Toby Smith

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Brisbane Roar
20 Aug 2027
Friday
Process

Marked for Toby Smith

44 Edition

The Brisbane Roar Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

George Plusnin says Brisbane Roar went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Toby Smith signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Toby Smith commits to Brisbane Roar for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Brisbane Roar

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.

Squad

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Hosine Bility

“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.

Market

A year gone for Austin Ludwik

The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Brisbane Roar no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.

In brief

Back issues
25 Edition

The Brisbane Roar Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Brisbane Roar

13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Milorad Stajić 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 The request is on a desk at Brisbane Roar, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Western Sydney Wanderers come back empty-handed

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 targets

The paperwork begins on Santos

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Brisbane Roar have done the hard part with Melbourne Victory, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A falling-out at Brisbane Roar

Lachlan Wales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Brisbane Roar

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jay O'Shea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

No time for Western Sydney Wanderers to settle

The goal that put Western Sydney Wanderers ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Brisbane Roar equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Nick D'Agostino

7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Brisbane Roar had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Aleksa Todorović is in the works

Brisbane Roar have made the call to HNK Rijeka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

15 Edition

The Brisbane Roar Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Joel King stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Joel King and Brisbane Roar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Brisbane Roar

Nick D'Agostino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jay O'Shea 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.

Match

Brisbane Roar cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Match

Brisbane Roar come up short against Adelaide United

Adelaide United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Toby McLaren faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby McLaren after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Austin Ludwik

“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.

Player ratings

Nick D'Agostino runs at them all day

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.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Joel King

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

In brief

2 Edition

The Brisbane Roar Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Ionut Keseru will not be coming to Brisbane Roar

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pandurii is saying, and nobody at Brisbane Roar is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Tempers go at Brisbane Roar

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 targets

Door shut on Florjan Jevšenak

Brisbane Roar asked and NK Celje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Jamie Ross steps up from the Brisbane Roar academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jamie Ross 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.

Market

One of our own: Connor Lloyd joins the Brisbane Roar first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Connor Lloyd is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Hugh Hunter joins the Brisbane Roar first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hugh Hunter is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Toby Smith joins the Brisbane Roar first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Toby Smith is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

A row about effort at Brisbane Roar

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.

Squad

The formation has left Lachlan Wales behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brisbane Roar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief