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Meeting Minutes Attendees: Scott Munn – Melbourne City FC CEO Nick Becker – Melbourne City FC Marketing Director Stephanie Pasley-Tyler – Melbourne City FC Event Operations Manager Melissa Missailidis – Melbourne City FC Event and Ticketing Coordinator Tony, Rodney, Glen, Matthew, Alice, Steve, Kylie, Kerri, Haydn, Russell, Bridget, Michael and Natalie – Melbourne City FRG MCFC response to questions brought forward by the FRG 1.1. Cityzens terminated due to low engagement levels. “Surprise & Delight” has started in its place rewarding randomly selected fans in the stands. This gives greater opportunity for reward to a far greater percentage of City fans. 1.2 City Voice terminated due to low participation and discussions focusing on player/results rather than off-pitch topics. We’ve replaced it with monthly fan satisfaction surveys. 1.3 We already have an interstate membership but can look into wider options (e.g. interstate active) if the demand is there. 1.4 MCFC were unaware of demand for international memberships but willing to consider these case by case. 1.5 Dissemination of Club Information • Injuries – MCFC make best efforts to keep fans updated regarding injuries, while also endeavouring to provide accurate information at all times. In many cases, decisions on the squad and players’ form are taken last minute based on recent developments and current scenarios, making it understandably difficult to inform fans in advance. This is the case across all sports and leagues. • The membership counter was removed from MCFC website due to FFA restrictions. • MCFC will work on providing more weekly training videos. • The club prefer to use players and coaches to be faces of club. However, when relevant exceptions will be made. Requests will be considered on a case by case basis. • City Insider is currently available at Merchandise outlets, City Square, and Corporate Hospitality suites and MCFC will look to add further distribution points. 2. Squad management is complex and MCFC work hard to keep players as long as possible. While we are not at liberty to discuss contractual negotiations, some aspects to consider are: • FFA regulation states minimum requirement of 18 Australians per squad • NPL schedules differ significantly to A-League meaning NPL players are generally not fit at the time required to play A-League matches. • MCFC endeavour to build to bulk of the squad around the prime age group (see below groups) while equally ensuring progression of young and experienced talent alike: o Emerging Talent 16-19yrs o Talent in their Prime 19-24yrs o Experienced talent 25+ • Personal situations & aspirations • Relationships within the team • Salary Cap & Loan obligations Note regarding youth development: MCFC Director of Football, Michael Petrillo, is responsible for the initiation of younger players at NPL/NYL level (16/17year olds compared to many teams using 18/19year olds) in order to give best opportunity to MCFC youth to develop their football careers. This has been a resounding success and MCFC are still very competitive in the league despite playing with the youngest set of players. Equally Head Coach, Warren Joyce, invites young players to train with the Senior Team giving them further opportunity to develop e.g. Denis Genreau. 3.1 The primary shirt for CFG clubs home colours is city blue. However, second and third strips vary and Melbourne City FC wear red and white in recognition of Melbourne Heart, Manchester use purple as a reflection of past colours. 3.2 MCFC were not consulted on the FFA logo and raised the issue regarding the similarity between A-League logos of MCFC and SFC at the start of the season. The size was due to it being made large enough to cover existing badge. 4.1 MCFC are a supporter of expansion and welcome additional teams in the league in a structured and strategic way. 4.2 VAR is a challenge for all involved and for as long as it is enforced by FIFA, MCFC & FFA are obliged to work with it. 4.4 Transfer fees are not widely supported by all stakeholders and would require FFA, PFA and clubs to approve. 4.5. MCFC continually push for reviews to the salary cap. 4.6 MCFC would prefer the current foreign player rule to remain in place. 5. The song played after Melbourne City FC won WWL Grand Final was “Wonderwall” which is the song played after every MCFC win, for A-League and W-League alike, at all home games at AAMI Park. We were not asked to submit a song for walk out e.g. Happy together. Other Kick-Off Times • MCFC have been and continue to be very vocal with FFA about: a) Late kick-off times. b) If FIFA windows were to be incorporated into the A-League calendar, any mid-week matches MUST be during school holidays and split rounds must be scheduled in line with FIFA windows. c) Seasons must start later in the year, after the conclusion of AFL season to allow for better pre-season promotion. • MCFC will discuss with FFA the alignment of the advertised Kick-Off and actual Kick-Off times. In stadium behaviour and Security • MCFC have begun follow up with AAMI Park to ensure: o Singing in Non-Active Bays is permitted o Standing in Active Bays is allowed Promotion to schools & football clubs • While MCFC do not have the resources to promote to every school individually, we have entered into the Australian Sports Commission’s Sporting Schools program. All schools can take part by registering. For further information, follow the link below: https://www.sportingschools.gov.au/sports/football-federation-australia/schools • MCFC’s City Club programme provides benefits and lifetime experiences to registered football clubs. For further information, follow the link below: https://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/city-clubs Melbourne City FC • MCFC will make best endeavours to ensure players visit fans on all sides of the pitch post- match. • MCFC understand that sizes are limited for women but unfortunately are restrained by lack of demand at present. View the full article

28th August 2017. In Attendance: Club Staff: Luke Wyman, Scott Munn, Nick Becker, James Crouch (Retail), Travis Davidson (Membership) FRG Members: Steve, Haydn, Michael, Glenn, Russell Absent: Rodney, Matthew, Alice, Bridget, Natalie The first FRG meeting of the season commenced with CEO Scott Munn introducing new members of both the FRG and Melbourne City staff as well as detailing the objectives of the group as being a two way sharing of information between club and fans. At the time of the meeting Scott mentioned we had one foreign spot remaining to fill and that this would be a marquee. He also explained that due to work visas it was difficult to bring players. For example due to the relationship we had with Holland we could bring a Dutch player on a tourist visa and this can progress to a working visa, however as a point of comparison a Serbian player can’t come until the working visa is obtained. Therefore we‘re often linked to players but we can’t announce players until this is official otherwise we’d get in trouble with the visa people. There are also two Australian spots left. Marcelo Carrusca is training with us for fitness but nothing is guaranteed and depends on the right deal. At time of the meeting the list was injury free (Bruno Fornaroli unfortunately injured himself the following night in the FFA Cup). Reports were that Fernando Brandan has worked hard and is ahead of schedule. Daniel Arzani has made the biggest leap to impress this preseason. Warren Joyce has now settled in after initially having to adapt to our long preseason. He has managed to balance the requirements of shifting gears between a preseason and the FFA Cup. He has already stamped his “hands on managerial style” on and off the pitch. This includes spending extra time speaking with fans at sessions and events. The Woman’s team start mid-September and while no names were revealed Scott said that the core playing group will be re-signed. There will be more double headers with the woman’s fixture to be released early September. Games will continue to be shared between CB Smith Reserve and AAMI Park. Two boys teams will be added to the NPL next year bringing Melbourne City to a total of four teams in that competition going forward. Nick then spoke about memberships where we’re at similar ground to this time last year with over 7 500 members. We have been working closely with our City Clubs for clinics and fan events as a response from fan feedback to engage more. We finished the 16/17 season with 13 078 members and are aiming for over 15 000 this season. This season’s membership campaign is “City to the core” with street posters and a digital campaign. The recent kit launch and Stomping Ground Brewery events went down well. The club is hoping that the desire to do things for the fans has come across. We’re looking at holding a similar event at Stomping Ground, mid-week during the week after the round one game (Likely to be a Tuesday or Wednesday). The club is working on ways to keep evolving the match day offerings. We’re working on licensing for a new pop up bar in partnership with Stomping Ground Brewery to be sold at Gosch’s Paddock prior to the game as well as Biggie Smalls, so we want fans to get on board! James has joined the club recently and is in charge of merchandise. He mentioned that the fans have a chance to make their mark on the club with the recent competition to design a fans shirt. For anything non Nike we are locked into licenses with Classic Sport who tend to cater for an NRL market, so we’re trying to change this up and customise for our