mattyh001
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Posts posted by mattyh001
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certainly in for the game but start placement that week so might be a little late for pre game drinks.
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By my count, there are 6 clubs (Adelaide, Central Coast, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle, Perth, West Sydney) that either won't be able to sign McKay or appear to be that set with their current squad that McKay will be (or will largely be) outta the question. Some appear to only have spots left for youth contracts (ie Perth, West Sydney) while others have most of their salary cap spent to the pont McKay looks unaffordable (ie Central Coast, Melbourne Victory).
Not sure if Wellington will be the sort of team McKay will want to go to (with the shit direct style Merrick seemingly loves) and Sydney already have some high profile big money players on their books (ie Carle, Bosschaart - can't see him being cheap), so Heart should be in with a good shout.
What worries me here is if Heart actually need him. Particularly if Ramsey is actually there to play as a full back / wing back.
If not, then McKay would be an alright choice. Can play at left back, left mid and centrally in the midfield so there is a bit of versatility.
Mind you, there does seem to be a bit too much at Heart with this versatility concept, particularly on the left. is that really all that good if we start having players that can (and probably will) be shifted every second week?
as a side to this, I always remember Brian Clough use to talk about every great team having two key elements; a central defensive pairing to close down the space in the middle of the back and there to be a quality goal scoring / goal set up front man. In that the rest (particularly when you bring in the strong importance of transition play / fluidness / total football) you can use and do need the versatility - so don't get me wrong i'm not meaning to do away with it. it just seems the club needs to nail the other two parts first.
in terms of the backline, i get the feeling the Wielaert and Gerhardt will work well together. however my concern is if we get an injury (and i get the feeling that particularly an injury to Wielaert) that we don't have the central defensive cover. Vrankovic does okay and will develop, but it just worries me if Vrankovic has to play an extended role that his development may cause issues if made to play cover over a longer period.
as for the frontman, Kewell has never been truly tested over an extended period - assuming of course that's how Aloisi intends to use him. Personally I think its worth a shot since Kewell doesnt have the pace in the legs any more and is prone to injuries - i don't think getting him to do massive transition work (even as a wide player or as one in the hole) will be that sustainable over 90 minutes. although it does need to be tested with a failsafe in place.
if Aloisi is intending otherwise, than like the many posts by others here there needs to be a greater focus on getting that frontman in.
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and if he just so happens to get sent off:
There was something in the air that night
He lost his head
He's Tando!He didnt judge the sit-u-ation right,
He just saw red
He's Tando!
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sounds like we will definitely sign 2 more visa players which will take our squad to 22 players and leave 1 spot open. Then if garcia signs it will be a bonus, but if he doesnt sign then there hasn't really been any indication that we will look into signing another player.
Strange really. Garcia is a high quality player and will be a big bonus to the squad, but if he is not signed, the club doesn't seem to be chasing another high quality australian player..
i would think that by your logic there is only one real spot left for an Aussie - the club can't exactly go out and try to get a dime a dozen; they have to pick there battles in that regard and i suspect that the club believes they are really close to getting Garcia (and therefore they don't see the point to searching for someone else).
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There was something in the air that night
Their stars were shite
He's Tando!
yeah.
love it ! certainly works better than the verse.
as an extension (think for the chorus since there are two parts);
There was something in the air that night
Their stars were shite
He's Tando!
It doesnt matter if they cross from deep,
Or shoot a heap,
He's Tando!
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not that i am a wordsmyth, but since he IS A HEART player and it is a very much so to the first verse but ... maybe to Abba's "Fernando"
do you hear the drums dear Tando
time to rise to the Hearts content on a stellar night like this
in a firefight dear Tando
you are standing in the goals and saving their whimpy shots so easy ....
you are playing to the drums
and to the loud calls for our keeping choice dear TANDO....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsjAbZDx-4
maybe the chorus ???????
