The Melbourne City Gazette
Market28 Feb 2033
Nathan Clark has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market28 Feb 2033
Melbourne City may not be able to give Joshua Rawlins what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Joshua Rawlins wants continental football; whether Melbourne City can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Words exchanged at Melbourne City
Sipho Ngqakabana 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.
Squad28 Feb 2033
A row about effort at Melbourne City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tumi Bowes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Feb 2033
Joshua Rawlins was the difference for Melbourne City
Marked 7.32. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Eli Shaw signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eli Shaw and Melbourne City agree another 4 years.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
Sipho Ngqakabana left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Sipho Ngqakabana will call it something else in private.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
When it matters, Justin Vidic plays
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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2033
Enoch Dzeble was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
In brief
- The dugout Half-satisfied: Tyler Holmes on the draw
- Squad Lamine Diaby Fadiga named player of the week
- Match Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar cancel each other out