fans. We have the same approach with the New Era caps, we’ll have say six hat designs for the season to choose from and this will include some limited editions to test the market. The idea is to offer street wear or designs you can wear outside of game day. Official junior shirts will start at size six upwards. We are limited with each Nike license agreement to supply eight items per season and there are certain rules about what we can and can’t control. The club feels we have a good range and aim to have a point of difference that feels unique to city. Membership packs have landed and will start to be sent out soon. For the very first time juniors will get a backpack with their memberships. A member of the Melburnians suggested a unique shirt or polo to be added to member packs next season. While this was considered a good idea Nick mentioned that we’re still restricted by official licences and that the quality of the product might suffer as a result so would rather have a good quality polo as official merchandise. The club feel they have the perfect balance between home and away shirt designs this time around. Last season was polyester and before that was wool. You can still customise your membership photos however the suggestion was for members to get onto that ASAP. The TV coverage was discussed with the new free-to-air deal showing one Saturday night game a week on one of the Network 10 channels as well as the usual Foxtel coverage. The W-League will also show one game a week on 10 and an extra game on either 10 or the ABC. Finally it was also announced that Luke Wyman who has been with the staff in charge of match day is moving on to a new position with Formula 1. Both the club and the FRG wish him the best and thanked him for contributing. The next meeting is to be scheduled prior to season 17/18 kick-off. If fans have any queries or items they’d like to raise please contact membership@melbournecityfc.com.au Kind regards, The FRG View the full article

Melbourne City vs Newcastle United, AAMI Park, Thursday 10th of October @ 7:50pm AEST. UBET Odds. Melbourne City: $1.40 Perth Glory: $7.00 Anything worth a punt on? – Melbourne City at $2.05 at the Half/Full time double is good value as Melbourne City should come out with something to prove after their quite frankly, abject, performance against Brisbane last Friday. Last time they met: A 2-1 loss at Hunter Stadium where we dominated the entire first half and were made to pay for our inability to covert early chances, after conceding an early penalty in the second half we promptly fell apart. Melling getting sent off in the process as he inexplicably found himself the last man. Last season’s results: NEW 2:1 MCY (Fornaroli x1) 07.02.2016 NEW 0:4 MCY (Mooy x2, Fornaroli x2) 13.12.2015 MCY 2:3 NEW (Mooy, Mauk) 30.10.2015 Team News. Melbourne City: What a week eh? (It seems entirely appropriate to start any preview of Melbourne City with this as quite frankly; I have no idea what are the factors that motivate us playing good or bad football this, or any season) We looked aimless and while that the removal of Nicolas Colazo has caused a reshuffle of the pack, Luke Brattan missing due to international duty will be causing major headaches at Melbourne City HQ – the lack of a creative number 10 has hampered us in recent weeks and the lack of faith in Anthony Caceres to hold down the 10 role means that a midfield three of Retre, Caceres and Kilkenny will lack confidence and match practice together. We lacked creativity in the final third last week and the ability to break down stubborn defences could really be tested against Newcastle, who’ll look to frustrate away from home. We could see the return of Ivan Franjic to the starting lineup which would give welcome attacking impetus from our defence but we’re likely to be missing Colazo for another week due to an ear infection. We’ve got a very winnable set of games coming up over the next month or so with 3 games against teams in the bottom half – it’s time for Melbourne City to get a wriggle on (without jumping wholly on the JVS out bandwagon I’d also suggest that without a good set of results up until Christmas our well-tanned coach maybe looking for different pastures next year). We’ve averaged a touch over 9000 fans so far this year so hopefully we can see a good healthy crowd in to keep the averages up, though a Thursday night isn’t likely to enamour people to come to the football. The W-League kicked off this week with the girls recording an easy 1-0 win (with Lydia Williams pulling out on of the best saves you’re ever likely to see) and looks like they could be due another big season, always hard to read too much into the early stages of the W-League as the teams get together so late in the season. I highly suggest you get down to a game, even if it’s