143 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brisbane Roar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jordan Lauton 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jarrod Lawrence and Brisbane Roar agree another 3 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brisbane Roar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Brisbane Roar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
BoardroomThe Brisbane Roar production line keeps running
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Brisbane Roar 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Callum Riley is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Noah Kelly 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. Brandon Green 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. Marcus Fletcher 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.
Brisbane Roar have gone to Adelaide United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Jordan Lauton 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 offer went to Sydney FC this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Brisbane Roar asked and Auckland 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brisbane Roar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Auckland FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Brisbane Roar is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Melbourne City wanted more than $280.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Callum Smith 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.
A loan enquiry to Melbourne Victory: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Marc Tokich's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Adelaide United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Brisbane Roar is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Auckland FC have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Melbourne Victory 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.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The mood at Brisbane Roar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Brisbane Roar can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Adelaide United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brisbane Roar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Melbourne Victory have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Callum Smith 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.
Western Sydney Wanderers 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.
In brief
The dugoutJake Mitchell knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutChris Lee has become a man the manager trusts
BoardroomThe Brisbane Roar production line keeps running
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Brisbane Roar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Jordan Lauton 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 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Callum Smith 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.
Melbourne Victory 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.
Brisbane Roar have made the call to Central Coast Mariners. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Frankowski has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Brisbane Roar have made the call to Melbourne Victory. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Marc Tokich is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brisbane Roar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 12 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oscar Harrison trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Jordan Lauton 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Position 12 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Frankowski has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Callum Smith was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jordan Lauton was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Something was said to Bill Reid and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Brisbane Roar is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brisbane Roar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brisbane Roar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brisbane Roar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Brisbane Roar 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Jordan Lauton 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 dugout19 Apr 2032
Kai Watson 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Jake Mitchell has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutOliver Hunter asks for a word with the manager
Jordan Lauton 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Callum Smith 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Brisbane Roar, another week without a signature from Liberato Rufer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gavin Butler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1‑4 against Central Coast Mariners, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Jordan Lauton and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Callum Smith 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Oscar Harrison will call it something else in private.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brisbane Roar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robert Frankowski was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Brisbane Roar dressing room was either.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Brisbane Roar told Tyler Roberts something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Auckland FC defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Kai Watson 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.
Melbourne City next, and one man in the Brisbane Roar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
Player ratingsJake Mitchell beats them one at a time
27 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.
Position 12 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Jordan Lauton 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Brisbane Roar 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“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 dugout9 Feb 2032
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.” Robert Frankowski chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Brisbane Roar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Brisbane Roar is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Steven Hall will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brisbane Roar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jordan Lauton 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Brisbane Roar people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$190.0K was the most the club would pay and Melbourne Victory were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Brisbane Roar will try again when the window opens; Melbourne City may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Politidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brisbane Roar have made the call to Wellington Phoenix. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Chris Lee is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAlex Parker loses the manager who believed in him
“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.
$190.0K on the table at Melbourne Victory. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Politidis 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.
Brisbane Roar 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.
Add another name to the list: Sydney FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alex Robinson. The answer from Brisbane Roar has not changed — yet.
Western Sydney Wanderers 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 Alex Robinson is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jake Mitchell trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brisbane Roar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Politidis 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brisbane Roar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jordan Lauton 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Politidis 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 Alex Robinson is on it.