Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Jon McKain to stay with Phoenix

Updated at 3:42 pm on 18 March 2010

The Phoenix defender Jon McKain has extended his stay with the Wellington A-Lague football side for another two seasons.

The 27-year-old Australia international was identified as a key retention target after his partnership with fellow centre back and skipper Andrew Durante helped the Phoenix reach the playoffs for the first time.

The club's chief executive Tony Pignata says it's fantastic McKain's agreed to stay when

at at least six other A-League clubs were after him.

McKain says while negotiations took a while he wasn't stalling -- he had to consider a lot of factors, including his young family.

He says the strong second half of ther season and making the finals series convinced him to stay with the core of this year's side and help push for bigger things next season .

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