only to see the kit makers despair when they learn they need to fit the name Galabadaarachchi onto a shirt. They play away against Canberra on Saturday and the games on ABC so make sure to tune in to 3pm to catch it. The Y-League game against Adelaide United is at 5pm at CB Smith reserve. Possible Starting 11. Bouzanis Franjic Jakobsen Rose Kilkenny Retre Caceras Kamou Cahill Brandan Fornaroli. I would like to see Brandan brought into the midfield and the ever-reliable Fitzgerald get a start, but I think this is the lineup we’re more likely to see. Newcastle: Newcastle has been a pleasant surprise this year, with their off-field struggles being contrast to some not bad football, but I think they’ll probably struggle for goals in the long run. Wayne Brown and Devante Clut are probably the best pickups from their off-season and the midfield is their strength, thought last week’s performance against Wellington showed that their defensive frailties of the past few years still exist and Nick Cowburn and second gamer Johnny Koutoumbis could be in for a torrid time against a pacy Melbourne City attack. Possible Starting 11: Duncan Cowburn Boogard Koutombis Vujica Poljak Ugarkovic Brown Nordstrand Hoffman Nabbout Prediction: Melbourne City 1-1 Newcastle. This just has a feel of a Melbourne City slip up game with a few players out and my regular level of disappointment about Melbourne City’s game style starting to creep back into my mind. Played for both clubs: Jason Hoffman. One of the few players to successfully play nearly every position on the pitch (insert your own joke about how well he’s played at any one of those positions). Originally a Jets product, he came to Melbourne City with promise as an attacking option and when that didn’t work out, he became a fullback. A terrifyingly regular tale for players coming to Melbourne City. Has found his way back to Newcastle where he’s started playing up on the right flank again. Was part of the thankfully short-lived Coffee with Hoffy series. View the full article

Melbourne City vs Adelaide United, AAMI Park, Friday 28th of October @ 7:50pm AEST. UBET Odds. Melbourne City: $1.75 Perth Glory: $4.20 Anything worth a punt on? – Given the demonstrably incorrect my previous prediction was, I’ll walk back in terms of the ridiculousness of my predictions. Melbourne City to score in both halves for $2.45 seems underpriced. Last time they met: A 4-1 loss at Coopers Stadium was the disappointing, but not entirely undeserverd end to Melbourne City’s season. Adelaide’s starting line-up for this one will likely include Galekovic, La Rocca, McGowan and Isais from our last meeting, giving a good indication of the change in personal for Adelaide both through transfers and injury, with 4 starting players missing through injury. Last season’s results: ADL 1:4 MCY (Fitzgerald) 22.04.2016 MCY 3:2 ADL 08.04.2016 ADL 0:1 MCY (Fitzgerald) 11.03.2016 Team News. Melbourne City: This preview was either going to go one of two ways depending on the result of Tuesday night’s game. Either we’d lose and klaxons would start ringing at Melbourne City supporter HQ at our third consecutive loss at the Semi-Final stage of the FFA Cup competition as well as a big question mark being raised over how much could be read into our win at Ettihad. Thankfully we won and the only nagging question I find myself asking is – we can put in an excellent shift against Victory and talk about team unity and belief when a derby makes it easy, but there’s 24 other league games in a season, and dropping points when we shouldn’t has become our speciality in the past few years. The Perth game indicated the importance of effective possession, especially at home. We had the highest average possession of the season so far, but the difference in what we did with it compared to the first two games of the season was marked. We made nearly twice as many passes, but 1 in 4 of Perths passes were long passes, compared to 1 in 7 in our case. Not that this should be overly surprising, given this is how teams will play us for large portions of this year, especially at home (credit where its due to Kenny Lowe, he’s provided a blueprint to follow for the remainder of the year for teams coming to AAMI). Perth’s heat map of possession and player location is one of the oddest you’ll see all year. Perth Glory heat map, attacking goals to the top of the page. JVS has thus far been loath to change much about his tactics and I don’t think we’ll see much different here, with Bruce Kamau likely to be inserted back into the starting line-up as the only change, depending on how Tim Cahill pulls up on a three day turn around. Players to watch are Muscat and Rose as they reasserted themselves brilliantly after a poor showing against the Glory, hopefully they can both move forward more