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Only 3 out field spots left now that Aziz is back, two of which will be foreigners. Need a high quality CF, DM and AM with our next three signings. Our whole season pretty much rests on these players.
Provided he's keen as mustard to get on with restarting his career at the club (unlike Babelj) then its a good signing if true. Jimmy, do you have a source?
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Guys, I think that there are some awesome posts here and some very good points.
Peter, I totally agree with you on the notion that success breeds success. and if the club wants to grow it does have to show ambition. just saying that WSW can do what they because they have a natural divide, etc., is to take nothing from how they have set themselves and looking for the lessons from their good and bad.
but I do thoroughly agree with jw1739 and Murfy1 too; we do have to focus on our environment and our settings. the club has to take what others do and find the elements that do work but works well for our challenges. i do appreciate that the club has kept its finances in check and haven't gone broke trying to outspend the tards. ultimately the club and the brand will need to develop and grow in a way to build a solid core supporter base - not just go for the quick buck and quick / easy come easy go supporters.
i do find jw1739's point a fascinating one tho; there's only one team in Australia this year playing a big foreign club and their getting 90,000 to the game. it really puts into perspective what they have done in the past by getting other sizeable clubs; Celtic, Fulham, Juventus, etc, they have done a great job to build their preseason games and this is by far the biggest and best yet from a club perspective (as opposed to the All Star game being FFA endorsed).
surely if Heart to grow and prosper then at some stage the club needs to get games like this. remember, the tards haven't gotten this game straight away, they have been steadily building to it. what's seriously stopping the Heart starting smaller and building from there?
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I have come up with a theory regarding Hearts transfer dealings I could well be right, the players to be signed could well be "higher profile" then what we have signed so far and with that comes "higher wages" so if the players that are in line to be signed command a higher wage the club "could" well be waiting to announce these signings to save on "paying higher wages" to these players. I could also be very wrong but it seems to save the club some money they could well be waiting closer to the season proper to announce these players.
If your paying a Marquee player $1,000,000 a year which equals to some $20,000 a week there is still 3 months to go before the league actually starts so to have them come in now that's some $200,000 saved in wages the risk with this is the obvious risk of missing out on these players but the club is rolling the dice!
If we look at the list of players who have departed the club and those who have joined this pre-season, and bearing in mind that we were inside the salary cap anyway, there must be a bucket-load of money still sitting there. And FFA are going to pick up the wages up to the salary cap aren't they?
I think it's unlikely that quality players have already signed but that we haven't said anything yet. It's pretty hard these days to keep things quiet for too long.
Debate is healthy, and good points are being made on all sides of this debate.
Yep, the FFA are increasing their club funding model / grant system to $2.5 mil per year (up from $1.3 mil) to cover the cost of the salary cap.
Agree jw1739 that there must be a bit left in the cap. Hopefully thats a good sign of some good future incoming players
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A lot of posters on here dont have a proper grasp of the Australian Player Market within which Heart operate.
Many enter the debate with preconceived notions from the European Market or other sports.
This is reflected in same old themes on how we sould be recruiting which are posted again and again on here.
Theme One: We should not sign MVFC Players:
Do people realise that if the club refused to sign Ex MVFC players then we would be drawing a line through 10% of the total pool of professional footballers in Australia?
And that this pool at its highest is only 230 players deep?
(It should be also noted that the league is financed by the FFA so that the bottom 50/60 of the players are professionals where as if it was normal Free Market league then guys like Hoff would never be professionals.)
Theme Two: We should play our NYL players (Instead of former MVFC Players or A League Rejects):
Another thing PPL need to realise is that NYL are NYL players for a reason, if a NYL player proves himself good enough for the seniors he will become a senior player at MH or another club will sign him if we dont. There is no more valuable commodity to a A League club like MHFC than a young player who could earn the club some transfer money.
No coach is going to ever play an ageing veteran if a young player can do the job.
