Category Archives: Creative & Opinion

As we edge closer to the 2024/25 A-League Men’s season, it’s safe to say that the mood around Melbourne City feels a little more tempered than in years past. With the squad undergoing significant turnover yet again, it’s difficult to know what to expect. Nevertheless, the Talking City crew is here once again to naively offer our baseless predictions, knowing that football can always surprise, and hoping that we’re right in the end.

We’ll be sticking to our tried-and-tested categories:

• Player of the Season (POTS)
• Young Player of the Season (YPOTS): For players 21 and under.
• Breakout Player: The one set to step up this season.
• One bold prediction for the season

So, despite the tempered expectations, here are our best guesses for what lies ahead in the new A-League Men’s season:

Regan

POTS – Marco Tilio. If he can stay fit, he can be one of the best players in the league. Putting him down to have a massive season, proving exactly why it was the right move for him to come back to City.

YPOTS – Arion Sulemani. This is a player who should have made his A-League debut some time ago now but was halted by injury. With Max Caputo being out for some time, I can see Sulemani being relied on for some late firepower.

Breakout player – Kai Trewin. I reckon he’ll be a rock for us this season and possibly catapult himself into a deal overseas.

Bold prediction – Our youth and vigour will take us all the way to the grand final. If we win it, I’m not so sure. It’s a strange one this season as we don’t have much expectation for success, but maybe that will do us good. I feel we have quality players who will be able to push us all the way to another Grand Final in May.

Josh Gribling

POTS: Marco Tilio

YPOTS: Arion Sulemani. Versatile and well-placed to capitalise on injured/injury-prone forwards.

Breakout player: Sulemani.

Bold prediction: Multiple youngsters who’d not even made their senior debut before this season will be a lock in the starting XI by the end of the campaign.

Jessee

POTS: Yonatan Cohen will score 10 + goals and 5 assists winning the Scott Jamieson Medal.

YPOTS: Arion Sulemani who has dominated in our NPL squad will have his breakout season for the club with regular game time.

Breakout player: Kai Trewin will be in the A-League Team of the Season and in Socceroos contention by end of the season.

Bold Prediction: This will be our lowest average crowd attendance for a season in the City era.

Matty B

POTS: Nathaniel Atkinson to end up finding his way further up the field and contributing some decent numbers

YPOTS: Nieuwenhuizen. I’m predicting a Young injury.

Breakout player: Kai Trewin to solidify a place as one of the leagues best CBs.

Bold Prediction: Vidmar to outlast Kisnorbo

Tom O

POTY: Nabbout, back the man in for a big return

YPOY: Nieuwenhuizen, same reason as Matty

Breakout: Zane Schreiber to earn his place in the starting midfield

Bold prediction: City to miss finals and battle for the spoon. Bonus prediction: Kisnorbo gone from the Vuck by New Year’s.

Tom S

POTS: Aziz Behich, will be the most consistent player in the side and will thrive with the captains armband.

YPOY: Ben Mazzeo, showed a lot of promise before his injury and will get lots of game time with an injury prone attack.

Breakout: Kai Trewin, although very well regarded in the league, moving to City will put more eyes on him and potentially lineup a European move.

Bold Prediction: We win the Premier’s Plate.

Jimmy

POTS: Andrew Nabbout. Had a pretty rough year through injury last year but don’t think there’s been a more important season for him being one of the most senior players. Should bang in quite a few goals and assists.

YPOTS: Max Caputo. Feel like it’s gonna be a season for the forwards, some big shoes to fill this season and his development has been more than impressive in the lead up to JMac’s departure. Very very intrigued to see the link up with Andy and Lecks who will finally have some height in the box to cross to.

Breakout: Ben Mazzeo. A close second in the YPOTS for me, should get some big minutes along side some big names. Really hoping Akka takes him under his wing on return and shows him the way of a City youngster.

Bold Prediction: We finish 3rd and make a Semi.

Declan

POTS: Nate Atkinson. Coming back with a point to prove with getting back into the national team and potentially another crack at Europe.

YPOTS: Zane Schreiber. Scored in the Aus Cup and has been a feature in most preseason minutes so far. With the loss of Lopane with injury I think he’ll be given the opportunity to be the attacking outlet off the bench.

Breakout: German Ferreyra: Think will bring back some much needed mongrel to this side and fast become a fan favourite. With early murmurs of comparisons to Bart Schenkeveld from inside City’s walls, I’ll think he’ll be one to keep an eye on for sure.

Bold prediction: Atkinson to get 10+ goal contributions.

Mikey

POTS: Jamie Young. Somebody has to take up the mantle of being called Jamie and being player of the season. I expect Jamie to save us points and be the difference in several games we’d otherwise lose.

YPOTS: Caputo, hard not to be him if he stays injury free from now — trust has been placed in him in the preseason and I expect to see more of him this season.

Breakout: Trewin, hate to be boring but agree wholeheartedly with Tom S, Jessee and Matty. I can see this season cementing Kai at City and potentially launching him beyond City in a Metcalfe/O’Neill rise in stock.

Bold Prediction: We miss Finals for the first time as City but we don’t lose a Derby.

Rene

POTS: Tilio – A full pre season under his belt will help him hit the ground running this season and hopefully relieve him of his injury issues he experienced since he’s been back.

YPOTS: Beach. Because f*ck it, why not.

Breakout: The big Argentinian German. He’s already had a breakout of tattoos so hopefully he can add a breakout season to go with it. Looks like an absolute mongrel, something we have lacked probably since Jamo retired. As long as he stays on the park longer than our first Argentine did, we should have a gem, as well as the tattoo.

Bold prediction- (Editor’s Note: Rene’s bold prediction has been hijacked by higher powers, because he originally tipped Talbot to have a great season and be his YPOTS which is a) Bold as F*CK, and b) Ineligible because Talbot is 23): I’m going to go with a bloke who has been getting a lot of stick of late and that’s Callum Talbot. Think he is under a fair bit of pressure to perform at a higher level after last season and can see Callum stepping up to the task.

