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.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mitchell Glasson signs something — a contract at Sydney FC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The name of Abel Walatee has come up in conversations Sydney FC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sydney FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Adelaide United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Tisserand 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.
Sydney FC asked and AFC Wimbledon 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 phone has started ringing about Mitchell Glasson again, and this time the name on the line is Auckland City. Sydney FC are listening politely and promising nothing.
Takahiro Sekine 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 easiest signature of my career.” Alexandar Popovic and Sydney FC agree another 3 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 Rhyan Grant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Auckland City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sydney FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Coast Mariners have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sydney FC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad19 Jul 2027
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.
“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 Sydney FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Melbourne City 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle Jets have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Sydney FC will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhyan Grant 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sydney FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Sydney FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abel Walatee. The answer from Sydney FC has not changed — yet.
Takahiro Sekine 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Adelaide United have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sydney FC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rhys Youlley and Sydney FC agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rhyan Grant 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.
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Reece Watson chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sydney FC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scored in the 86th minute, Wellington Phoenix had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Sydney FC took the lot.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Tisserand 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.
Adelaide United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Max Vartuli has pre-agreed a move to Sydney FC, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Western Sydney Wanderers have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 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.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rhyan Grant 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Macarthur FC had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sydney FC will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
Marked 7.74. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
At 14 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Tisserand 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Sydney FC are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Reece Watson was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Sydney FC dressing room was either.
Takahiro Sekine 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.
$7.0K on the table at Adelaide United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Travis Miller 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Toby Green 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luke Reynolds is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sydney FC 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. America de Cali have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sydney FC, another week without a signature from Filip Kurto.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sydney FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.