Theme Three: We should sign VPL players (Instead of MVFC Players or A League Rejects):
It is clear most who say this on here dont actually watch the VPL as like the VFL it is a league full of A League rejects, in fact it is the A League rejects that are the highest paid and often the most dominate players in the league. This is the reason why the League’s Model is being overhauled as the FFA sees the VPL as a hindrance to Youth Development (A debate for another time). So therefore finding players up to A League standard that are not A League Rejects from the State Leagues is a very hard task.
Also has anyone thought about how hard it is to get some to relocate for their job?
All MVFC players have a least lived in Melbourne (Some even come from here) so obv its sometimes easier to convience a guy like Mate to cross town than a similar player from Perth to move across the nation.
They're good points Cadete, but I suggest they are a little over-simplified. For starters, the market is not only confined to Australia. Even if we're talking about players of Australian nationality there is a pool of more than 230. Granted, some are beyond our reach, but when it comes down to specific players - and I think this issue of ex-MVFC players is raised again because of our need to sign a reserve goalkeeper and not for any other reason such as Dugandzic or Kewell - I for one would prefer not to sign an ex-MVFC player if there is a reasonable alternative. And I believe that there are several in the case of the reserve goalkeeper position.
I threw in my lot with Melbourne Heart. I want to see us have our own identity and not be seen as Melbourne Victory Seconds.
They're good points Cadete, but I suggest they are a little over-simplified. For starters, the market is not only confined to Australia. Even if we're talking about players of Australian nationality there is a pool of more than 230. Granted, some are beyond our reach, but when it comes down to specific players - and I think this issue of ex-MVFC players is raised again because of our need to sign a reserve goalkeeper and not for any other reason such as Dugandzic or Kewell - I for one would prefer not to sign an ex-MVFC player if there is a reasonable alternative. And I believe that there are several in the case of the reserve goalkeeper position.
I threw in my lot with Melbourne Heart. I want to see us have our own identity and not be seen as Melbourne Victory Seconds.
I agree there are Australian players applying their trade overseas we can target.
However the general experience over the past two years has been that such players is will prefer to place in even play in places like China, Korea and the Middle East over coming home. You could probably label this the National Team Theory.
We only scored Garcia because of how injury ridden he was and he was wanting to be noticed so he could move on to Asia so he could be noticed for the NT. And whilst I am pretty optimistic about Kewell next season, we all know he had no options but to head home to play some kind of football to be looked at fot the NT.
cadete - love the original post!!
the challenge with getting players from overseas (whether they are Australian or otherwise) is that the A League has significant financial constraints. With a maximum 21 players (2 down on the 23 player cap since the club can nominate 2 marquees) we are only looking at around $119k for the average wage (salary cap of 2.5 mil / 21). argumentively you could push the average up for better players by placing 10 or so players on youth development / squad position based contracts between the league minmum (50k IIRC) and 100k, but that only takes around 500k-800k away (assuming there that those 10 won't all get 100k). with the remaining 11 players and 1.7 to 2.0 mil, thats an average for the "quality players" of roughly 155k-180k. Any visa player worth his salt or quality Socceroo is going to be in the higher end of the club's wage list, so like Cadete I think we are going to have to focus locally for the majority of the squad base positions.
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This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival. Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.
However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player?
If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past. A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about. It is the biggest factor in growing the club. Otherwise I don’t give two shits.
You may have overlooked that we finished 8th, 6th and 9th in our three seasons so far.
or perhaps you have missed what i was getting at; a successful side (or lack thereof) will play a massive part in the growth of the club. the lack of success so far says to me that the growth of the club has stagnated due to a lack of genuinely interesting and consistent high quality performances.
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What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown. It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.
Part 1:
Of the four former tards players Heart has signed AND who have taken the field, there has been some considerable success:
1) Aziz Behich.
Gone onto play for the Socceroos thanks to what Heart did for him, now plying his trade overseas. Enough said.
2) Mate Dugandzic
Prior to his injury, showed that he was more than good enough to play in the A League. Showed quality going forward and looked like progression well career wise.