Overall

Category winner is followed by nearest contender:

POTS: Marco Tilio; 3 votes (Atkinson, Nabbout; 2 votes)

YPOTS: Arion Sulemani; 3 votes (Nieuwenhuizen, Caputo; 2 votes)

Breakout: Kai Trewin; 5 votes (German Ferreyra; 2 votes)

Last week, Melbourne City released the new kits for the upcoming 24/25 season.

Much has been said regarding how City will go this season, and whilst our performances may not be so easy on the eye, our threads certainly will be.

For me, it’s probably the best all-around set of kits we’ve ever had, and has inspired me to reminisce on what matters most in football, which is of course the fashion.

Five years after this article concept was first used by Talking City (in what was our fourth-ever article, then written by Josh Gribling – follow the link to revisit our top five from 2019), I’ll again be ranking my personal top five all-time football shirts in City’s wardrobe.

Fortunately for us, we’ve had some belters:

#5: 22/23 Home

The blue isn’t something I feel City has always gotten right when it comes to the kits. They have the potential to be great, and it’s not that anything about the blue shirts are particularly bad, but there has always been something for me that’s stopped it from being a great shirt, instead of just an okay one.

That is except for the 22/23 seasons shirt.

In many ways, the upcoming season’s home kit does almost as much right as the 22/23 one does, but the latter just edges it for me. When it comes to the City Blue, the beauty lies in simplicity, and that’s what this shirt does. The light blue is paired perfectly with the white sleeve trim, and it is complimented by a faint zig-zag pattern flowing vertically down the shirt, instead of being overpowered by it. The Maccas logo did threaten to potentially lower the shirts overall look but is rescued ever so slightly by the red in our logo.

What elevates this shirt is the fit. Design specifically went into making the sleeves fitted to the arm whilst the body remained a little looser, resulting in everything looking super crisp and polished. It also wasn’t too shabby for fans in the stands either. A kit that accommodates for a season’s worth of AAMI Park chicken and chips deserves a place on this list and sits respectfully in the number 5 spot.

#4: 24-25 Away

I stated that for home kits there is beauty in simplicity, for away kits however, there is licence to be brave. This shirt is brave, and that bravery is delicious. There is a lot going on here, but somehow it all works. The main feature of this shirt is the hot pink theme. Whenever you throw a hot pink colourway on a shirt there is potential to get a lot of people offside, but it works so well here due to the black canvas the pink sits on. Most of this shirt is black, which allows the pink to pop, which again like the number five spot, compliments the overall image instead of overpowering it. A subtle geometric pattern acts as the ribbon on top of the present and ties everything together swimmingly.

City has been brave with away kits in the past and it hasn’t always paid off, but this one is on the money.

 #3: 13/14 Away                         

Winding back the clock more than 10 years to the last ever away kit worn in the Heart era. The sash holds a special place in the hearts of long-time followers of the club, and this kit design has been inspiration for multiple modern day City kits that look to pay homage to the Heart era.

All Heart aways kits are fantastic, but what sets this sash apart from the rest in my opinion is how it splits to accommodate the sponsor. Sponsors can often ruin a shirt, but if allowed to be worked into the kit design, as this one has been, it looks great.

All prior iterations of the design saw the sash stay solid across the front of the shirt, and the Westpac sponsor getting lost in the middle of it. Here, the full Westpac sponsor was replaced with the ‘W’ logo, with the sponsors colour matching the sash precisely. To this day it is one of the most fondly remembered kits our club has ever put out, and I am envious of anyone who manages to own one, as I sadly do not.    

#2: 14/15 Away                

Sticking with the red and white, the number two spot goes to the first ever away kit worn by City following the rebrand. The rebrand was an exciting time, moving to Nike who at the time pretty much ruled the world when it came to footy kits. I was a bit let down when that resulted in our home shirt being a carbon copy of the previous seasons Manchester City kit, but the away kit by no means suffered the same disappointing fate.

In what has become heritage for our club, the away kit was used as an opportunity to pay respect to Heart with the red and white theme. Heart in its 2nd-4th seasons usually went for fewer stripes on the front of the shirt, whereas this fell more in line with the inaugural Heart home kit displaying a larger number of smaller stripes, as opposed to fewer but bolder ones.

It also was the first in club history that saw the red and white paired with white shorts. The thing that springs to mind when I look at this is flow. The number of red stripes flow perfectly with the white, the break in the strips allows the sponsor to flow seamlessly into the design, the white shorts flow perfectly with red socks, etc.

This kit not only looked great, but it also set up what personally has become one of my favourite parts of following City each year, which is waiting to see what they have done with the red and white.

It pioneered something that is so uniquely us, and looked damn good in doing so, for that its earned the number two spot.

#1: 24/25 Third                             

In my opinion, the greatest City kit of all time is our upcoming season’s third shirt. Can you tell I like the red and white?

I think Puma have absolutely done a madness with this one. Everything about this kit is perfect. Like I said, due to my personal connection with the club, the red and white is something I always look forward to, but I also love in recent memory how City has been putting its own spin on Heart classics. This is exactly that. This time the kit pays homage to the one-off kit worn by Heart in 11/12 but does everything better.

The kit lays on an all-black canvas much like our away shirt counterpart this season, but here the beauty is in the detail. Some critique has been pointed towards the pattern in the sashes, but for me it almost looks like the roof design of AAMI Park which I love. The alternating red and white trim on each sleeve cuff is just so good, too. I love everything about this shirt. It’s got a modern edge whilst maintaining that heritage factor and is something completely fresh to City’s wardrobe history. For me, it doesn’t get much better.

An honourable mention goes to last season’s ACL kits, which are very unlucky not to get a spot on this list. The only thing keeping the black ACL shirt off this list is that we never actually played in it, so if someone has that, you may be in possession of the rarest City memorabilia possible.  

Let me know your personal favourites and why, especially if they’re different to mine. Like I said, I feel special stories can be told through kits, so I’d love to hear why your favourites are your favourites, and as always, come on City!                 

Melbourne City fans may feel apprehensive heading into the 2024/25 A-Leagues seasons, with the overriding mood around the club being disappointment around the various narratives that have dominated the Men’s football department over the past 12 months.

