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.
Jake Hollman 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 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.
Adelaide United held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Newcastle Jets answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Position 10 and 6 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.
Jake Hollman 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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is James Delianov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Newcastle Jets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Macarthur FC were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Wood and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jake Hollman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jake Hollman. 2‑1 against Macarthur FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Grant Holmes was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Newcastle Jets dressing room was either.
The mood at Newcastle Jets 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jake Hollman and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years.
Jake Hollman 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Phillip Čančar.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ojo Johnson 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Brisbane Roar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
14 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.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grant Holmes after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Tate Lee 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Newcastle Jets can tell you which week it ends in.
Jake Hollman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Jariyah Shah is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Newcastle Jets will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Alex Grant.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 6.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Newcastle Jets can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
SquadOjo Johnson falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
11 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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jake Hollman 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Jake Hollman 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 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Newcastle Jets has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Grant Holmes has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Thomas Aquilina was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ojo Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Newcastle Jets will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Thomas Aquilina's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The mood at Newcastle Jets 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Newcastle Jets is running low.
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.
Tate Lee 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.
Jake Hollman 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Ojo Johnson 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 10 and 22 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tommy Singh has, at Newcastle Jets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nduduzo Mhlongo and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Newcastle Jets can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Newcastle Jets close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and Sturm Graz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jake Hollman 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. St. Pölten have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Stefan Webb again, and this time the name on the line is Team Wellington. Newcastle Jets are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Jake Hollman 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and Preußen Münster said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to St. Pölten. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Blackburn Rovers 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Newcastle Jets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Blackburn Rovers is saying, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is enjoying the guessing.
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. Melbourne City have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to Sturm Graz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Lamin Sillah is in the works
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Newcastle Jets have done the hard part with Blackburn Rovers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Newcastle Jets asked and West Ham 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Thomas Aquilina is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Newcastle Jets is running low.
Newcastle Jets have gone to Wellington Phoenix 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar 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. Doncaster Rovers have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Nassiep will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jake Hollman 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Newcastle Jets asked and Sturm Graz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
A loan enquiry to Free State Stars: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets 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.
Newcastle Jets asked and Melbourne City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sydney FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Hull City 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
Jake Hollman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and Stevenage said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Alex Nassiep again, and this time the name on the line is Sydney FC. Newcastle Jets are listening politely and promising nothing.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sturm Graz is saying, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is enjoying the guessing.
Jake Hollman 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 Phillip Čančar 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. Southampton have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Manchester United 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 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 Newcastle Jets will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 10 and 22 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stoke City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets 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 Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Sydney FC, the club has $630.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alex Nassiep 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Joel Anasmo is in the works
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Grant Holmes 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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Newcastle Jets is running low.
Jake Hollman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody at Newcastle Jets saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Jake Hollman 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.
This is not rotation. Sboniso Xulu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Phillip Čančar has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The mood at Newcastle Jets 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Newcastle Jets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikos Vergos and Newcastle Jets 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 Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Clayton Taylor 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 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.
Position 10 and 22 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody at Newcastle Jets saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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 Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
Jake Hollman 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.
This is not rotation. Sboniso Xulu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Clayton Taylor 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Joe Shaughnessy.
Jake Hollman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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 Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Alex Grant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Jake Hollman 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Sboniso Xulu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Grant Holmes to a room that had heard them before.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Jake Hollman will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Newcastle Jets escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Zane Schreiber commits to Newcastle Jets for another 4 years.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.70, and 2 involvements.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Alex Nassiep 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Clayton Taylor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Newcastle Jets told Nikos Vergos something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 0‑1 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jake Hollman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Macarthur FC held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Newcastle Jets answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Newcastle Jets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birmingham have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
That is the business done at Newcastle Jets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Avispa Fukuoka 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zach Clough and Newcastle Jets agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Newcastle Jets asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Newcastle Jets ran out of time with Sydney FC. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Newcastle Jets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jake Hollman 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Newcastle Jets asked and Norwich City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Something was said to Phillip Čančar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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 0‑1 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to Avispa Fukuoka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Joseph Opoku is in the works
The dugoutClayton Taylor has become a man the manager trusts
Looking aheadNewcastle Jets take on the side everybody is chasing
1 for Jariyah Shah, marked 7.41, 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.
Everything agreed with Exeter City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor 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. Monaco have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Zane Schreiber has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kieran Craig and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Zane Schreiber was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at Newcastle Jets is enjoying the guessing.
Clayton Taylor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joe Lolley. 2‑1 against Melbourne City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The name of Stefan Webb has come up in conversations Newcastle Jets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from Anagennisi Karditsa for Nikos Vergos 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Jake Hollman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Norwich City have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Ba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alex Nassiep. The answer from Newcastle Jets has not changed — yet.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 6.96 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Clayton Taylor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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 Newcastle Jets has been clear about where Zach Clough stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grant Holmes after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Newcastle Jets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Joe Lolley
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Grant Holmes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Western Sydney Wanderers the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Newcastle Jets will enjoy reviewing.
Clayton Taylor 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Clayton Taylor was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Grant Holmes after the 3‑3 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Alex Grant.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jariyah Shah is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
0‑1 against Central Coast Mariners, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.39, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Alex Nassiep and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
6 new faces, and Newcastle Jets 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.
