Marked for Jack Warshawsky
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Melbourne Victory, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kasey Bos is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Denis Genreau 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
At 29 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jack Duncan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Melbourne Victory asked and Wolfsberger AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Manchester City 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Aug 2027
Position 3 and 35 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Joshua Rawlins is a better footballer than he was
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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The deal with Red Bull Salzburg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Denis Genreau 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Louis D'Arrigo has improved at 25, 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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Melbourne Victory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Duncan 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.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“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 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market9 Aug 2027
Brisbane Roar are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Melbourne Victory will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market9 Aug 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jack Warshawsky has his answer from Melbourne Victory; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Melbourne Victory may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Melbourne Victory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brad Smith 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Jordi Valadon has written the date down.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Santos asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Zach Lisolajski
33 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.
Match22 Feb 2027
Position 2 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Denis Genreau 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Melbourne Victory training over how hard people work
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.
Match20 Feb 2027
A point taken on 88 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.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“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 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
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 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Travis Byrne was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Melbourne Victory dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Jan 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Brisbane Roar have done the hard part with Melbourne Victory, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Perth Glory is saying, and nobody at Brisbane Roar is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nick D'Agostino 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Sebit Ngor scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Macarthur FC, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dean Bouzanis, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Michael Harper to a room that had heard them before.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Anasmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Newcastle Jets 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Denis Genreau 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Melbourne Victory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brad Smith 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.18 — 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Denis Genreau makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Travis Byrne kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Melbourne Victory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brad Smith 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Auckland FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Melbourne City in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Melbourne Victory had a different afternoon.
Squad23 Nov 2026
At 27 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Melbourne Victory have a decision that made itself.