Wellington Phoenix play Macarthur at Sydney in an Australia Cup quarter-final and while they're back in Australia, this time, it's only temporarily.
For the first time in two years, the team have enjoyed some home comforts, after returning from a COVID-19 exile across the ditch.
English forward David Ball and his family have waited two years to finally settle down in the capital, with the pandemic forcing the Phoenix to relocate on more than one occasion.
"It's been tough, I'm not going to sit here and lie," Ball told Newshub. "Moving around my family four or five times... changing houses, changing schools.
"The last stint we did, we spent four months away from each other - that was the last straw."
Thankfully, the 'Nix returned home in the nick of time and life went back to normal - whatever that looks like.
In the case of Phoenix players Sam Sutton and Joshua Laws, it meant finding their own flat in Wellington. No more homes away from home nor the need to constantly kill time.
"Really happy to be back," said Sutton. "Wellington's a nice place and it's home for me.
"When we weren't playing, it was sort of 'what are you doing to do with your time?'" added Laws. "There's only so many times you can see a movie."
Sutton hopes their newfound sense of normalcy will bear fruit on the football field.
"Now we're in a comfortable space and in good states of mind, I think we can push on and do much greater things," he noted.
In Ball's experience: "Ultimately, a happy life off the pitch is a happy one on the pitch."
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