Clayton Taylor 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.
At 19 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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Nassiep has his answer from Newcastle Jets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brisbane Roar next, and one man in the Newcastle Jets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Phillip Čančar has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Nassiep trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Next up on the road: Brisbane Roar, position 7. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
0‑4 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.
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.
Clayton Taylor 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 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Grant Holmes to a room that had heard them before.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Zach Clough 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Zane Schreiber has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Zach Clough 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 1‑2 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad30 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Newcastle Jets 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.
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.
Clayton Taylor 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.
Boardroom23 Oct 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Newcastle Jets
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aaron Russell 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tom Mitchell 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. Reece Kennedy 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.
A muscle injury sidelines Nikos Vergos for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Newcastle Jets will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Alex Nassiep 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.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Newcastle Jets have no good answer.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Zach Clough has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zane Schreiber 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 dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Sboniso Xulu
113Edition
The Newcastle Jets Gazette
25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor 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.
Ronaldo Barrett 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.
“I watch every Newcastle Jets game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Newcastle Jets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Clayton Taylor 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Naby Katty Sylla and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zach Clough 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.
Macarthur FC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Caleb Redhead has pre-agreed a move to Newcastle Jets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zane Schreiber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Newcastle Jets were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Naby Katty Sylla and Newcastle Jets agree another 4 years.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Newcastle Jets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joe Shaughnessy and Newcastle Jets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor 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. Blackpool have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 19, and nobody at Newcastle Jets signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
The dugoutLachlan Rose knocks on the manager’s door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Newcastle Jets asked and Anderlecht 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Newcastle Jets, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Newcastle Jets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Something was said to Mamadou Sidibé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
34 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Clayton Taylor 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. Swansea City have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 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 Ronaldo Barrett has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$150.0K on the table at Central Coast Mariners. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clayton Taylor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Newcastle Jets asked and Roda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lindokuhle Mthimkulu 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 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 Newcastle Jets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
20 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sydney FC have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zane Schreiber and Newcastle Jets agree another 3 years.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to Preston. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Cardiff City 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Cardiff City 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.
Clayton Taylor 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Milton Keynes Dons have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets 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 Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Newcastle Jets, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Newcastle Jets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 5 on 34 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The clubs have shaken hands with Central Coast Mariners; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets 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. Manchester United have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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 Clayton Taylor is on it.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Manchester United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Newcastle Jets offered $190.0K; Central Coast Mariners said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and Portsmouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lachlan Rose trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer went to Central Coast Mariners 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and Sheffield Wednesday said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sboniso Xulu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 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 Luke Badley-Morgan has written the date down.
20 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
The offer from Wellington Phoenix for Max Burgess 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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Clayton Taylor 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 name of Luke Badley-Morgan has come up in conversations Newcastle Jets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Bertolissio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets have made the call to Portsmouth. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Sheffield Wednesday: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Rennais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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 Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Newcastle Jets asked and Portsmouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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.
Stade Rennais 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The deal with Portsmouth 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Aquilina and Newcastle Jets agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Bertolissio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newcastle Jets 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Newcastle Jets
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Newcastle Jets will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Newcastle Jets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 games, 8 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Newcastle Jets now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lachlan Rose has his answer from Newcastle Jets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Bertolissio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Wood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Newcastle Jets 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
Joel Bertolissio 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.
8 goals in 22 games at Adelaide United — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Newcastle Jets updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Phillip Čančar has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Phillip Čančar 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Newcastle Jets, another week without a signature from Joe Shaughnessy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ojo Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
34 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Newcastle Jets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Nassiep will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Phillip Čančar 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 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jake Hollman 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Newcastle Jets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jake Hollman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Nikos Vergos’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 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.
Jake Hollman 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 words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Jake Hollman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Bertolissio 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 Newcastle Jets will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
34 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Position 5 on 34 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Newcastle Jets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Burgess. 3‑1 against Auckland FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Barrett will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Joel Bertolissio 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ojo Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Vergos signs something — a contract at Newcastle Jets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Nhlanhla Gasa is on 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.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
17 combined actions and 6.95. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle Jets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Bertolissio 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; Marc Tokich will call it something else in private.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joe Shaughnessy, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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 1‑2 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Patrick Wood
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Newcastle Jets can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Nassiep will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zach Clough and Newcastle Jets agree another 2 years.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Newcastle Jets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.93, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Jake Hollman 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Bertolissio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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.
Jake Hollman 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 Grant Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
7 goals in 17 games at Adelaide United — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Newcastle Jets updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Western Sydney Wanderers next, and one man in the Newcastle Jets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
A 2‑0 win over Brisbane Roar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Alex Nassiep 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
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.” Grant Holmes, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Newcastle Jets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Perth Glory waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Newcastle Jets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Newcastle Jets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Nassiep will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Newcastle Jets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Newcastle Jets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Newcastle Jets asked and Watford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jake Hollman 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Newcastle Jets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phillip Čančar 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Wood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutBrandon Comley dropped after a run of poor form
Zach Clough 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.
Newcastle Jets asked and Western Sydney Wanderers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phillip Čančar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Brandon Powell was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
“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.