consistently, Colazo misses after having surgery to repair his inner ear and perhaps the best news to come out of the derby cup win was seeing Ivan Franjic reintroduced to the squad ahead of schedule, even if the current formation that we’re playing doesn’t suit his strengths. The NYL squad was confirmed this week with many players continuing from last year. Notable exceptions are Stefan Zinni and Phillip Petreski who have been with the club for extended periods of time – it’s been a while since we’ve seen a youngster break from our youth team to move to the firsts. Braeden Crowley (Forward, ex-NQF) and Bradley Clarke (Defender, ex-Dandy City) are the two we’re most likely to see during this season. Possible Starting 11. Bouzanis Muscat Jakobsen Rose Kilkenny Brattan Caceras Kamou Cahill Brandan Fornaroli. Adelaide United: Adelaide (as most premiers do) have had a major talent drain over the offseason with Goodwin, Mauk, Djite and Kamau all leaving after having good seasons with the Reds. Combined with the current injury toll and you can understand why they’ve only picked up a point so far this year (worth observing that they picked up 3 points until December last year and managed to pip WSW on goal difference), AAMI park has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Reds too, having a better record here than at Coopers. Adelaide have played a 4-3-3 through most of this year and the tricky Sergi Guardiola has lead the line well so far, even if he hasn’t hit the back of the net. Possible Starting 11: Galekovic Elrich McGowan La Rocca Garrucio Makarounas Isais Holland Choi Guardiola Kitto Prediction: Melbourne City 2-1 in a relative squeaker. Adelaide won’t look to move the ball as quickly or as long as Perth did which should, ideally, suit the Melbourne City game plan of quick closing and pressure on the ball, tired legs from a midweek cup game will be the evener. Can we build an eleven from people who’ve played for both teams? We can get bloody close. Zullo Malik Marrone Garrucio Duganzic Reid Mauk Goodwin Babalj Marino We’re only a GK short, with room for Iain Ramsay, Brent McGrath, Jacob Melling, Ruon Tonyik and Kristian Sarkies on the bench. View the full article

Melbourne City vs Perth Glory, AAMI Park, Friday 21st of October @ 7:50pm AEST. UBET Odds. Melbourne City: $1.65 Perth Glory: $4.75 Anything worth a punt on? – While it’s easy to dismiss Perth’s win against Wellington, a large part of the Kiwi side was coming off a 19000km trip from Washington DC and their capitulation against the Central Coast was hardly impressive. Melbourne City by 2+ goals at 2.65 Last time they met: A 2-0 win at AAMI park where Bruno Fornaroli scored two of the more spectacular goals you’re likely to see. While his overhead kick was pure instinct and ability, the free kick to beat Covic was a perfect example of technique and placement. As a bit of a footnote, only 11,273 fans attended that game a in an ominous sign for those expecting 15k+ this Friday night. Last season’s results: MCY 2:2 GLO (Fornaroli x2) 17.04.2016 GLO 3:2 MCY (Fornaroli, Marino) 03.04.2016 GLO 2:2 MCY (Paartalu, Mooy) 17.10.2015 Team News. Melbourne City: What a week, eh? I’ve got no yardstick to measure last Saturdays game against (with the possible exception of a 4-1 win over Brisbane a few years ago), so it’s difficult to know where we go from here. We’ve been installed as favourites across the league and for the first time ever, we’ll be deemed a big scalp from early on in the season. Our record at AAMI park was superb last year, only losing three games in the entirety of last year and looking decidedly deadly against WSW in the FFA cup. The key from here is consistency and stamping complacency out of our game, something which the intensity of Fornaroli and Cahill, and the cool heads of Jakobsen and Kilkenny have the ability to provide. I don’t think we’ll see too many changes this week, Bouzanis gives me serious nerves with how long he holds onto the ball before delivering it but his delivery itself is an improvement on that of Sorenson, Colazo may also miss with an inner ear infection, caused by collective intake of breath of the back of last week leading to a massive change in air pressure. Sorry. I’ve been looking for a way to work that in all week. Nothing to report team wise at this stage of the season with Y-League usually kicking off in early November so the likes of Tongyik, Arzani and Crowley are unlikely to see much football until then. Possible Starting 11. Bouzanis Muscat Jakobsen Rose Kilkenny Brattan Colazo Kamou Cahill Brandan Fornaroli. If it aint broke. Not sure what the situation between the sticks will be, Bouzanis did just about enough to keep his spot in my mind. Perth Glory: Perth looked good in the opening half of their first game of the season. Calamitous in the