With 98 days to go until their first A-League game of 2012/13, Phoenix hold an open training session to give fans the chance to see their new players in action and reacquaint themselves with the familiar ones.

It’s a good turn-out.  Glen Moss jokes there are more in attendance than used to pay to watch Gold Coast United play A-League matches. He’s not far wrong.

Spirits are high.  The banter is flowing.  New boy Jeremy Brockie fires wildly over during a shooting drill and Paul Ifill’s familiar cackle rings out across Newtown Park.

Brockie is obviously rapt to be here.  He already looks at home with his new team-mates.  The Wellington weather has been kind since his arrival with a new bride more used to temperatures in the high thirties. Dad Paul – the owner of a highly successful Nelson building company – has also crossed Cook Strait to run an eye over the house his son has just bought.  Turns out it’s only a decent crossfield pass from where Leo Bertos lives.

Gareth Morgan mingles with fans and does media interviews.  Another owner Henry Tait is also watching on.  It’s a common theme.  These owners are relatively hands-off, but always have their eyes on their investment.

Chris Greenacre looks every inch a coach.  He runs the session, issuing instructions, stopping play to make a point and then setting things in motion again. Ifill says the players have always looked up to Greenacre, so the transition to coach is a seamless one. Ricki Herbert watches on, leaving Greenacre to run things as he sees fit.

Herbert confirms Lucas Pantelis may not feature in the season ahead. It’s a hammer blow for a player who missed all of last season but had appeared to be rehabbing effectively after knee surgery. There are serious doubts now that the likeable winger will ever kick a ball for the club.

Jonathan Gould works the ‘keepers. Herbert jokes that he’s lost a few pounds since he last saw him in Perth. Moss relishes the one-on-one attention but wants Mark Paston back quickly to make the breaks during Gould’s intense sessions a touch longer.

Manny Muscat settles quickly into midfield in the small-sided games. His time at fullback is up and he's clearly relishing the chance to re-engage in midfield battles.  Opposition playmakers beware – the path past Muscat will be a difficult one to travel.

Solomon Islands striker Benjamin Totori is eager to impress. Ifill encourages him to make a run every time the Englishman receives the ball.  Totori obliges, buzzing around, looking to receive. He’s promising, a potential threat to tiring defences late in A-League matches.  

Something’s missing. It takes a while but I finally click. No Daniel.  For the first time in the club’s history the popular Brazilian isn’t involved.  He used to love days like this, mixing with fans and attracting kids like the Pied Piper.

The Academy players look to impress, the carrot of a potential contract dangled deliciously in front of them.  Louis Fenton, a product of the Tawa club in Wellington’s northern suburbs, immediately catches the eye.

He demands the ball from his team-mates, running without fear at defenders, ball at feet. Three decades ago his grandfather Don stalked the touchlines in trademark white gumboots as an age-group rep coach.

Now Fenton junior’s orange boots flash as he drives towards goal. Skipper Andrew Durante produces a timely reminder of who’s boss, stopping the youngster in his tracks with a textbook block tackle. Undeterred, Fenton immediately becomes involved again.

At session’s end the players line up for autographs and photos. Every shirt, book and scrap of paper is signed; every child leaves beaming.  This club knows how to connect with its supporters and its city. It’s the Phoenix way.