However, it’s important not to conflate the current disconnect of many fans to the Men’s team with the overall health of the club.

Over in the City Women’s team, there are a raft of feel-good factors that should have fans not only optimistic, but deeply emotionally engaged with the campaign ahead.

To give an overall summary, despite the team not presently having a Head Coach attached following the departure of Dario Vidosic to Brighton & Hove Albion in the FAWSL, the City Women’s squad is one stacked with young talent, and that has recently tasted silverware success after seemingly fast-tracking its post-‘City Matildas’ rebuild.

Unlike the City Men’s team, our Women’s squad is one of character, harsh a sleight on Aurelio Vidmar’s squad as that may be.

It contains a bona fide club legend in Rebekah Stott (though that term is a bit delicate around City these days), who will become our first female centenarian by Round 3 in what will be her eighth season at the club, missing just two campaigns out of the club’s entire Women’s footballing existence. This will make her the longest-tenured player in Melbourne City history by seasons played/years served.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

Similarly important to the City identity, Melissa Barbieri seems likely to be involved in some capacity yet again this season. At 44, the goalkeeper and assistant coach is yet to formally announce her retirement, so could form part of a three-person goalkeepers’ union with Malena Mieres and Sophia Varley. Barbieri is a fan-favourite known for her passion and characteristic booming voice, and it seems likely that even beyond her retirement, she will remain around the club as a genuine ‘Melbourne City person’, a rare quantity that City has known very few of in its 15-year history, outside of Thomas Sorensen and, so far, Scott Jamieson.

Again unlike City’s Men’s squad, where it wouldn’t be unfair to claim that there is no ‘core group of players’ – when taking the longer-term contracts and larger squad size compared to Women’s football – the City girls finally have a host of veterans who’ve played several seasons together.

After Stott and Steph Catley, Rhianna Pollicina, Leah Davidson, and Leticia McKenna sit third, fourth, and fifth on City’s all-time appearances leaderboard, each boasting over 50. Holly McNamara and Bryleeh Henry can also be considered longer-tenured, with McNamara joining in 2021/22 but playing hardly as much as she’s deserved due to cruel ACL injuries, and Henry entering her third season at City.

In a full-strength lineup, at least five of the six aforementioned current players would likely feature, which is a strong core to work around.

The City Women are also arguably advanced of the Men’s team in terms of the progress of youth prospects, despite not having a formal Academy system established outside of its City Football Schools and City Select Squad.

Whilst the impending arrival of the next Marco Tilio (a fair comparison for our Women’s side, compared to Bos/Metcalfe given he wasn’t an Academy product but instead was brought over to City young and then given a launch pad to greener pastures) is unclear for Vidmar’s side, this is not the case for the City girls.

It is clear to all who’ve been privileged to witness her rise that Holly McNamara will be City’s next big export, praying that her body doesn’t fail her again. Further back along the talent development conveyor, 16-year-old Shelby McMahon also looks like a future star despite making her City so recently at just 15. It’s difficult to recall a player that young hitting the ground running for City the way she did in the latter half of the season, looking comfortable as a midfield starter and scoring twice, including the Premiership-winner against Perth Glory earlier this year.

Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

On the topic of youth prospects, but slightly overlapping with exciting recruitment, the club’s signings of Alexia Apostalakis (18) and Emilia Murray (19) constitute excellent transfer business. A versatile central defender/midfielder and central midfielder respectively, Apostalakis and Murray have each seen plenty of exposure to senior minutes in the A-League Women, making 42 and 29 appearances respectively, and are generally highly rated by league pundits.

City seems to have played it smart with its foreign signings, too.

Mariana Speckmaier is arguably the pick of the bunch as the only known quantity. The Venezuelan forward spent the 2023/24 season at Wellington Phoenix and dominated the club’s end-of-season awards, having contributed 10 goals and 2 assists for a bottom-half side.

However, there is also reason to be optimistic about the signings of goalkeeper Malena Mieres and Cariel Ellis. Recruiting the former continues City’s recent trend of preferring foreign goalkeepers, after Canadian Lysianne Proulx and Brazillian veteran Barbara. Meanwhile, City has also experienced recent success with recruiting players directly from the American college system, specifically in the form of the now-departed Julia Grosso. Emina Ekic is also an example of a recently successful American attacking signing. Whilst the past paragraph has mainly built a circumstantial case for optimism for Mieres and Ellis, it is more difficult to point to potential negatives than positives for either recruit.

Finally, perhaps the drawcard for casual club fans to follow our City girls more closely, the team will have the opportunity to feature in the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League starting in October.

Australia’s sole representative in the competition, City should have a reasonable chance at progressing deep into the competition, given eight of the 12 total group stage teams will qualify for the quarter-finals.

Whilst there is concern that City has not yet appointed a senior Women’s Head Coach less than two months out from our opening fixture in the ACL, and there is certainly discussion to be had about the legacy Dario Vidosic leaves behind, you may have noticed that this is an article of optimism rather than caution.

When emotional connections to City’s Men’s team have perhaps never been tested more, it is worth remembering the pride with which our Women’s sides have almost always represented the club. For too long, the team’s achievements have fallen into the background, but with the dual tidal waves in Women’s football of rapid professionalisation and the fanaticism of the 2023 Women’s World Cup on home soil, the momentum built by our City girls can’t be ignored.

There is potential abound in this current Women’s squad; let yourself get excited by it.

When we witnessed our City boys get flogged in a Grand Final, it was obvious that our downfall was upon us. I wasn’t expecting it to come so soon.

Yes, we made it into the top six last season, but it was a very disappointing year for all City supporters. This disappointment was only compounded by being knocked out of the finals in embarrassing fashion by our local rivals. It would be expected that City would look to build on the core that was established last season, but this hasn’t happened. From Tolgay Arslan’s blindsiding contract termination (so he can ‘return home’ to… Japan, of course) to losing our club hero Jamie Maclaren, there isn’t much expectation going into next season.

Add to that the loss of Curtis Good, Terry Antonis, and Nuno Reis, and you might wonder if we have any players left. The short answer is ‘of course’. The long answer is a bit more complicated. Let’s dive into it.

