Marked for Bryce Ryan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2032
Ollie Leeming damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Seun Ndlovu: 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.” Western Sydney Wanderers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alou Kuol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Apr 2032
“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 dugout12 Apr 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Western Sydney Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
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.
Market12 Apr 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Will Dobson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
62 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
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Squad
Questions about Dean Zungu on the training pitch
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Squad
Sam Walsh takes up the language
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Bryce Ryan
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Oct 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lawrence Thomas
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Oct 2031
The step up is real for Owen Hill
At 17 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.
Market13 Oct 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Western Sydney Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Western Sydney Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alou Kuol 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.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
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The dugout13 Oct 2031
Ollie Leeming knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Western Sydney Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
The manager makes an example of Rory Mitchell
“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.
Market13 Oct 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dean Phillips’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Sep 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lawrence Thomas
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Sep 2031
At 17 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Kane Vincent-Young 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 Sep 2031
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Squad15 Sep 2031
Bradley Morgan 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.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
Dean Phillips knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Western Sydney Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Sean Gordon
“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.
Market15 Sep 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dean Phillips’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Aug 2031
Position 2, 45 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Western Sydney Wanderers have done the hard part with Melbourne Victory, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market11 Aug 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Aug 2031
Only the photograph left for Dean Zungu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dean Zungu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Western Sydney Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Ollie Leeming 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alou Kuol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Western Sydney Wanderers asked and Perth Glory said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market11 Aug 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jul 2031
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Fee done, terms next for Isaac Hughes
Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory have settled on $970.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Kane Vincent-Young 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alou Kuol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Jul 2031
“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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
Ollie Leeming knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ollie Leeming trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jun 2031
Kane Vincent-Young damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
$1.0M settles it between the clubs for Isaac Hughes
Melbourne Victory have accepted the money. What Western Sydney Wanderers do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
Dane Reid: 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.” Western Sydney Wanderers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Western Sydney Wanderers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Perth Glory, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Kane Vincent-Young 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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alou Kuol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Jun 2031
The name of Rory Mitchell has come up in conversations Western Sydney Wanderers were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market9 Jun 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Western Sydney Wanderers, another week without a signature from Matthew Grimaldi.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 May 2031
Kane Vincent-Young damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 May 2031
Cameron Butler has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Western Sydney Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Western Sydney Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 May 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alou Kuol 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.
Market5 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Western Sydney Wanderers, another week without a signature from Matthew Grimaldi.
Market5 May 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dean Phillips’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Apr 2031
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Apr 2031
Cameron Butler has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Western Sydney Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Western Sydney Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alou Kuol 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.
Market7 Apr 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Western Sydney Wanderers, another week without a signature from Lawrence Thomas.
Squad7 Apr 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Will Dobson
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Will Dobson has come out of that comparison in the side, and Western Sydney Wanderers have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market7 Apr 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dean Phillips’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Bryce Ryan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bryce Ryan is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Nov 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Will Dobson and Western Sydney Wanderers agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Bryce Ryan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Reagan Ogle 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 Western Sydney Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kane Vincent-Young 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.
The terraces4 Nov 2030
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 ratings4 Nov 2030
Marked 8.56 — 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.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Matthew Grimaldi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Josh Roberts on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Oct 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lawrence Thomas
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
Matt Cacace: 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.” Western Sydney Wanderers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Oct 2030
The step up is real for Bryce Ryan
At 17 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kane Vincent-Young was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Cameron Butler 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.
Market7 Oct 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Western Sydney Wanderers, another week without a signature from Lawrence Thomas.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jarrod Carluccio is on it.
Market7 Oct 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Will Dobson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Aug 2030
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC have settled on $830.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bryce Ryan is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Kane Vincent-Young 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.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market5 Aug 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jul 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lawrence Thomas
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Western Sydney Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Will Dobson 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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Bryce Ryan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 16 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad8 Jul 2030
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Melbourne City have kept their man, and Western Sydney Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Jul 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Western Sydney Wanderers have made the call to Melbourne City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Western Sydney Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.