A brace, and Dean Bosnjak takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dean Bosnjak provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dean Bosnjak. 2‑0 against Brisbane Roar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matt Johnston 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simon Butler 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Connor Bell 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kane Walker 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Max James and Auckland FC agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pršo 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.
Auckland FC asked and Melbourne Victory said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jordan Miller and Auckland FC agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 Jan 2033
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ethan Kennedy to a room that had heard them before.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Luka Pršo 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.
Newcastle Jets have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Lachlan Brook is on it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings13 Dec 2032
Jesse Randall was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.54. 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.
Riley Dalziell 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Pršo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Riley Dalziell 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Auckland FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sydney FC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ethan Kennedy to a room that had heard them before.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pršo 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.
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 Lachlan Brook is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gavin Reynolds has his answer from Auckland FC; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Riley Dalziell 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.
A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Luka Pršo 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.
It needed Jesse Randall to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Adelaide United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody at Auckland 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ethan Kennedy after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Max James
Auckland FC asked and Adelaide United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Riley Dalziell 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pršo 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.
Nobody at Auckland 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
1 for Fin Conchie, marked 7.69, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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 Auckland FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizan have kept their man, and Auckland FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Riley Dalziell 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fin Conchie. 1‑0 against Perth Glory, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pršo 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.
Newcastle Jets have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Macarthur FC will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Auckland FC were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
A brace, and Lachlan Brook takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lachlan Brook provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pršo 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ethan Kennedy on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
Dean Bosnjak is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.