3) Fred
Was a tale of two halfs. Second season was shit, but his first was quite good. The whole problem came from Fred being injury prone. Certainly off his first season (something that was the direct point of signing him) Fred showed to be a good signing. Just couldn’t make it last.
4) Kristian Sarkies
Was by far the worst signing and just didn’t live up to expectation.
Overall – for me this says we actually have a generally good record of getting good performance and high quality outta former tards. What it also says to me is that people see this as a lose-lose; either
1) the player is shit or
2) that the player is alright and thus people “think” they have to then admit that the tards have shown good judgment in signing him before we did.
This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival. Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.
However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player?
If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past. A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about. It is the biggest factor in growing the club. Otherwise I don’t give two shits.
Given the general success Heart has shown with the players it has brought in from the “other” club, it seems quite foolish to cast out purely on being a former tard. To be frank on it, I love that we have taken players like Behich and Dugandzic and turned them into better players. It’s like a big fuck you to the tards. We shouldn’t be casting by the first stone.
As a side comment on here, I don’t think we should be going for Velaphi. Simply, I think there are better, younger options available. Even with the memory of Velaphi’s quality debut where kept for Brisbane in a 2-1 win over the tards.
Part 2:
If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs? Over our first three seasons we have signed from Adelaide;
1) Michael Marrone
Was quite good, played for Socceroos. Enough said.
2) Kristian Sarkies (yes he went there first from the tards).
Has the same review from above.
3) Paul Reid
Was shit, should never have been at the club.
Ultimately, we don’t see people being anywhere near as critical of Adelaide as the tards yet the players from Adelaide have been nowhere near as good. And the basis of casting players aside from other clubs because they have tended to be shit once at Heart, then why aren’t people more critical of Ramsey?
Largely because he doesn’t come from the tards!!!!
Would love to see some more consistency on these boards.
Whilst I agree with what you say I think that the difference is that we are a small club in a competitive market that includes a much larger rival with a history of success. The image of our club is an important contributor to our growth. I don't think that being seen as a 'second-best option for 'the fish that John West rejects' is a helpful image for us UNLESS it comes with major on-field success.
For the most part, i think that we are actually reading from the same hymn sheet.
Ultimately, i see Heart's best way to make growth here in Victoria is to actually have success. Until then (with former tards playing for us or not, regardless of how much we put in to trying to make ourselves distinguishable from the tards) people will only see us as also rans.
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What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown. It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.
Part 1:
Of the four former tards players Heart has signed AND who have taken the field, there has been some considerable success:
1) Aziz Behich.
Gone onto play for the Socceroos thanks to what Heart did for him, now plying his trade overseas. Enough said.
2) Mate Dugandzic
Prior to his injury, showed that he was more than good enough to play in the A League. Showed quality going forward and looked like progression well career wise.
3) Fred
Was a tale of two halfs. Second season was shit, but his first was quite good. The whole problem came from Fred being injury prone. Certainly off his first season (something that was the direct point of signing him) Fred showed to be a good signing. Just couldn’t make it last.
4) Kristian Sarkies
Was by far the worst signing and just didn’t live up to expectation.
Overall – for me this says we actually have a generally good record of getting good performance and high quality outta former tards. What it also says to me is that people see this as a lose-lose; either
1) the player is shit or
2) that the player is alright and thus people “think” they have to then admit that the tards have shown good judgment in signing him before we did.
This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival. Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.
However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player?
If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past. A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about. It is the biggest factor in growing the club. Otherwise I don’t give two shits.
Given the general success Heart has shown with the players it has brought in from the “other” club, it seems quite foolish to cast out purely on being a former tard. To be frank on it, I love that we have taken players like Behich and Dugandzic and turned them into better players. It’s like a big fuck you to the tards. We shouldn’t be casting by the first stone.
As a side comment on here, I don’t think we should be going for Velaphi. Simply, I think there are better, younger options available. Even with the memory of Velaphi’s quality debut where kept for Brisbane in a 2-1 win over the tards.
