Marked for Jack Patterson
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Melbourne Victory people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad12 Jul 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oliver Dragićević
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Melbourne Victory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2032
Jacob Farrell 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 Melbourne Victory can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2032
The bid was some way short and Melbourne Victory did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jul 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne Victory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Everything agreed with Brisbane Roar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Jed Drew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Melbourne Victory 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jack Patterson and Melbourne Victory agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match13 Mar 2032
Perth Glory will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Melbourne Victory were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match13 Mar 2032
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market15 Mar 2032
Luke Supyk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne Victory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Noah Botic 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
A season average of 7.36 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
Jed Drew was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
Noah Botic 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 ratings15 Mar 2032
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Melbourne Victory is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market14 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 targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VfL Wolfsburg have kept their man, and Melbourne Victory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Ethan Bristow 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jack Patterson and Melbourne Victory agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market14 Jul 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Melbourne Victory, another week without a signature from Augustus Kargbo.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
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.