second half of the same game and managed to get a draw against an underwhelming Central Coast squad which was summarily walloped the next game. They’ve also been beaten by both of these teams (neither of which is known for their possession football chops) in terms of possession, so the counter attack feeding Castro and over the top to Andy Keogh will likely be their main route towards goal. They’re a team of good quality players going forward, but the defensive flanks of Warren and Risdon who will ideally look to push on will have to be on top of their game for Kamau and Brandan not to cause them major issues. Will be good to see Rhys Williams play as he’s always been a bit of a crowd favorite of mine when he’s pulled on the green and gold a horrific run of injuries at Middlesborough has seen him come home to Perth to join a rapidly growing West Australian contingent at the Glory. Possible Starting 11: Reddy Risdon Djulbic Williams Warren Harold Wilson Griffiths Marinkovic Castro Keogh Prediction: Melbourne City 3-0 Perth. Having watched both of the Glory’s games this season I don’t think they’ll have the ability to counter the attacking thrust of Melbourne City on Friday night. Based on this level of blind optimism we’re probably due a crushing defeat. Played for both clubs: Adrian Zahra – A product of John Vant Schipt’s obsession for turning wingers into fullbacks, Adrian Zahra should be best known to Melbourne Heart fans for nutmegging Phil Neville when Everton came out a few years ago and made his debut in the first Melbourne Derby, but unfortunately his career will mostly be known for being on the receiving end of a Kevin Muscat challenge which can deemed at best, horrendous (can take small solace in the fact that he was involved in the ending of his career though). His stint at Perth Glory was short lived and he now plies his trade with Port Melbourne. View the full article

Melbourne Victory vs Melbourne City, Etihad Stadium, Saturday 15th of October @ 7:50pm AEST. UBET Odds. Melbourne City: $2.60 Melbourne Victory: $2.45 Anything worth a punt on? – Melbourne City and over 2.5 Goals at $3.85 sounds like good value to me, with these games typically producing goals and I don’t think that either defence is capable of shutting the other attack out completely. Last time they met: A 2-2 draw at AAMI park in front of nearly 26000 showcased some of the best and worst Melbourne City has to offer, attacking pace and verve and defensive deficiencies which would have been funny, weren’t they so obvious. Bloody glad to see the back of Gui Finkler. Last season’s results: MCY 2:2 MVC (Fornaroli x2) 13.02.2016 MCY 2:1 MVC (Mauk, Retre) 19.12.2015 MVC 3:2 MCY (Fornaroli, Mauk) 17.10.2015 Team News. Melbourne City: Strangely, Thomas Sorenson being out has divided people. Apart from his monumental brain fart against Adelaide in the last game of last season, I’ve always thought of him as one of our more reliable players and a vocal leader at the back, but Bouzanis acquitted himself well. Colazo played further forward than I’d expected and created more chances than any other player in the A-League and will probably be kept upfield (much to the chagrin all of those who condensed Josh Rose’ entire performance to a single piece of horrific play). The surprise omission from the starting lineup was Osama Malik but we could see him inserted back into a more traditional back four to counter the threat that Melbourne Victory’s attacking pacey line up will provide (I’d say that we’re more likely to be troubled by the raw pace of Austin then we would have been by the craft of Troisi due to our current fullback situation). Apart from Cahill coming in for Caceras if Timmy pulls up alright from national duty, I don’t think we’ll see too much shuffling of the pack. Possible Starting 11. Bouzanis Chapman Jakobsen Rose Kilkenny Brattan Colazo Kamou Cahill Brandan Fornaroli. Line up looks a bit funny, I think Colazo will be a slightly deeper play maker while Cahill will operate in both Midfield and Attack as the situation required. Melbourne Victory: The Victory had an unlucky 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar up north but were far from convincing in their first hit out of the A-League season. The played a very asymmetric formation which pushed Austin and Georgievski and brought Fahid Ben Khalfallah inside, this would suit our back three down to the ground as it will allow Kilkenny and Brattan to clog up the middle of the park and remove the space that FBK and Marco Rojas thrive on. Bozanic and Valeri will be a solid pair of metronomes in the middle of the park and it promises to be an interesting battle as the midfield has the potential to be seriously overrun with players depending on the formation both teams put out. Possible Starting 11: Thomas Geria Donachie Baro Georgievski Varleri Rojas Bozanis FBK Berisha Austin Prediction: Melbourne City 2-1 Victory. Can’t see either team not scoring given the lopsided quality both teams have in attack, in saying that Mitch Austin vs Connor Chapman will give me nightmares. Played for both clubs: Aziz Behich. Probably mostly known to the Melbourne Victory fans as the bloke who had the inability to put a ball away from 3 yards in a grand final became probably the best long term servant that the club has ever had, over 90 odd games he tore up and down the left flank and become a handy defender in addition to a great attacking weapon for Melbourne Heart. View the full article