Part 2:
If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs? Over our first three seasons we have signed from Adelaide;
1) Michael Marrone
Was quite good, played for Socceroos. Enough said.
2) Kristian Sarkies (yes he went there first from the tards).
Has the same review from above.
3) Paul Reid
Was shit, should never have been at the club.
Ultimately, we don’t see people being anywhere near as critical of Adelaide as the tards yet the players from Adelaide have been nowhere near as good. And the basis of casting players aside from other clubs because they have tended to be shit once at Heart, then why aren’t people more critical of Ramsey?
Largely because he doesn’t come from the tards!!!!
Would love to see some more consistency on these boards.
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We already have one of the best known footballers in Australia with Harry Kewell, and if he remains largely injury free he'll be in the top tier of players in the A-League. Kewell playing well will attract a significant amount of supporters who appreciate a 'name footballer'.
So, given that we already have such a well known footballer in Kewell, I'd like Heart to try to sign an international marquee who can attract supporters because he'll dominate the league, like Shinji Ono at the Wanderers. That player could be Rocchi, or any one of a long list of candidates, as the list of possible international marquees grows a lot longer if you're not especially fussed about the footballer's name and reputation in Australia.
Agree that Harry provides the media attention that few others in the HAL can - even if he isn't our designated marquee player he has that status by default. What I want to see is a striker that has a reputation for banging them in - he doesn't have to have marquee status in terms of being very well known. If he bangs them in he'll be a cult hero and the word will get around.
personally i think that makes his signing all the better. kinda means that we have the opportunity to have three not two marquees.
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http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1159918/Glory-strikes-two-deals
against past forum activity and understanding Perth havent signed Garcia - at least not yet!!!
TBH, Garcia has every right to exercise what club he wishes to sign for. we only offered him a one year contract at the start of last season, he had a good season - he did his job and did it much better than most Heart players can honestly admit to for their performances last season. the club didn't want to risk more than a season and thus got what it paid for (and a fair bit more).
at what point shouldn't he consider what else is on offer?
let's put the shoe on the other foot for a moment; would anyone give Garcia the time of day if he had a shit season instead and didn't get a new contract? everyone on here would defend the club - ultimately they are not liable to offer new contracts and if a player has been crap. likewise, players are not liable to sign them if they have had a good season.
like many here, i would have liked the whole issue to be wrapped up by now.
but the discussion here is frankly getting far too negative towards Garcia. remember there is risk for him too - the longer it drags the lower the demand drops and thus there is a fair chance he will get lowballed.
as far as i'm concerned Heart just need to get on with filling the rest of the squad positions.
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Interesting that Didulica said they have never heard of any overseas interest for Bray. Also, going off what Didulica said, "I think Alistair's shown that he's improved with us, so it wouldn't make sense to walk away now" and "It's about him developing as a footballer and whether that's in the youth team or as a second-choice goalkeeper, he'll still have the same opportunities and the same access to coaching to ensure he can continue to develop at the same rate that he has been in the last 12 months", Bray sounds certain to be out of contention for the backup GK position...
It would be a bit surprising if Heart overlooked one young GK, Bray, for another, Lewis Moss. So, I reckon the most likely candidates are Sebastian Usai, Jamie Young and Tando Velaphi... and Velaphi's name is the only one mentioned in this article...
I hope Heart realise how stupid and unnecessary it would be for us to sign Another former victory player. It would be a massive PR headache. Even if they judged him to be objectively the best of the 5, which he isn't IMO, they shouldn't select Tando because of the negative message it sends.
Hopefully Aloisi and Foxe, who's decision it now apparently is, understand the decision they are making.
agree totally.
surely if they are going to go another former visitor released last season (and for arguments sake only, not saying he has to be signed), surely you'd only look Sam Gallagher. Young defender who showed potential but was cast alongside another 32 players last season at the visitors - just because he was no re-signed doesnt mean everything; quite possibly too many players in the same position.