Over the past few months following our exit from the A-League Finals, we’ve seen three notable signings: Kai Trewin, Marco Tilio, and Germán Ferreyra. While these players are certainly set to help our cause, the only other reinforcements are youngsters like Harry Shillington, Medin Memeti, Lawrence Wong, Jayden Necovski, and Peter Antoniou (the latter three on scholarship deals).

If you check my post history, you’ll see that I am all for playing the youth… but there still needs to be a sense of leadership on the field. It’s still early to tell if this will be our final squad, with an emphasis on youth, or if more experience will be added to the roster.

With some senior players seemingly not putting in the required effort or passion last season – thinking specifically of that Brisbane away-day – it will be nice to see young lads play for the shirt. What can the lads specifically mentioned above bring to the team? Let’s take a look:

Harry Shillington

The 20-year-old fullback joined the academy in 2016 and has worked his way up through the ranks (a common story lately with our young guns). In his contract announcement interview, Harry spoke about focusing on his attacking prowess, which could see him filling a role similar to Nathaniel Atkinson’s, playing up and down the right side. With Callum Talbot not quite fulfilling that role well and Scott Galloway leaving the club, there could be a starting spot up for grabs for the youngster.

Medin Memeti

At only 15 years of age, Medin made an impact for our NPL side by scoring a hat-trick on debut and has now worked his way towards an A-League professional contract, locking him in with the club until at least 2027. The forward is “an unpredictable player to mark”, which enables him to get into various scoring positions. According to GameDay, Memeti has scored 13 goals in 26 games since making his senior NPL debut in 2023. One to watch for sure.

Lawrence Wong

A midfielder known for bagging goals and highly regarded technical skills, Lawrence is well-suited for a balanced midfield approach this upcoming season. The 16-year-old has signed a three-year scholarship deal and will look to work hard to extend his time with the club.

Jayden Necovski

At 16, I couldn’t even tie my shoelaces. Looking at Jayden’s stature, I don’t think he can either. At a towering 195 cm tall, and with the ability to move the ball (Harry Souttar, anyone?), this kid is a massive prospect. Given our depleted numbers in defence after the departures of Good and Reis, there may come a time when Necovski is called upon this season, and I am very excited about that prospect.

Peter Antoniou

It’s believed that Peter has the potential to be an incredibly important player for the City squad in the coming years. The young all-rounder fullback brings back memories of Scott Jamieson’s shift to the inverted role late in his career. Knowing how crucial that shift was to our success during those years, it’s exciting to see a young player coming up through the ranks and potentially providing a similar contribution. Too often have we seen one-dimensional players exposed on the pitch. Versatility is crucial in the way Melbourne City plays; let’s hope the 17-year-old can push for minutes this upcoming season.

When the news broke of Patrick Kisnorbo joining Melbourne Victory, I, like many, was left with conflicting emotions, too torn to decide between what I was feeling more: anger or sadness.

As some time has passed I’ve been reflecting on the move, trying to make sense of how the person who embodied our club could join our fiercest rival. Whilst I still don’t have the answer to that, all I know is that PK’s legacy at City is as good as dead, and if we are serious about following this club then there is no alternative to that.

Everything PK has achieved in Australian football over the last decade has been thanks to City. Most importantly, his life after football and his transition into coaching is a direct result of the nurture, time, faith, and care our club granted him. This care was provided to PK until the very last moment when he left mid-season to pursue an overseas opportunity, sent off with nothing but the deepest of admiration and well wishes from everyone connected to the club.

To return wounded from France and begin his next coaching tenure with Victory is unforgivable.

There is no doubt there were other opportunities for him even if City didn’t extend an offer, and he would’ve known exactly what it would’ve meant to us if he joined Victory, and for that he deserves what he will now get from us. That’s that.

Yes, we have the trophies, but as a fan do we ever actually see or touch that silverwear? No.

Our biggest treasures from those times are the memories and values we take from those days and being able to cherish them forever, and I think the reason that PK was the final nail in the coffin to those feelings was because he was the heart behind it all.

For so long at City we talked about that word, culture. For us, PK was that. We felt that he knew what our club was, he knew who we were and he put that at the forefront of everything we did, top to bottom, and that resonated throughout the club.

This deal buries that culture and everything that we had been building since 2019 is lost. Off the pitch, that’s how it feels.

Whilst I’m not naïve to the breakneck speed of the footballing world and how quickly things can change especially in this league, I also can’t help but feel let down by the club in some sense, and its failure to protect what is sacred to its fans.

You accept the likes of Jordan Bos, Connor Metcalfe, Nathaniel Atkinson, Aiden O’Neill and so on going overseas; that is a reality of being in this league. But in the last 6 months, we have seen Curtis Good go to Thailand for more money, Jamie Maclaren exit for more money, Aziz Behich be allowed to walk mid-year for money, and then the once-face of our club signs for our biggest rival whilst we re-signed a manager who scraped sixth and then made us watch as we were knocked out of Finals by a 10-man Victory.

It doesn’t feel like our culture has been lost or weathered by the natural ways of the footballing world. It feels like it’s been lost by the negligence of the club.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

I get that people will challenge this and my opinion, and I don’t claim to be right about everything, but all I’ll ask is does anybody right now feel 100% deeply connected and rooted to City? Or do you feel let down, embarrassed, defeated, or unsure? I promise you we are feeling at least one of those things. The reason we feel like that is because the identity we thought we had finally created is gone, that’s the truth.

To go from where we were 18 months ago to our current situation is devastating, and at least some if not most of that blame needs to go to the people controlling the footballing decisions at the club.

I don’t know the ins and outs of everything that has gone on with those specific mentioned deals and I don’t claim to either.

But I have been fortunate enough to talk to some of the powers that be at City on numerous occasions over the last year as part of the fan representative group, and my biggest takeaway from those discussions as well as where we are right now is that City will always do what is best for business. And I get that, football is business, but not just any business.

I beg City to change how they look at business.

Fans aren’t here for profit margins and spreadsheets, and some things in football need to be respected, even if it means it’s not ‘what’s best for business’.

