Bill Rufer

Central Midfielder - Melbourne Victory
31 Jul 2030
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Bill Rufer

142 Edition

The Melbourne Victory Post

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Bradley Hlatshwayo puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Melbourne Victory, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Denis Genreau in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Jamie Reid has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Melbourne Victory 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Riley Dalziell

“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.

The dugout

Noah James has been promised minutes

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 Noah James has written the date down.

In brief