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Reading Jason Culina’s blog on TWG website, it is no surprise to see that he views this football season as the best so far.
Although he has only been here for not yet two full seasons, he states that this is by far the best HAL season to date, with most professional Australian football commentators having come to the same conclusion.
Here are some of his thoughts on how the HAL has performed this year and still with two to three of the season to go.
“Everyone has been talking about Brisbane Roar and with good reason. It is playing a very attractive brand of football this season. I must say, since I have been in the A-League the standard has improved dramatically. The football this season is much better than it was when I signed with Gold Coast United,” said Culina.
I personally agree with his observations.
There has been some very good Australian football played so far this season. We have all heard how good the historic Melbourne derby was and few would argue against that analysis, on how good that game was.
Culina goes on: “On the pitch you notice it with how fit the guys are, but the biggest difference is tactically, where you have teams playing a much smarter brand of football. Players are clearly thinking a lot more about the system of play and the way their actions effect what the team is trying to achieve.”
So, with that in mind, why has Australian football taken a quantum leap in Version 6 of the HAL 2010? Culina goes on further to explain his observations.
“The league has some great marquee players this year in Marcos Flores and Thomas Broich, but I have noticed that across the park players are getting smarter, fitter and stronger. People are suggesting the quality of imports and coaches are the main reasons for this lift in standard and while I agree to an extent, I believe the growth in standard and popularity of the league is due mainly to the natural evolution of the competition.“
So the league is getting older and wiser with everything moving forward on the playing field. But still there remains one puzzling question; why has the media dropped off instead of growing with Australian football? Because simply in my view, it has not caught the imagination of the hard-nosed anti-football mainstream media, who will go on to protect their self serving interests to no end, with their first love in the other major codes.
What then will it take to break through?
Well, we saw it almost happen when Adelaide United FC made the final of the ACL only to fall at the final hurdle. Then came of course the outrageous columns written about the HAL and Adelaide United by Rebecca Wilson fuelled by the disinterest of the national manager Pim Verbeek of the HAL with his infamous statement; playing in the HAL is no better than training in the Bundesliga club’s reserve team.
Make no mistake about it, they were damaging to the HAL and Ben Buckley should have stepped in right then and publicly reprimanded him fuelling negativity, but his response was slow and weak.
Culina explains further: “Don’t think the A-League goes unnoticed in Europe. I get plenty of phone calls and texts from guys I either played with or against asking about the A-League and sussing out what it’s all about. While I can’t give you any scoops as to who may or may not be looking to come here, it is encouraging to see that as the competition grows and improves, so does the interest overseas.”
So where to now for the HAL?
It is simple; the first Australian football club to break through and win the ACL will be making Australian football history, which will change a lot of the negativity that surrounds Australian football in the media that exists today.
The football knockers will have to acknowledge that, Australian football has certainly created a milestone and will continue to go on to greater achievements.
Perhaps, Australian football could be knocking on the door to the next great frontier of world football club supremacy with fine performances in the world club football championships, not that we would stand any chance of winning it, but we will be there competing with the greatest football clubs in the world.
I’m not sure if it is going to happen this time around with SFC or Melbourne Victory FC. But perhaps next year, it will be Adelaide United FC or the Brisbane Roar FC, to go that crucial one step further.
I certainly hope so.
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