Marked for Anthony Walker
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ryan Fraser 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 Macarthur FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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 dugout10 Apr 2028
Michael Ruhs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Macarthur 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Walker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Apr 2028
The Michael Ruhs story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michael Ruhs signs something — a contract at Macarthur FC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 Apr 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bernardo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager makes Musa Touré a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Macarthur FC. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Questions about Diesel Herrington on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Mitchell Duke, 37, rolls back the years — 7.84
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 1 in, 4 out at Macarthur FC
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Peter Antoniou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Antoniou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Macarthur FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Ryan Fraser and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Michael Ruhs at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Macarthur FC.
Match5 Feb 2028
Macarthur FC hit back inside 3 minutes
Sydney FC held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Macarthur FC answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Liam Rose
“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 dugout7 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Stefan Powell to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market13 Dec 2027
Only the photograph left for Peter Antoniou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Antoniou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Macarthur FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom13 Dec 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Peter Antoniou has agreed terms with Melbourne Victory for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ryan Fraser 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“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 dugout13 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market13 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Macarthur FC, another week without a signature from Tomislav Uskok.