A hell of a start for both A-League clubs here in New Zealand, and especially for the Phoenix, two won over the Melbourne Victory to get their season underway. Billy T, Bill Tuiloma joins us on the show. Bill, good morning to you.

Bill Tuiloma (0:29)

Morning, morning. How are we doing?

SPEAKER_2 (0:30)

Mate, we're doing well, thanks. Congratulations to you and the team on a fine first-up performance, mate. How did you feel out there with this squad?

Bill Tuiloma (0:39)

I felt great.

The boys were fired up. We were excited to have our first game at home, especially being at the 20th season in the league, and then to have the fans with us. It was a great day for football and definitely a great win.

SPEAKER_2 (0:57)

A tough night day defensively as well, and I think the defence deserves a fair bit of credit, Bill. I mean, considering, I think, what Melbourne Victory had around about 61% of possession in the game, so work was cut out for you.

Bill Tuiloma (1:13)

I think the back four, and especially the whole 11 on the pitch, we defended well. We knew that Victory were going to come with a good team, and we gave them trouble. They struggled to break us and break through the lines, and we just stuck together as a team, and defended to the end of the game, and got the result.

SPEAKER_4 (1:39)

How pleasing is that, Bill, like when you have a team that's starved opposition, like Sumo said, 61%, but you only allow this opposition three shots and one shot on target?

Bill Tuiloma (1:52)

No, yeah, as a defender, it's always a good feeling. Obviously, we wanted a clean sheet, but it is what it is. But at the end of the day, the most important thing was getting the three points and to have a good start on the season. But yeah, it's always a good feeling to bring it down, bring down the numbers from their side, and I think we did a really good job.

SPEAKER_2 (2:16)

You played alongside Bryce in a first up in a competition game. What's that relationship and how has that developed pretty quickly through pre-season?

Bill Tuiloma (2:25)

Yeah, no, it's gone good. It's good to have him here. As you can see, his quality shows on the pitch and I think he's just going to get better and better.

But yeah, we do have a little history back in MLS. We played against each other and now we play alongside now. So it's really good to have him here and he's a real threat for us. And he's going to cause some issues in the weekend for the opposition teams.

SPEAKER_4 (2:53)

Bill, you've been playing all around the globe and it's great to have you back in the country. What has that experience been like and what's it like coming home and obviously playing for the Wellington Phoenix? I was talking to Braden, he's our producer. He's a huge Phoenix fan. He said that was your best performance in the Wellington Phoenix side.

Bill Tuiloma (3:14)

Oh, yeah, like it's obviously playing in Europe and in America is where you want to be as a younger player. And the amount of quality out there is, you know, it's these low limit out there and these young players that grow up and all they think about is football. And just to experience all that out there has helped me improve my game. And then coming back here is to my job is to be one of the leaders and help these young guys grow as a player and grow as a person. And we did that very well. We stuck together on the field.

That was one of our key, one of my key messages as well before the before the whistles is stick together as a team. Whatever happens, we don't break down. And I think we did a really good job of doing that and securing the three points on the first game.

SPEAKER_2 (4:11)

Bill, I want to talk about Greeny, Chris Greenacre, who obviously has taken the reins in the club after the ructions of last year. How much do the boys want to put in a performance for him too, such a stalwart of the Phoenix?

Bill Tuiloma (4:24)

Yeah, we wanted to get that three points for him and for the club and especially being his first, new chapter, new gaffer, new team. And we wanted to go all for bang and show him what we're made of. And he said it from the first day of preseason, that he wanted us to be fearless and be aggressive in defending and attacking and one on one defending and taking on players. He wanted us to be, you know, just be positive and have the confidence to put that out on the field. And yeah, we're just really happy that we got the win.