Wellington vs Melbourne City, Westpac Stadium, Saturday 8th of October @ 5:35pm AEST. UBET Odds. Melbourne City: $2.05 Wellington Phoenix: $3.50 Anything worth a punt on? – Melbourne City to win both halves at $6.25 seems entirely reasonable. If you ignore the fact that we start the season terribly. And that we don’t play overly well away from home. And that we once drew with this team when they were missing not only 7 players, but also their coach (!). I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Last time they met: A clinical 3-0 for Melbourne City where we arguably could (should?) have scored more. The game will probably most remembered for my call for goal of the season from Harry Novillo where he finished off an audacious chipped pass from Bruno Fornaroli. Also saw the start of the regulation capitulation that we like to observe at the end of the season. Last season’s results: MCY 3:0 PHX (Novillo, Fornaroli x2) 28.03.2016 PHX 2:1 MCY (Mooy, in absentia: Defenders) 26.02.2016 MCY 3:1 PHX (Fornaroli, Novillo x2) 25.01.2016 Team News. Melbourne City: It’s difficult not to be excited about the start of the season. It might be the fact that City showed real promise in their last FFA Cup match against the Wanderers, it might be the fact that our off-season goes for 170 days, who knows. But City come into this one with a nearly full strength squad (minus Tim Cahill on international duty and Ivan Franjic whose been rumoured to have a November start date on his season, good news for all involved) and should look to beat Wellington comfortably. Nicholas Colazo will hopefully get a start to show his ability on the left flank as a marauding full back (looked energetic up and down against Auckland City on family day and took his goal well), while Osama Malik finally looked like the player he can be last time out, making forays into midfield to cut balls out, with the defence looking infinitely more solid with Jakobsen at the heart of defence. Connor Chapman as a right back isn’t an overly exciting thought, but he’s been serviceable enough in the absence of Franjic. The front third is loaded with an embarrassment of riches, with Fitzgerald relegated to the bench. The other bench spots are likely to be very defensive and made up of Retre, Muscat and Rose (though I’d like to see Daniel Arzani move onto the pine if Caceras moves into the starting 11 to replace Cahill). Possible Starting 11. Sorenson Chapman Malik Jakobsen Colazo Kilkenny Brattan Kamou Caceras Brandan Fornaroli. Wellington Phoenix: The Wellington Phoenix should be an exciting team (at least going forward) this year. But not when they’re decimated by international call ups like they will be on Saturday with Barbarouses, McGlinchey, Ridenton and Durante (and Louis Fenton a late call up to replace Ryan Thomas) all to miss and possibly Krishna too (but for the life of me I can’t determine if Fiji have a game or not in this international break). They’ll also struggle to replace Sigmunds graft in the backline, which will likely see a defence pairing of Dylan Fox and new import Marco Rossi who could have a torrid time against a Melbourne City front 3 who will be keen to get off on the right foot. Ernie Merrick does know how to put out a well drilled side though and Bonevacia and Finkler can be tricky when given space. Possible Starting 11: Moss Lowry Fox Rossi Doyle Parkhouse Bonevacia Rodriguez Lia Finkler Watson Prediction: Melbourne City 3-1 Wellington. Melbourne City should have far too much quality for an undermanned Wellington, we’ll conceded in the 70th-80th minute when the game is done for good measure. Played for both clubs: Dylan Macallister. An entirely good question of why Dylan Macallister can be asked here. Because of his goal against Victory in the opening round derby of 12-13 season. Still our only winning start to a season in our history. Also managed to get himself sent off within 11 minutes against Perth which is an achievement in itself. Hard to remember but was a very good player for an entertaining Wellington side a few years before. Currently kicking around in the NPL NSW for Rockdale City. View the full article