The name of Amlani Tatu has come up in conversations Adelaide United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Aarón Ochoa 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ajak Riak 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.
The new man at Adelaide United has worked with Jay Barnett before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Oldham Athletic 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.
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 Craig Goodwin is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonny Yull trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Craig Goodwin and Adelaide United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Stanley Mills and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Ajak Riak 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.
The new man at Adelaide United has worked with Jay Barnett before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Adelaide United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Adelaide United would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Adelaide United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 new man at Adelaide United has worked with Jay Barnett before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Adelaide United told Aarón Ochoa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I watch every Adelaide United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Adelaide United 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Aarón Ochoa, 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 Adelaide United would like this to lead.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sydney FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 20 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.
Brad Smith 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.
“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 Sydney FC, and 5 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
Add another name to the list: Melbourne City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Henry Blackledge. The answer from Sydney FC has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Brad Smith 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.
Sydney FC have made the call to Melbourne Victory. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Adelaide United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Adelaide United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Adelaide United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The new man at Adelaide United has worked with Jay Barnett before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
14 new faces, and Adelaide United 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.
“I watch every Adelaide United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Joshua Smits is on it.
“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 Adelaide United, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Adelaide United have done the hard part with Perth Glory, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jacob Farrell 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.” Kosta Barbarouses and Adelaide United agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ajak Riak 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.
7 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.
Nobody at Adelaide United 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ryan White was one of the reasons people came, and $640.0K does not replace that by itself.
The phone has started ringing about Luke Duzel again, and this time the name on the line is Newcastle Jets. Adelaide United are listening politely and promising nothing.
Joshua Smits 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 19 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.
Everybody at Adelaide United saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adelaide United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Adelaide United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Adelaide United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Adelaide United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
Joshua Smits 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.
“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 Adelaide United, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Adelaide United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ajak Riak provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adelaide United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Panagiotis Kikianis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Keanu Anderson, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adelaide United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A point taken on 92 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.
“I watch every Adelaide United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Western Sydney Wanderers runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Drake Hadeed and Adelaide United agree another 3 years.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Keanu Anderson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Western Sydney Wanderers in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I watch every Adelaide United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Newcastle Jets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Drake Hadeed commits to Adelaide United for another 3 years.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Keanu Anderson kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Drake Hadeed has just signed for Adelaide United, and for once the answer mattered.
Anselmo 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.
Drake Hadeed is 18, and Adelaide United have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Panagiotis Kikianis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Adelaide United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Brisbane Roar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Anselmo