8 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Brisbane Roar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Skhanyiso Ncwane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brisbane Roar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ethan Cox and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlee Francois 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Brisbane Roar
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Joel King 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.
Sebit Ngor 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jackson Robinson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sebit Ngor 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.
SquadThe training reports on Mason Ryan are not good
63Edition
The Brisbane Roar Chronicle
11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces11 Oct 2027
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.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Matlahatsi Mampane and Brisbane Roar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dean Bouzanis's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandile Ndlovu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Brisbane Roar can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Skhanyiso Ncwane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brisbane Roar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sebit Ngor is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Ethan Cox 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Brisbane Roar that is a harder question to answer.
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.
Ethan Cox 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Skhanyiso Ncwane is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Oliver Middleton is living that version at Brisbane Roar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Brisbane Roar 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebit Ngor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marlee Francois has, at Brisbane Roar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Skhanyiso Ncwane has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandley Kuwas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brisbane Roar asked and Wellington Phoenix said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brisbane Roar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Dean Bouzanis 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.
“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’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jack Knight has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Skhanyiso Ncwane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brisbane Roar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
“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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Brisbane Roar will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Sebit Ngor 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Brisbane Roar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sydney FC have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hosine Bility was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Sebit Ngor 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Joel King 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Justin Vidic has gone, the accounts have $920.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Western Sydney Wanderers paid $920.0K and Brisbane Roar took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Brisbane Roar will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutNoah Maieroni knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutEmin Duraković has become a man the manager trusts
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brisbane Roar know it.
Brisbane Roar asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Valkanis 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.
In brief
The dugoutJoel King asks for a word with the manager
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Brisbane Roar can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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.
Ethan Cox 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 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.
Position 11 and 21 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.
“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 offer from Melbourne Victory for Justin Vidic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$760.0K on the table at Perth Glory. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Istra 1961 is saying, and nobody at Brisbane Roar is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Joel King 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 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Brisbane Roar have done the hard part with Istra 1961, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Melbourne City pay $200.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
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 words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dimitris Valkanis and Brisbane Roar agree another 5 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dimitris Valkanis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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 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.
“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 chase for Fin Conchie ended with $390.0K changing hands and Wellington Phoenix out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Sebit Ngor 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Brisbane Roar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Joel King 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Brisbane Roar
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“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 clubs have shaken hands with Wellington Phoenix; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
This is not rotation. Jay O'Shea has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Brisbane Roar is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandley Kuwas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Blau-Weiß Linz have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
41 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandley Kuwas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLawrence Wong asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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 offer from Macarthur FC for Emin Duraković was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 22 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Joel King 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 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.
A loan enquiry to Blau-Weiß Linz: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jack Knight has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City have settled on $370.0K. 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brandley Kuwas and Brisbane Roar agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Brisbane Roar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
At 21 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sydney FC have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Macarthur FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emin Duraković. The answer from Brisbane Roar has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sebit Ngor 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matlahatsi Mampane and Brisbane Roar agree another 3 years.
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.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 May 2027
Joel King 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 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 dugout24 May 2027
Dean Bouzanis 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Sebit Ngor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Valkanis 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Brisbane Roar has been clear about where Siyabonga Hlengwa stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
Sebit Ngor 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.
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 Emin Duraković is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jack Knight has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Justin Vidic and Brisbane Roar agree another 4 years.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brisbane Roar know it.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
99 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.
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Valkanis 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.
In brief
The dugoutDean Bouzanis is still being punished for one mistake
107 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Brisbane Roar will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lawrence Wong trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on George Plusnin are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Noah Maieroni
115 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sebit Ngor 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
122 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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 21 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Brisbane Roar
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
129 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 terraces29 Mar 2027
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Brisbane Roar now.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebit Ngor, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Dean Bouzanis 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Perth Glory in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑3 to Melbourne Victory, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
At 22 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.
At 34, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel King was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 20 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Valkanis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
0‑3 against Wellington Phoenix, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sandile Ndlovu has, at Brisbane Roar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel King 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.
Noah Maieroni 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brisbane Roar know it.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jack Knight left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Dean Bouzanis's mistake
1‑4 against Auckland FC, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Valkanis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Dimitris Valkanis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Poni Reatile is living that version at Brisbane Roar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Sebit Ngor 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.
He is 22 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.
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Valkanis 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Poni Reatile is 20, and Brisbane Roar have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristian Derbyshire has, at Brisbane Roar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Sebit Ngor 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Add another name to the list: Ba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lawrence Wong. The answer from Brisbane Roar has not changed — yet.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Brisbane Roar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A 1‑0 win over Adelaide United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Valkanis 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 easiest signature of my career.” Sphelele Shandu and Brisbane Roar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Out, 1‑3 to Adelaide United, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
11th and falling: the mood at Brisbane Roar has gone
14 points and a position everybody in the ground can do the arithmetic on. The songs have stopped being about the team and started being about surviving, which is a different noise entirely.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Emin Duraković, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jack Knight on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
4 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Brisbane Roar and Macarthur FC in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 6.96 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Everything agreed with Macarthur FC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Brisbane Roar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 34, 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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Dean Bouzanis knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jack Knight to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Dean Bouzanis 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Melbourne Victory 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.
1 for Austin Ludwik, marked 7.76, 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Jack Knight could afford to be generous.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sebit Ngor’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brisbane Roar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Brisbane Roar have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Dimitris Valkanis 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.
“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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Wellington Phoenix 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebit Ngor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jack Knight could afford to be generous.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“33 caps was 33 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 34 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Brisbane Roar.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brisbane Roar know it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jay O'Shea. 1‑0 against Newcastle Jets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jack Knight, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 7.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
4 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jack Knight after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Newcastle Jets in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Sebit Ngor 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rio Nitta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Joel King’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brisbane Roar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
They sit in position 4 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brandley Kuwas and Brisbane Roar agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brisbane Roar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.07 on the card, and the Brisbane Roar support went home talking about one name.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Jack Knight chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dimitris Valkanis is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Milorad Stajić scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Dimitris Valkanis 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dean Bouzanis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brisbane Roar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutJordan Lauton asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Brisbane Roar the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brisbane Roar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Brisbane Roar are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Brisbane Roar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Sebit Ngor 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 shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Jay O'Shea
SquadJay O'Shea is training like a man with a point to make
Youstin Salas 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.
Brisbane Roar asked and Sanfrecce Hiroshima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Rio Nitta arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Brisbane Roar are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Brisbane Roar than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
The dugoutJordan Lauton knocks on the manager's door
MarketThe window shut and Austin Ludwik is still in the building
“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.
Brisbane Roar asked and Valur said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brisbane Roar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Yokohama F. Marinos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Yokohama F. Marinos 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brisbane Roar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Rio Nitta arrives from Yokohama F. Marinos with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
The offer from Auckland FC for Milorad Stajić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal with Yokohama F. Marinos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ben Warland has agreed terms with Sydney FC for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Brisbane Roar would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Perth Glory waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Brisbane Roar is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Sebit Ngor 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.
Brisbane Roar asked and Ferencvaros 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. Riley Stewart is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Toby Stewart is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Callum Moore is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Brisbane Roar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Brisbane Roar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Brisbane Roar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jay O'Shea 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.