Simon Baker

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Adelaide United U18
6 Dec 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Simon Baker

13 Edition

The Adelaide United Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Anselmo out for 57 days

57 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.

Boardroom

1 academy players handed senior numbers at Adelaide United

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Player ratings

Craig Goodwin beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Adelaide United promote Simon Baker from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simon Baker 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.

Squad

Panagiotis Kikianis 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 dugout

Half-satisfied: James White on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

No goals between Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Central Coast Mariners will be the happier side with the point.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Jay Barnett

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Melbourne Victory in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

Ben Folami left out for tactical reasons at Adelaide United

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief