Keegan Jelacic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Shonan Bellmare continues; the message travels home.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Melbourne Victory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Steven Ugarkovic is 34, with 363 appearances behind him, and Melbourne Victory will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Melbourne Victory. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Jordi Valadon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Melbourne Victory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Medin Memeti is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Melbourne Victory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Shonan Bellmare to sit and watch. I want to come back to Melbourne Victory and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Melbourne Victory are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ben Waine obliged against Sydney FC. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Melbourne Victory.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Medin Memeti did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 1‑0 win over Macarthur FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Ben Waine was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Medin Memeti. 2‑0 against Melbourne City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jack Duncan.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Sebastian Despotovski will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Melbourne Victory escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Melbourne Victory people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Melbourne Victory, and it is not being withdrawn.
Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
1 for Tayvon Gray, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Keegan Jelacic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sydney FC have kept their man, and Melbourne Victory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Jordi Valadon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mussa Diallo and Melbourne Victory agree another 3 years.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne Victory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Melbourne Victory, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jason Davidson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Melbourne Victory, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Simon Harrison after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Melbourne City.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne Victory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michael Woud’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Melbourne Victory needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Melbourne Victory have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A brace, and Medin Memeti takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Medin Memeti provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Henry Blackledge has just signed for Melbourne Victory, and for once the answer mattered.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Medin Memeti. 2‑1 against Newcastle Jets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Jack Duncan
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Keegan Jelacic is on it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Denis Genreau has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Jordi Valadon and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Melbourne Victory. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oliver Dragićević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Melbourne Victory will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Medin Memeti has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Melbourne Victory.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Jordi Valadon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Melbourne Victory. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ben Waine’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadDenis Genreau is the talk of the training ground
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Melbourne Victory will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The phone has started ringing about Medin Memeti again, and this time the name on the line is Sydney FC. Melbourne Victory are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Melbourne Victory until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Melbourne Victory will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
$240.0K on the table at Newcastle Jets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Keegan Jelacic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Melbourne Victory is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordi Valadon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Melbourne Victory people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Melbourne Victory can pretend not to have heard.
Melbourne Victory offered $890.0K; Auckland FC said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wellington Phoenix have kept their man, and Melbourne Victory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jordi Valadon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Melbourne Victory have made the call to Shonan Bellmare. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
In brief
The dugoutJordi Valadon asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have shaken hands with Perth Glory; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$790.0K on the table at Brisbane Roar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $56.9K — a club that wants Lawrence Wong enough to be asked twice.
$240.0K was the most the club would pay and Newcastle Jets were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Charles Nduka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Melbourne Victory had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Medin Memeti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
9 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Melbourne Victory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jason Davidson and Melbourne Victory agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Charles Nduka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Melbourne Victory, another week without a signature from Jack Duncan.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Melbourne Victory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tayvon Gray was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Medin Memeti's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Medin Memeti's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kashima Antlers is saying, and nobody at Melbourne Victory is enjoying the guessing.
Tayvon Gray and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A 4‑2 win over Wellington Phoenix, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Central Coast Mariners next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sebastian Despotovski has, at Melbourne Victory, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marlee Francois will call it something else in private.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Simon Harrison could afford to be generous.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jack Duncan is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Simon Harrison was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Melbourne Victory dressing room was either.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Melbourne City.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne Victory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Melbourne Victory asked and FC Tokyo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Newcastle Jets wanted more than $240.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Denis Genreau is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kane Vincent-Young is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Simon Harrison left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Keegan Jelacic was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kane Vincent-Young was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Simon Harrison could afford to be generous.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Wellington Phoenix, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Simon Harrison on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Keegan Jelacic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I did not go to Central Coast Mariners to sit and watch. I want to come back to Melbourne Victory and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Simon Harrison left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Medin Memeti, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kane Vincent-Young was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Harrison chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Medin Memeti, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Melbourne Victory would like this to lead.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Newcastle Jets next, and one man in the Melbourne Victory dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Melbourne Victory have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jason Davidson and Melbourne Victory agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nishan Velupillay is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Melbourne Victory than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Melbourne Victory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kane Vincent-Young and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Joshua Laws is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
17 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bradley Rogers is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stefan Jackson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Blake Robertson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Connor Burns has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“I did not go to Central Coast Mariners to sit and watch. I want to come back to Melbourne Victory and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutMedin Memeti has become a man the manager trusts
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne Victory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Abia Warriors is saying, and nobody at Melbourne Victory is enjoying the guessing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Melbourne Victory is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Melbourne Victory until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Steven Ugarkovic and Melbourne Victory agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Charles Nduka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Melbourne Victory and Abia Warriors have settled on $2.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jordi Valadon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutKeegan Jelacic has become a man the manager trusts
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Coast Mariners have kept their man, and Melbourne Victory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Central Coast Mariners to sit and watch. I want to come back to Melbourne Victory and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matthew Grimaldi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Melbourne Victory the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne Victory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne Victory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Medin Memeti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Melbourne Victory has been clear about where Joshua Inserra stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Keegan Jelacic is on it.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne Victory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$42.0K was the most the club would pay and Central Coast Mariners were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Adelaide United have kept their man, and Melbourne Victory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Melbourne Victory have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $46.1K — a club that wants Chris Donnell enough to be asked twice.
$42.0K on the table at Central Coast Mariners. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Charles Nduka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
$1.2M on the table at Kalamata. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chase for Emin Duraković ended with $160.0K changing hands and Brisbane Roar out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Davidson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Keegan Jelacic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar have settled on $160.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $73.9K — a club that wants Diesel Herrington enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne Victory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$37.0K was the most the club would pay and Newcastle Jets were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Davidson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Melbourne Victory will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $73.9K — a club that wants Noah Maieroni enough to be asked twice.
Melbourne Victory have gone to Newcastle Jets with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Melbourne Victory offered $67.0K; Brisbane Roar said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordi Valadon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kane Vincent-Young and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Melbourne Victory will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.