“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perth Glory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
79 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The deal that would have taken Quinn MacNicol to Young Boys has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Perth Glory with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perth Glory is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon O'Neill 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.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perth Glory will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 38 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“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 Perth Glory, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Adam Taggart
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Matthew Sutton was one of the reasons people came, and $600.0K does not replace that by itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sunday Akinmoladun has just signed for Perth Glory, and for once the answer mattered.
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 words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Kalik 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.
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.
Nobody at Sydney FC 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 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Anthony Kalik 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.
30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Akol Akon, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Genreau 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Akol Akon 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 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Jason Davidson 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.
Denis Genreau 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 Melbourne Victory, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Rawlins 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sebastian Despotovski 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.
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.
“I watch every Sydney FC 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 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.
“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 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.