The wait is nearly over! The City Loop podcast and A-League season both kick off this week, and I’m here to introduce you to the extraordinary (and just plain ordinary) pod boys. 

We’re very excited to get started, so strap yourself in and learn a little bit more about the lads who will be giving you headaches for the foreseeable future:

Since 2010.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

Through the terrace and Talking City (RIP).

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

Kutleshi and Marcondes for the men. Momo for the women.

Where are City finishing this season?

3rd for the men. Girls are winning the treble.

Jessee

How long have you supported City for?

2010 but I’ve been a member since 2016.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

Met Regan through Twitter, Declan, Tom O’Keefe, Mikey and Jimmy through Talking City. The rest were introduced through Mikey.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

Emiliano Marcondes and Cortnee Vine.

Where are City finishing this season?

3rd (we should be finishing 1st though) and a Grand Final for ALM. Treble win for ALW.

Jimmy

How long have you supported City for?

I’ve been supporting Heart/City since our inception.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

I met Tommy C and Nick at the Impy before Round 1 of the 2017/18 season and the rest is history.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

I’m very very excited to see Rosetto and Mabil.

Where are City finishing this season?

We will finish 3rd for the men and 2nd for the dub.

Mikey

How long have you supported City for?

Since 2011, I have had school friends who were heart foundation members, but I didn’t have Foxtel and didn’t take a proper interest in the league until 2014 when I started more regularly going to games.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

Some of the Loop boys I know from the terraces, some I know from Talking City. One I met through a friend at a train station (wasn’t on the city loop, unfortunately).

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

Mabil, he was destined to return to Adelaide and I think the fact he’s chosen us shows we’re building something he wants to be part of and that he has something left to prove.

Where are City finishing this season?

2nd in the ALM, 1st ALW, Champions of Asia ALW.

Nick

How long have you supported City for?

I’ve supported the club since the Heart days.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

Met Mikey at a train station, Tommy C and Jimmy at the Impy before a game, and everyone else from being in the terrace over the years.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

From the men’s side I’m excited to see Cascante play. For the women’s it’ll be Cortnee Vine.

Where are City finishing this season?

Both the men and women are finishing top of the table.

Regan

How long have you supported City for?

I’ve been attending games since 2014, but have been a member since 2016. My first love was Damien Duff while my first nemesis was Archie Thompson (or Jimmy’s trumpet, it’s a close one).

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

I met Mikey, Nick and Jessee through Twitter. Most of my school mates were Victory fans, so there was no hope there, I had to find my people. I found Declan and Tom O’Keefe through Talking City, and the rest of the boys through Mikey. Now they’re all my closest mates, and I can’t wait for the season to start so we can drink beers in the terrace again.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

Mens: Awer fucking Mabil. A great bloke off the pitch, and a fantastic footballer on. If he can stay fit, he’ll be hard to stop all season long. 

Womens: Cortnee Vine. What a statement for City to sign two outstanding national team players.

Where are City finishing this season?

I’m going with a respectable 3rd for the boys. We’ll score plenty of goals but won’t be too solid at the back. The girls are winning everything.

Tommy C (TC)

How long have you supported City for?

Member for 10 years this year but been around since 2014.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

Basically a founding member of the group, used to go with a mate from school but he wasn’t that keen. I decided to go to the Impy on my own for a game and met Nick at the pub.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

In terms of excited to see, excited to see if Caputo can kick on with some talent around him, ie. Marcondes and Mabil (hopefully they’re not made of glass).

Where are City finishing this season?

We’re doing a classic; finishing 3rd-5th.

Tom O’Keefe

How long have you supported City for?

I started supporting the club right at the time it was formed as Melbourne Heart. I attended my first game as a ball-boy for a win against Wellington. Ended up directly in front of the terrace and immediately fell in love.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

I met a few of the City Loop boys through Talking City, but started hanging out with the majority of them last year and very quickly became great mates.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

I’m very excited specifically for Awer Mabil. He’s obviously an excellent player, but I also think he’s a really great human and I’m excited to see him at the club. For the women, I know it’s very obvious, but it really is impossible to look past Courtnee Vine as the player I’m most excited for. She’s such an unbelievable signing and another A-grader for an already stacked team.

Where are City finishing this season?

ALM: I think we’ll make a tilt for the title, I’m optimistic, but I think we’re going to finish 1st.

ALW: I think we will win the treble this season. That last step in Asia will finally happen this year.

Tommy Dubs

How long have you supported City for?

I have supported City since the Heart days in 2010, growing up in an AFL household I had little exposure to football until primary school. In 2010 when I first looked at Australian Football all my mates were going for Victory and even at ten years old I knew they were a bunch of scumbags, so I got behind the Heart.

What was your introduction to The City Loop boys?

The first City Loop guys that I met were TC and Jimmy, TC I’d met and spoken to briefly at a game, before officially meeting both guys at a friendly against Guangzhou R&F at CFA in Bundoora. I remember seeing Jimmy and thinking “oh that’s the dude who plays the trumpet, he must be so cool” and then immediately realising how incorrect I was after one conversation with the guy. Fast forward a few months and the two of us alongside a few others are heading up The Melburnians and then later City Terrace. Progressively meeting all the other City Loop boys through that community. We’ve all gotten on famously ever since; Jimmy is still not cool.

Who are you most excited to see play this season?

Most of the guys have probably said Mabil, I think Awer’s gonna tear the league apart but I’m most excited to see what Emiliano Marcondes can do for us, Attacking Midfielders are my favourite position and one of his calibre should shock a few around the country.

Where are City finishing this season?

I’m one of the most biased City fans out there, Men’s I’ll go with second behind Auckland, City Women are absolutely stacked, they’ll finish first in the league and I’m tipping them to go one better in Asia than a couple years back and take the whole thing out.

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Get excited. It’s nearly time. Check out The City Loop podcast; first episode drops this week!