Marked for Ethan Gallagher
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brisbane Roar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Lachlan Wales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Joel Anasmo 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Joel Anasmo gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I want to play”: Joel Anasmo speaks
“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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Brisbane Roar?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Melbourne Victory? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Feb 2027
Melbourne City will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Brisbane Roar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.53 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market22 Feb 2027
“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 Brisbane Roar, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
George Plusnin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brisbane Roar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brisbane Roar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
The numbers do not look good at Brisbane Roar
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Sebit Ngor was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Anasmo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑5 by Sydney FC, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nick D'Agostino 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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Jordan Lauton
“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.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
The one thing Sebit Ngor could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Justin Vidic’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brisbane Roar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Brisbane Roar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Wolverhampton keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ben Warland has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nick D'Agostino 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Brisbane Roar asked and Auckland City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tate Wallace 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ethan Gallagher is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mason Thompson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Lauton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.