At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Melbourne City 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathaniel Atkinson and Melbourne City agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Mathew Leckie 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 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 ratings5 Feb 2029
Samuel Silvera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.63. 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.
Marked 8.06 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathew Leckie 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.
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Andrew Nabbout 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Oscar Bailey on the draw
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for Mathew Leckie
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Melbourne City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Melbourne City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Wood and Melbourne City agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathaniel Atkinson 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 Patrick Beach is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Silvera signs something — a contract at Melbourne City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Melbourne City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ben Warland 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 City 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 was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adam Bugarija has, at Melbourne City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathew Leckie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Patrick Wood was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
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.
Andrew Nabbout 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 easiest signature of my career.” James Nieuwenhuizen and Melbourne City agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Melbourne City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Silvera signs something — a contract at Melbourne City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jonty Bidois 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 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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Melbourne City would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“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 City can pretend not to have heard.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Winston Just is living that version at Melbourne City, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Melbourne City have gone and got theirs early.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Awer Mabil has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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 City has been clear about where Kosta Barbarouses stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Melbourne City 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Medin Memeti is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Melbourne City 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Melbourne City 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The fee is $580.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Newcastle Jets drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Melbourne City asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Melbourne City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Palermo is saying, and nobody at Melbourne City is enjoying the guessing.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Jonty Bidois 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Melbourne City had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wolfsberger AC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathaniel Atkinson 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.
Jonty Bidois 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathew Leckie and Melbourne City agree another 2 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Beckham Baker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AFC Wimbledon is saying, and nobody at Melbourne City is enjoying the guessing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathaniel Atkinson and Melbourne City agree another 3 years.
Andrew Nabbout 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 Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jayden Necovski 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.
Melbourne City have made the call to AFC Wimbledon. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Melbourne City 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Silvera signs something — a contract at Melbourne City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4, 36 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“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 City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Aziz Behich
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Wolfsberger AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
“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 City can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Manchester City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kavian Rahmani is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Melbourne City asked and Wycombe Wanderers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Quinn MacNicol has come up in conversations Melbourne City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Awer Mabil is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Silvera signs something — a contract at Melbourne City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Matheus Rossetto 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.
The chase for Jonty Bidois ended with $190.0K changing hands and Auckland FC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Melbourne City offered $200.0K; Perth Glory 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 Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer went to Perth Glory this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jayden Necovski is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Melbourne City offered $17.0K; Central Coast Mariners 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.
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.
Matheus Rossetto 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 Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Melbourne City game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Adelaide United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 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.
Beckham Baker 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.
“I did not go to Central Coast Mariners to sit and watch. I want to come back to Melbourne City and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 39 matches say the rest.
Ben Warland 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 City 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Max Caputo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
SquadJayden Necovski is training like a man with a point to make
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 City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Melbourne City 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.
Matheus Rossetto 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 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.” Lachie Charles and Melbourne City 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adama Coulibaly trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
36 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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.
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 City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathaniel Atkinson 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 Marcus Younis is on 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matheus Rossetto scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marcus Younis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Melbourne City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathaniel Atkinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Awer Mabil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.