Sydney have run out winners in the 2016-17 A-League grand final, needing a penalty shootout to defeat the Melbourne Victory. Here are the player ratings.
All the wash-up from the A-League grand final
» Recap: Sydney are champs, as they deserve
» Five talking points from the match
» Player ratings: Melbourne Victory
» Georgievski wins Joe Marston Medal
» Full match report
» Re-live the live blog
Danny Vukovic – 7.5
A fairly quiet affair in the end for Vukovic throughout the game, if not consistent in front of the net, but his heroics in the shootout will be remembered for a long time.
He made an absolutely massive save at a key stage of the shootout, picking the Marco Rojas penalty and deflecting it away from goal to set up the Milos Ninkovic winner to seal the title.
Rhyan Grant – 10
It was a tough call not to give him the Joe Marston after playing one of the games of his career, and what a stage to do it.
His job description says left-back, but he’s such an attacking presence down the sideline, showing off his skills as a provider throughout the night before turning hero in the second half.
His equalising goal was just his third of the season, but it could be the most important moment of his footballing career to date. An outstanding performance that will no doubt see him breach the Socceroos squad again in the future.
Alex Wilkinson – 6
Wilkinson was a steady hand at the back for Sydney, picking his targets well and showing a lot of aggression in the first half. Not quite the standout showing he would have liked, but a good game nonetheless.
Jordy Buijs – 7
It was unfortunate to see him limp off during extra time after a strong performance from the Dutch back.
He was cool across the sidelines, keeping the Melbourne counter at bay a few times while showing off some short passing skills of his own through the defensive midfield.
Michael Zullo – 6.5
Zullo found himself in the midst of some heavy tackles a few times throughout the night, even bagging himself a booking in the process.
Overall though, Zullo kept himself busy across the park throughout the entire 120 minutes without blowing the Victory off the park.
Brandon O’Neill – 6.5
O’Neill had an interesting game, popping up in some big moments throughout the game, but really taking on that workhorse role of consistency as a background player.
It would have been good to see him jump on that counter a few more times as he tended to lean on the defensive side of the midfield.
Josh Brillante – 9
Brillante was superb on and off the ball throughout the final, becoming a brick wall in defence and often winning the turnovers through centre field.
He played a slight attacking role around the edges, but generally did a great job in guiding the Sky Blues around the park on the transition and in the fringe defence.
Filip Holosko – 8
A short stint for the Slovakian was fairly fruitful one, firing off on a goal on more than one occasion as Sydney looked to equalise in the first half.
He was never going to go the full two hours, but the one he did was aggressive and showed good intent.
Milos Ninkovic – 10
The man of the hour nearly did enough to earn the perfect ten in that single penalty than the rest of the game, but luckily, his performance for the opening 120 minutes was just as good.
He lived up to the hype of his player of the season award by putting in another stellar showing on the big stage, creating opportunities on both sides of the stadium, guiding his side back into the contest in the second half.
Alex Brosque – 9
The veteran skipper put in a typically Brosque-esque performance full of chances and brilliant vision around the penalty area.
He was able to open up for a few shots inside the box, but was thwarted twice by defenders intercepting the ball. He fed the long balls down the edges throughout the night and had the Sky Blues on the front foot through extra time.
Bobo – 6.5
The Brazilian was taken off nine minutes short of regulation time in a tough outing for the striker who was really shut down well by the Victory defence who simply gave him no wiggle room in striking distance.
Matt Simon – 7
Simon found himself being tangled up in some physical encounters throughout extra time and did well not to get sucked in, but his performance was hurt by inconsistencies down the sideline.
He was still able to work well with short-passing across the midfield though and gave quick ball down the line when needed.
David Carney – 9
Carney was everywhere throughout his time on the field, having been brought on just before the end of the first hour.
He nearly found the back of the net after just coming on, but despite finding the post, the ensuing deflection did lead to the Rhyan Grant equaliser.
He had a few more shots that were right on target and nearly found the back of the net as well. His positional play inside the penalty area really opened him up as an attacking threat to the defence.
Seb Ryall – 4
Nothing against Ryall who did nothing to warrant a poor rating, however, he was only on the park for about four minutes before the penalty shootout and simply wasn’t given enough time to make an impact.
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