Because if all the fans cared about was winning on the pitch, then AAMI Park would have more than 5000 people in it every week, because following City will always give the fans the best chance at winning in this country. But it doesn’t, and the reason it doesn’t is because winning means nothing if the fan doesn’t feel connected to their club.

We don’t follow a business, we follow a football team, and perhaps what’s best for business is to let football be football.

Because at the moment I’ll continue to hear justifications for every move the board makes, but I’ll also continue to feel embarrassed and let down as things like PK happen.

The most important thing in football is the culture and connection a fan has to their club, and the vitality in protecting that, and that is where City fails 9 times out of 10.

If we are to rebuild what’s been lost, then this is what needs to change, even if it comes at the price of some on-field success.

Because winning means nothing if you have no one there to share it with.

Sent off in his final game for Melbourne City for a foul to prevent our greatest rivals from scoring in the dying minutes of extra time.

It was the self-sacrificial act that encapsulated Curtis Good as a person, clubman, and footballer, but he deserved better.

Now, we reflect on the decorated career that preceded that moment, with fans having long said goodbye to the most-capped City player in club history.

After returning to the club in September 2018, these qualities moulded him into one of the A-League Men’s best central defenders and set the foundations for the most successful era in the Club’s Men’s history. His performances alongside numerous defensive partners throughout this golden period from 2019/20 onwards – Harrison Delbridge, Richard Windbichler, Rostyn Griffiths, Nuno Reis and Thomas Lam – were instrumental in winning an A-League Men’s Championship and three A-League Men’s Premiers Plates. Whilst he arguably peaked in that double-winning 2020/21 season, when he won our Player of the Year award and received a place in the ALM Team of the Season (for what would become the first of three consecutive occasions), he would never drop too far from those high standards, becoming a symbol of consistency.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

On the field, he was special. His characteristic nonchalant composure, vision for long balls, and resolute defense made him a player we could always count on. His familiar cool and dominant performances at centre-back provided a sense of security and pride.

To fans, he was more than just another player in the squad; a Melbourne boy, he was one of our own.

Fittingly for a club legend, his legacy will live on thanks to the club’s decision to rename the Clubman Award to the ‘Curtis Good Award,’ presented to the player who best embodies the City spirit, character, and values.

From his injury-derailed Newcastle United spell, to his lack of Socceroos appearances, to the absence of an ALM Grand Final win, and ultimately, to the 2024 Elimination Final that we had spent so long 1-0 up against 10 men for; Curtis Good deserved more from the playing career he’s put together, but fans were privileged that he chose to spend so much of it here in City blue.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

An ode to a club legend by Rene Falzon.

On Sunday, our Finals run ended in a whimper. Much like our season. It was full of inconsistency, missed opportunities, and frustration.

In the midst of losing what seemed to be a game that only Melbourne City could lose, we also lost not only a club legend, but a champion of Australian football as a whole in Jamie Maclaren.

That last save in the penalty shootout only meant to me that we had all seen the end of his stellar career wearing the City blue and was, for me, the most disappointing part of the night.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

Jamie, alongside Scott Jamieson, was the catalyst for an era that stretched across four seasons. One that saw us win three Premiers’ Plates, one Championship and make four consecutive Grand Final appearances. Some might argue that there could have been much more, but personally, I’m grateful for what this club achieved during that time.

There has been a lot of talk about the great man’s form this season, but that should never overshadow what he has achieved at the club. A club looking for an identity, a winning culture, and most importantly, a player who we could safely say played for the badge.

We got all of that and more from Jamie.

His performances during his time at the club speaks for itself. He scored 115 of his A-League-record 154 goals for Melbourne City, the most scored at one club by any player in the league’s history. Add the four consecutive Golden Boots, a Melbourne City Player of the Year award, and countless records broken, including the five goals in that 7-0 Melbourne Derby that equalled the most scored by a player in one game.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

Jamie has been fantastic on and, more importantly, off the field.

In my eyes, he has been the face of this club for so long and that is down to the effort he has made with our supporters. There are a lot of things that he does off the field that are never mentioned. This is down to the fact that he never did anything just to get a pat on the back. He did it solely for the supporters.

On a personal level, Jamie has been amazing to me, and I couldn’t speak any more highly of him as a person.

From walking my kids out on game day to giving his boots to my daughter just because he saw her crying away to Brisbane, and countless more interactions with him in between. He has treated me more like a friend than a supporter and for that, I’ll be forever grateful.

Photo: Melbourne City FC

My most memorable moment of his doesn’t come from either his five goals in the Derby or his amazing effort to score a late winner against Western United playing practically with one leg in Geelong. For me, it came after a dismal performance in the 4-0 loss against Adelaide in the 2019 FFA Cup Final. I’ve only seen red on two occasions as a supporter of this club. Pure anger that takes control. This was one of those moments and when the players came around at full-time to greet the travelling fans, that anger took over and I had the rant of all rants.

The players didn’t know how to handle it.

All except Macca.

The players had eventually moved on and here he was just listening and taking every bit of what I was dishing out. Once I was done, he looked me in the eyes and simply said: “So f*** off, then”.

I was taken aback. How dare this bloke say something like that to me? I’ve been here from day one and I’ll continue to be here for countless more, and I told him just that.

His next response was: “Exactly”.

He knew what passion looked and, in this case, sounded like. He also knew that passion like that wasn’t just something you can manufacture. It’s either in you or it’s not. This is why I and many other supporters at this club love the man. He always wore his heart on his sleeve. Always showed his love towards the club and its supporters. Most importantly, he always played for this club in the same way I support it. With passion.

Thank you Jamie Maclaren, the man who scores when he wants.

Melbourne City are due to have a bit of a rebuild again next season.

With the club having its worst season since the City Football Group takeover, along with a plethora of players coming off contract and no coach signed for next season, City is due for a massive rebuild next season to get it back to the winning ways fans had come to expect.

City will be looking to make signings of intent in the off-season to remind the rest of the competition why we won three consecutive Premiers plates, and these are the signings that I think will do that.

Short side-note before we begin: Both Josh Nisbet & Kai Trewin have been heavily linked with the club for next season, so I have decided to leave those two out. But personally I would love to see both in City Blue next season.

