Marked for Marcus Marshall
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Dec 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Perth Glory may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Dec 2030
Jamie Johnson hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perth Glory can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Dec 2030
No end in sight to Perth Glory's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Perth Glory has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Harry Sawyer
“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.
Match21 Dec 2030
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Melbourne Victory scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad23 Dec 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcus Marshall and Perth Glory agree another 3 years.
Match21 Dec 2030
A 1‑1 draw with Melbourne Victory leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Franco López chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2029
Wellington Phoenix are out and Perth Glory go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
No sign of nerves from Marcus Marshall at 17 — 8.16
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marcus Marshall did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Hayden Matthews 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces26 Nov 2029
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Henry Hore runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Too much change too quickly at Perth Glory
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
Squad
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
-
The dugout
Lachlan Jackson gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Sep 2029
Trent Ostler: 10 seasons and counting
154 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Perth Glory know exactly what they have.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 4 in, 16 out at Perth Glory
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Harry Sawyer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Perth Glory asked and Sydney FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tom Lawrence 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
Lachlan Jackson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Perth Glory 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Perth Glory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Sep 2029
The market said no: Joel Anasmo stays put
Perth Glory opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Joel Anasmo stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
The manager makes Junior Mpanza a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Perth Glory. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.