4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Coast Mariners this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Tom Lawrence 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 name of Cameron Cook has come up in conversations Perth Glory were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Scott Wootton 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.
Auckland FC held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Perth Glory answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Perth Glory has been clear about where Jaiden Kucharski stands, which is more than many ever get.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arion Sulemani is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
MarketThe window shut and Matt Dench is still in the building
Tom Lawrence 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Aidan Simmons from Western Sydney Wanderers for $530.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lachlan Wales 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francois Habineza has just signed for Perth Glory, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Perth Glory signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Tom Lawrence 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.
Lachlan Wales 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Brian Kaltak’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.