1. RENO PISCOPO

The first signing I think City should make is a player that fans have been hoping to see at City for quite a few years now.

Reno Piscopo is a 25-year-old winger/attacking midfielder who is currently playing for the Newcastle Jets, but is out of contract at the end of the season.

Piscopo is a technically gifted winger who has excellent close control and the ability to take on defenders 1 on 1, which is a trait that has felt absent from City’s side this season.

The Melbourne-born winger has suffered with injuries in the past, but City’s medical team has a history of getting injury-prone players back to their best and playing consistent football, examples being both Curtis Good & Andrew Nabbout, so I have confidence that Piscopo can come to the club and be able to play consistently.

Piscopo being 25 years old is also a massive bonus as well, with the club likely looking to drop the average age of the team, not to mention having players who can potentially play long-term for the club which is massive if we want to see a return of sustained success again.

2. APOSTOLOS STAMATELOPOULOS

With rumours going around that Jamie Maclaren is set to depart the club at the end of the season, City will certainly be looking to bring in a new striker.

Although I personally feel the club will look to bring in a foreign marquee to replace Maclaren, one option is Newcastle Jets striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos. The 25-year-old has had a breakout season with the Newcastle Jets scoring 15 goals in 22 games. Although he’s a similar sort of striker to Maclaren, with both liking to feed off players around them, Stametolopolous is also fairly comfortable holding up the ball, and with him also being over 6ft tall, he adds an option aerially in the final third as well.

The main issue with Stametolopolous right now is he is still contracted to Newcastle Jets for another season, and with the A-League having no domestic transfer system, the only way the player could sign for the club is by terminating his contract with the Jets or, in pretty dark circumstances, if the Newcastle Jets don’t find an owner and the club goes under, Stametolopolous will become a free agent.

3. MACKLIN FREKE

With Jamie Young being 38 and only signing a one-year deal with the club, City will likely be wanting to bring in a new long-term Goalkeeper. Although the club has both Patrick Beach and James Niewenhuizen as already contracted options, neither of them has made a single senior appearance yet, so it seems unlikely that one of them will be the number one goalkeeper next season so someone more proven will likely be coming in, with my choice being Macklin Freke.

Macklin Freke has had a bit of a breakout season with Brisbane Roar, and this is the first year fans around the league have seen him as a top prospect. The 25-year-old keeper is off contract at the end of the season and would be an excellent option for City if they wanted to bring in a keeper of his style.

Freke is confident with the ball at his feet, which is essential in the way City wants to play and has also proven to be an excellent shot-stopper, who would surely only get better at City.

With Freke still only being 25 there is still a chance City could give him a platform to play a couple of seasons with the club and then head to Europe, which would then give a pathway to one of Patrick Beach or James Niewenhuizen in the near future.

4. ANGEL TORRES

Another signing I think City should make next season is 24-year-old Colombian winger Angel Torres. Torres, who currently plays for Central Coast Mariners is out of contract at the end of the season and could be an excellent option for City next season.

With Leo Natel, Marin Jakolis & Marco Tilio’s loans expiring at the end of the season, City will no doubt be looking to bring in a new winger next season and Torres would be my first pick. Despite a slow start, Torres this season has 13 goals and three assists in 22 A-League Men’s games and would fit the “City style of play” very well. Torres can play on either wing and is a very well-rounded player.

City would be competing with many different clubs around the world for his signature, but if the club can offer him either a Marquee or Designated Player deal, I see no reason why the winger wouldn’t want to join the club. Also with Torres being 24, he could easily play at City for a few seasons and then be sold to another CFG club or any other club in Europe.

5. THÉO PELLENARD

With Matt Vandenberg on X reporting that Curtis Good has signed for a Thai League side, the club will no doubt be looking for a suitable replacement. Although it has been heavily rumoured that Kai Trewin will be joining the club next season, Curtis Good is a very different profile and a much harder player to replace, which is why I have gone with a player who currently plays outside the A-League for the first time in this list.

Théo Pellenard is a 30-year-old French centre-back who currently plays for table-topping Ligue 2 side AJ Auxerre. The former French youth international has excellent ball-playing ability for a centre-back, which will be a must-have essential to whoever comes in to replace Good if he leaves.

Although convincing the player to fly across the world might be tricky, City have had success recruiting from France with the likes of Florin Berengeur, Valon Berisha, Hamza Sakhi, Marin Jakolis & Samuel Souprayen all coming from those leagues, so there definitely seems to be interest playing in Australia from France.

All five of these players would be excellent choices for Michael Petrillo and the scouting team to look at in my opinion, and I feel they would fit the club well as they look to rebuild for next season.

In the wake of a series of record-breaking moves by A-Leagues youngsters, the value of a healthy Academy setup has never been more recognised within Australian football.

The Melbourne City Academy occupies a unique space within the landscape of talent development. Speaking anecdotally at least, it seems to be a lower-volume Academy than some of the traditional talent hotbeds like Adelaide United, Central Coast Mariners, or Sydney FC, who seem to churn out a handful of Academy debutants with each passing campaign. Since City first saw an Academy player break into the first team in 2013, the club has seen 27 youngsters follow this path over the ensuing 11 years (not including 2024) averaging 2.45 debutants per year. This subjectively feels much lower than the aforementioned teams, but I leave it as an opportunity for the fans of those clubs to research these figures themselves.

In terms of the quality of players produced, however, City is up there with the best. In the Graham Arnold era of the Socceroos, City has contributed more Academy products than any team but Sydney FC, whom Arnold is immensely familiar with from his time there. City broke the outbound domestic transfer fee record last year with the sale of Jordan Bos, whilst the club’s sale of Nathaniel Atkinson to Heart of Midlothian for an undisclosed fee would very likely have been in excess of AUD 1 million, along with that of Daniel Arzani to Manchester City in 2018.

With the club’s best young prospects set to compete soon in the Victorian Premier League 1 (the state’s second-tier competition, formerly named NPL 2) which kicks off on February 8, now is a convenient time to review the past 11 years of City’s development of its Academy products within the senior football environment.

