MILOS Ninkovic and his attacking comrades are taking the headlines at Sydney FC, but the less-heralded contribution of other members of the team hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Brandon O’Neill’s form in central midfield has been noted in various quarters — including Perth, where we hear Glory are keen to repatriate another WA-born talent.

It might be a stretch to draw parallels with Paul Pogba, but Glory erred in letting O’Neill leave in the first place 18 months ago.

The 21-year-old is one of 14 players off contract at Sydney, with the club in no rush apparently to tie them down for next season — or indeed coach Graham Arnold, though Arnie is said to be genuinely relaxed about his future given his side’s blistering start to the season.

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FORMER Adelaide and Sydney defender Iain Fyfe’s remarkable return to professional football at Newcastle has a neat twist in how it came about.

Fyfe will join the Jets as an injury replacement for Daniel Mullen, out for the long term with a knee injury. For the past two years Fyfe has been playing in the SA state league with Campbelltown City, coached by … Daniel’s father, the legendary Joe Mullen.

Jets coach Mark Jones was of course based in Adelaide until his last-minute Jets appointment, as coach of the Reds’ women’s team.

media_camera Sydney FC midfielder Brandon O'Neill.

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FOOTBALL Federation Australia has a new communications chief, a chap called John Kent who has worked in newspapers, sports marketing and the BBC.

Much has been made by FFA of Kent’s love of football, but it seems he also has a love of music. While at the BBC, he was an enthusiastic member of a rock group — whose drummer was none other than Fox Sports football commentator Simon Hill.

Sadly neither man can remember the name of the group, which possibly indicates the long-term effects of the volume they were playing at.

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BRISBANE defender Jade North was happy to have a dig at Sydney FC this week, saying that the Sky Blues “are flying at the moment but having said that, they’ve been quite lucky as well, not conceding as many as I thought they maybe should have.”

You might have thought that North would have learned the hard way about such hostages to fortune. In 2008, with Newcastle 2-0 up from the first leg of their semi-final against the Mariners, North trash-talked Central Coast’s style in the Telegraph on game day.

Mariners boss Lawrie McKinna tore up his pre-game address and simply pinned copies of North’s quotes all round the dressing room. The Central Coast duly overran Newcastle and went through 3-2.

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TALKING of McKinna, now CEO of the Jets of course, we hear the stakes in the F3 derby are getting high. McKinna has promised to spend a day wearing a Mariners jersey if his side loses, in a bet with Masterchef winner Julie Goodwin.

McKinna was also challenged by his counterpart at the Mariners, Shaun Mielekamp, to fly the Mariners flag from the Jets offices if the Gosford side wins. Only problem - there’s no flagpole.

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LOOK what was spotted hanging up at Sydney FC’s dressing room this week. Looks like the Sky Blues will have a bespoke kit for the FFA Cup Final on Wednesday November 30.

media_camera Sydney FC’s shirt for the FFA Cup final.

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WE always thought that former Brisbane Roar skipper Matt Smith was a smart cookie. Though Smith is contracted to Thailand club Bangkok Glass for another two seasons, the 34-year-old is planning for life beyond his playing career.

He’s already started studying for his coaching badges and he also is doing some media work, having been part of ESPN’s pre-match coverage of Australia’s 2-2 away draw with Thailand on Tuesday night.

Coached by former Socceroos assistant Aurelio Vidmar, Smith starts training next month for the 2017 Thai Premier League season.

Originally published as Glory out to reclaim O’Neill