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Kudos to North Queensland Fury. The Fisters might have come in for some criticism from me for their stupid name and wasting all that money on Robbie Fowler, but they’ve picked up one of the most promising young players in Australian in Osama Malik.
I really can’t get my head around how Aurelio Vidmar and his mates out the back of Bada Bing (sorry, the Adelaide boardroom) could let this kid – he’s 18 – go.
He’s been a breath of fresh air every time I’ve seen him play and was brilliant for the Reds in their Club World Cup match against Gamba Osaka.
Adelaide have a habit of letting go of players that other clubs are more than happy to pick up: Diego Walsh, Jonas Salley, Jason Spagnuolo, Matthew Kemp, et al. Not to mention the losses of players of the ilk of Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns, which were inevitable but hit the club hard.
Vidmar is playing down the team’s chances of replicating its success of 2008/09, which is a usual coaching ploy before the commencement of any new season.
But I have a feeling he’s bang on the money.
At this moment in time Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and (believe it or not) Sydney are my picks (in no particular order) for positions one through to four at the end of 2009/10, with the new “top six” for the finals rounded out by Brisbane and possibly Adelaide in sixth, at best.
Perth really impressed me at the end of last season and I’m shattered we didn’t get to see Eugene Dadi and Nikita Rukavytsya lead the line for Glory for another season. With Rukavytsya in Australia for another twelve months and finally hitting his straps, I truly believe the West Australian side might have had what it takes to become champions.
But he’s gone to FC Twente, which is good for him and good for Australian football, if not good for the A-League.
I don’t know enough about his replacement, former Energie Cottbus striker Branko Jelic, to really comment, but I really hope for Perth’s sake he’s even half as good as the young Ukrainian-Australian, who scored one of the best goals I’ve seen from an Australian striker, against Queensland Roar in January.
Which brings up the question of how Ruka wasn’t picked for the expanded squad selected by Pim Verbeek for the “Super June” World Cup qualifiers.
Surely a 21-year-old (he turns 22 on 22 June) picked up by a club that finished second in the Eredivisie last season under Steve McLaren and ahead of Ajax and PSV on the ladder, and which plays Champions League football next season, should have been a passenger to Dubai this week, even if just to hang around with the senior players and “bond” or put out the cones on the training paddock?
But, then again, there’s a fair few of those about on the FFA staff, isn’t there?
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