As a reminder of the criteria I’ve used in the past to define what constitutes an Academy graduate, the player must have:

1. Joined before turning 18 years old

2. Not transferred in on a senior professional contract

3. Featured for the youth side before the first team

4. Made at least one senior appearance

These criteria don’t constitute a perfect system, and there are exceptions, but on the whole, they form a solid rule to ensure that players deemed ‘academy graduates’ were players that City had a recognisable hand in the development of during their junior footballing years.

The Early Years

Considering all of this, City’s story of Academy player development in senior football begins in January 2013 with Stefan Mauk. The Adelaide-born midfielder signed on a youth scholarship contract in October 2012 and played 10 games of National Youth League football for Melbourne Heart before making his first-team debut against Sydney FC on the 13th of January. Being the only recognisable Academy graduate of the Heart era, Mauk’s 18 minutes from that single appearance comprise the total minutes played by Academy players for 2012/2013.

I promise that figure only goes up from here.

Still the club’s only youth product through the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, Mauk’s 345- and 125-minute tallies drove the Academy minutes played in those seasons, but 2015 at least saw the arrival of the first crop of young talent of the Melbourne City era, with Philip Petreski and Matthew Millar making their debuts in that year’s FFA Cup, and Millar also seeing minutes in 2015/16 of the A-League. Mauk, Millar, Petreski and Ali Eyigun – the first debutant of 2016 – combined for 1015 minutes in that famous campaign under John van’t Schip, though Mauk accounted for 77% of the playing time.

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The Golden Era

The Academy cohort of 2016/17 arguably represents City’s golden micro-generation for talent development thus far, even if it translated to little in the way of senior minutes in that specific campaign (364 total between Eyigun, Arzani and Genreau). The club won the Foxtel Y-League that year with a squad full of recognisable names, including eventual Academy graduates Daniel Arzani and Denis Genreau (2016 debuts), Nathaniel Atkinson and Dylan Pierias (2017), Connor Metcalfe (2018), James Delianov (2019) and Jordon Hall (2022). Players who arrived at City over 18 but who were involved in the Grand Final win included Paulo Retre and Ruon Tongyik.

The return of Stefan Mauk to the club on loan in 2017/18, along with the rise to fame of Arzani and the integrations by senior coach Warren Joyce of Atkinson, Genreau and Metcalfe saw a huge spike in Academy minutes to 4273 that campaign. The end of the season saw Arzani net City its first transfer fee for an Academy product, with Manchester City paying £890,000 for the teenager (per Transfermarkt). 

However, with Mauk returning to the Netherlands and Genreau following him there on a loan spell of his own, Academy minutes were back down heavily to 1830 in 2018/19, carried almost exclusively by Atkinson (75% of the total). New debutants that season included Anthony Lesiotis, Ramy Najjarine, Moudi Najjar, Idrus Abdulahi, and Delianov, who finally broke through following his involvement with that famous 2016/17 Y-League squad.

If 2016/17 represents the planting of the seeds for the golden era of the City Academy, then 2019/20 is the campaign in which they sprouted.

The final debutant of 2019, Stefan Colakovski, and the only Academy player to break into the first team in 2020, Raphael Borges Rodrigues, made their first steps into senior football, whilst Connor Metcalfe and Nathaniel Atkinson enjoyed their breakout seasons. Between all of the aforementioned names and Najjarine, Najjar and Abdulahi, Academy minutes were back up to a healthy total of 3127 in 2019/20.

The first half of 2021 saw the debuts of Kerrin Stokes, Alec Mills, and Max Caputo as they supplemented a City squad bound for its first league silverware in a historic 2020/21 campaign for the club. A defining aspect of City’s league-double win was the reliance on youth products like Metcalfe, Atkinson and Colakovski (who all arguably peaked that season). This trio dominated the Academy minutes that year (86%) but Lesiotis, Borges Rodrigues, and the aforementioned 2021 debutants also featured.

(Photo by Matt McIndoe)

Reaching Maturity and the First Harvest

The period pertaining to the year 2021 and the 2021/22 season represents a pivotal stage in the evolution of the Melbourne City Academy, for multiple reasons.

First of all, it marks the end of City’s first wave of notable Academy products, powered by that golden micro-generation stemming from the 2016/17 Y-League squad. Atkinson secured City an undisclosed fee (his market value at the time was £900,000) in the January transfer window, heading over to Hearts in Scotland, whilst Connor Metcalfe would leave for Germany at the end of his contract after becoming a back-to-back ALM Premier.

However, this new period is when the club also proved that it would continue to develop new talent even beyond that first generation of gems, with the back end of 2021 seeing the debut of Jordan Bos.

With youth development fanned by the depth requirements of an inaugural Asian Champions League campaign, Season 2021/22 saw the most Academy players used in a single campaign (along with the highest total minutes played), with nine individuals seeing game time for City in the league, Australia Cup, or ACL. Bos, Metcalfe and, to a lesser extent, Colakovski, dominated the playing time, with minutes also going to Atkinson, Borges Rodrigues, Stokes, Caputo, Oresti (the final 2021 debutant after Bos), Hall (2022), and Jordi Valadon (2022).

Finally, 2021 (perhaps with its additional opportunities for minutes in the ACL) appears to be a pivotal point for City’s Academy player development in terms of the likelihood that a graduate will reach 10 appearances for the club. Between 2013 and 2020, just eight youth products (of 16) reached that milestone – a 50% hit rate. Of the 11 players that have debuted from 2021 onwards, six will have cracked double-digit appearances when Harry Politidis next takes to the field. Though this represents 55% of that pool – hardly a mind-blowing improvement at first – it’s important to consider that the eight years between 2013 and 2020 provided a lot more opportunity for players to slowly accumulate 10 appearances than the mere three years following. Harrison Shillington and Medin Memeti (2023 debutants) are also still at the club and will hopefully have the chance to reach the milestone when more opportunities are thrown their way, likely in 2024/25.

If you’re underwhelmed/unconvinced by this last point, fair. However, the numbers actually serve my point better when using a 2013-2019 and 2020-2023 comparison, with the percentages of players reaching 10 appearances in those periods being 47% and 58% respectively.