IIRC Gallagher is currently at Richmond in the VPL so still a potential pick up.
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I actually would have rathered the club keep him. A massive pay cut and tell him that his starting spot is far from guaranteed (unlike last season). Thompson would be a handy squad player because he can play pretty much anywhere on the park! Under those conditions he probably would have left though.
for me it was the right time to let him go.
for most of last season Thompson's passing radar was completely off. add to the fact you could say the same of his tackling ability and i question what value would he actually bring.
don't get me wrong, Thompson was one of the nicest guys i've met. for me tho it has to be about the football and it was time to move on.
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i'm kinda getting the feeling that this is a win win for Heart.
on the strength of the All Stars team, it not exactly like Williams is the worst player in the squad. as such, there will always be the rebuttal that there is someone in the team just as bad.
in any case, Williams will get the chance to lift his game which will (a) benefit Heart through a better player or the chance to offload for a bit of money, or (b ) his ineptitude allows for more chances to both Golgol and Mate when the season actually starts. Win Win.
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Billy Celeski announced by the Scum. Ha.
Oh my! Any credibility this side and match had has now been lost. Celeski what a joke!
ROFL.
as much as the fact that I understand Postecoglou is the coach (thus more likely to view his own players more positively), surely he could find a better midfielder for that role.
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Speaking of Arsenal players, how about Marouane Chamakh?
I see he has one year to go on his Arsenal contract after returning from his loan to Westham, but they might be willing to let him go for a couple of million, which I think would be a great price for him considering he's only 29yo!
If Heart were willing to pay Norwich a transfer fee for Holt, I'd consider putting in a feeler for Chamakh and see what Arsenal comes back with.
tbh its something that i have thought about too, but I get the feeling Chamakh would want too bigger wage and that he just too poor a work ethic on the field to justify. after all, Chamakh was given a great second chance at the Hammers and didnt make the most of it.
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http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1158596/Heart-in-hunt-for-Dutch-ace-Falkenberg
never heard of the bloke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Falkenburg
given my past concerns / comments about just looking at the CV, i take his CV with a grain of salt but he has played 40 odd games as part of AZ squads (2010-2012) that have finished top 4. Prior to that Sparta Rotterdam where in the Dutch top flight so he won't be that bad
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is germano back in the country?
yeah saw him training a bit at the very end by himself so whether or not he is carrying a niggle and has a separate training program ....
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Few things I took note of:
-Gerhardt was there but wasn't training.
I asked JA about him and apparently he rolled his ankle when he played for the national team.
Also asked DMac about where we're gonna train this year and we're at Epping for the next 9 or so weeks which is when the news about an upgrade to La Trobe will happen. If nothing happens to LaTrobe then we might stay at epping or go to trinity (presumably their sport campus in bulleen)
likewise, I remember DMac saying the club will be training up there for at least 9 weeks and until either (a) Latrobe is upgraded or (
there is a better suiter. it actually looked a good surface.
Great day.
Thanks to Matty(something) for the lift to the bus stop
All good mate, i'll just send the bill
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Tell me they were official Heart merchLooks to be around 40 people here to watch. And surprising Hayden Foxe is wearing tracksuit pants not shorts
He probably did it cause it was cold. Although I would have Thought he would have just pulled his socks right up to the bottom of his shorts? Times a changin' at mhfc
ah wanted to get a photo but he quickly headed inside before taking requests
ere were probably around 60 fans there in the end
Potential A-league signings
in Melbourne City
Posted · Edited by mattyh001
i think its something that could be done, but you need a bloody good ball winner beside him if thats that case.
if you look at Milligan in the Socceroos, the only reason Osciek keeps playing him in midfield is that he is a good folly for a deep lying Bresciano. Milligan "cleans" up while Bresciano is given space to play and orchestrate.
something I think Gerhardt could actually do but it doesnt look like he will be played anywhere but at the back