Season 2022/23 saw no new Academy debutants, with the storyline from a youth development perspective essentially being the rise and rise of Jordan Bos, culminating in his £1,300,000 move to KVC Westerlo in Belgium (per Transfermarkt). The full-back played the most minutes by an Academy player in a single campaign (2592; a whopping 95% of total Academy minutes that season), with the remaining crumbs sprinkled between Borges Rodrigues, Caputo, Oresti and Hall.

(Photo by Melbourne City FC)

A New Era

Coming out of a third-consecutive Premiership in 2022/23 and entering Season 2023/24, it didn’t just feel like the end of an era for the senior team; it was also the end of an era for our Academy development, making our rebuild even more difficult.

This campaign, for the first time since 2016/17, City will not see an Academy product play 1000 minutes for the season. This is just a statistical way of saying we don’t have an established graduate, when for the past six years we’ve had Mauk, Arzani, Atkinson, Metcalfe, and Bos reach that mark.

Fans don’t know who the next first-team regular will be, or the next sale on the scale of an Arzani, Atkinson or Bos.

So far, though, the signs are good.

Introducing the class of 2023; Harrison Shillington, Medin Memeti, Harry Politidis and Benjamin Mazzeo. The former two have made just a single appearance each in the Australia Cup, but Politidis and Mazzeo have kicked on impressively, playing 165 and 311 minutes respectively as of City’s 4-2 loss away to Perth Glory in Round 15. Alongside the minutes of Hall (395) and Caputo (329), the new generation is ticking along nicely.

This campaign will likely end with the fewest Academy minutes since 2018/19, maybe 2016/17, but from the perspective of ensuring the most youngsters get the most opportunities (games) possible (currently 43), we’ve already surpassed last season’s tally of 40, and stand a good chance of outdoing ourselves from 2018/19 (46) and 2017/18 (59).

There is another reason that this is a new era for the City Academy too.

In an article on the club website on Sunday, the club confirmed that all of its junior and senior Academy teams would be playing out of the City Football Academy complex at Casey Fields, finalising its move that began in 2021.

Localising has also helped the club capture the best talent from the South East Melbourne region, which City Academy Technical Director Simon Zappia touched on.

“What’s also been pleasing is the number of players based on our doorstep in the Casey region,” Zappia said, “There is so much talent in Melbourne’s South East and we’re starting to see that filter into the Academy.”

In this new era for the City Academy, what might be most notable of all are the hometowns of the next generation of graduates.

Where previously some of our most famous early exports had been from Adelaide (Mauk), Newcastle (Metcalfe) and Launceston (Atkinson), the emergence of South East local Medin Memeti (Dandenong) may be a sign of the future for the newly-rehomed City Football Academy.

After a great week securing three points at home to Adelaide, a trip across the Nullabor to face 11th-placed Perth Glory proved to be more difficult than some imagined. 

Here’s three things we learned:

Defending that needs real improvement

Our defence showed some of the most disappointing football I’ve seen in a very long time. Whenever we faced pressure it felt like we stood there and struggled to try and absorb said pressure and use the high press to our advantage. The sluggish nature of City’s defence led to pretty much all four goals. If we break all four goals down in the simplest way here’s how it played out. Three were a result of defenders (yet again…) being caught flat-footed when facing a counterattack and almost just ball-watching while the Perth attackers were running rings around the City defence.

The first goal that City conceded was the only one out of the 4 that didn’t come from a counterattack. Nuno Reis foolishly ran up behind former City player Bruce Kamau in the City 18-yard box tackling Kamau from behind resulting in the referee pointing to the spot. After all of City’s hard work to try and sustain a lead it all went to waste from a simple brain fade. 

Late-night Perth football sure proves to be entertaining but not this time for the City faithful, with goals two and three only being separated by mere minutes.

An Aziz-shaped hole 

While it might seem like I’m haggling on about our defence, it really does feel like that’s the third of our lineup that’s really letting us down and not matching the momentum and energy of our midfield and attack. 

As I mentioned in my preview article, Aziz Behich will be staying in the Middle East after the Socceroos Asian Cup run came to a close last night after signing with Al-Nassr. I said just how important it was for Talbot and Galloway to really set their season into motion last night but after sustaining a shoulder injury we didn’t see Talbot out on HBF Park last night.

Harry Politidis came in as Talbot’s replacement and for a young up-and-coming player wanting to prove his worth amongst a team full of highly-experienced players, Politidis really showed how much he wants a spot in this team last night. His energy and performance was very impressive, I would not be surprised if we saw Harry’s name in the starting eleven when we face Brisbane next week if Talbot is available for selection because I was far more impressed with his performance than Talbot’s most recent performances.

The right side on the other hand is where were struggled the most and makes me worry even more after last night’s result. All three of the goals we conceded on the counter came from the right side of the defence not being aware and I hate to say it but teams will keep punishing our right side if we don’t take action and fix the problem.

The only thought that comes to mind is ‘where to next?’ How do we pick ourselves up and look ahead to Brisbane next week after giving Perth their fourth win of the season. Brisbane came back and equalised in stoppage time and are showing what they can do.

I don’t hold great hope for our defence if their final third is so ruthless and physical as we saw in their match last night against Wellington.

An attack that will once again be dangerous 

We have started to see a rise in the City front third that we all once loved again and while we saw defeat I personally saw a lot of exciting promise. City’s first goal came from what could be considered as a well-crafted pass that was helped into the back of the net by Alex Susnjar from Perth. It was well hit and with J-Mac in the six-yard box, the goal was a culmination of pressure and positioning that got the better of Perth’s defence.

The second goal City scored which came in the second half was all from poor play from Perth and smart thinking and great awareness from J-Mac intercepting a back pass and then laying it off to Tolgay Arslan who buried the ball into the Perth net. 

I may be just trying to see the slightest positive in what was a majorly negative match but add Leckie into that front three for a full 90 minutes alongside J-Mac and Andy Nabbout, and it should prove to be a great combination of the three that won us trophies in the past.

Now… we look to next Saturday night when we’re on the road again but this time to the Sunshine State to face Brisbane Roar. Something needs to change this week on the training track because if things stay the same we could be in for another long night of football.