- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Testament to the potential of the A-League is the fact more fans will pile through the gates to watch Brisbane Roar than popular NRL side Brisbane Broncos this weekend. It’s not how you start but how you finish, as they say, and the 2010-11 A-League campaign will finish with a wonderful bang.
The build-up to Sunday’s blockbuster has been fraught with tension, with both coaches trading barbs as excitement mounts ahead of a dream finale between the league’s top two finishers.
Asked on a live Courier Mail blog whether Central Coast had recorded a moral victory after drawing 2-2 with the Roar in their recent Suncorp Stadium semi-final, Roar coach Ange Postecoglou replied, “I could not see the moral scoreboard from where I was sitting, so not sure!”
It was a typically witty riposte from a coach who has proved an ornament to the competition, and how Postecoglou has been vindicated for his decision to clear out Brisbane’s playing stocks and reinvigorate the squad with youth.
That Brisbane had seven players named in the Professional Footballers’ Australia assocation Team Of The Year speaks volumes for their dominance, but it’s the fact youngsters like Ivan Franjic, Matt Smith and Kosta Barbarouses were named which deserves recognition, with Postecoglou richly rewarded for investing his faith in youth.
Graham Arnold also deserves applause, and he too has done his part to keep the pot boiling, stating that this is a grand final Brisbane “need to win” and suggesting his side are relishing the role of underdogs.
Arnold’s signing of a couple of formerly European-based players in Josh Rose and Oliver Bozanic has proved a masterstroke, Dutch giant Patrick Zwaanswijk has been an almighty colossus in defence, and even the injury-plagued form of Patricio Perez has been overshadowed by the discovery of precocious young talent Mustafa Amini.
And as oft-spouted a cliche as it is, is there not an element of truth to Arnold’s claim the pressure is all on Brisbane? In other words, am I the only one who sniffs the very faint scent of an upset in the air?
Whatever happens on Sunday, it’s great to finally see some positive headlines, with the city of Brisbane well and truly throwing their support behind the Roar – something the travelling contingent of Mariners fans will be fully aware of as the two teams run out.
How ironic that in the same week NRL supremo David Gallop is left to defend yet another very public player infraction, it’s the A-League stealing his thunder with some refreshingly positive press.
I caught the start of One HD’s new rugby league show “The Game Plan” last night, and the nostalgia-fest kicked off barely ten minutes in with a segment looking back at the legends of yesteryear – despite the new NRL season kicking off in less than 24 hours!
As a sports fan, I’d rather see something fresh, something new and something vibrant, and I can do that on Sunday afternoon along with 50,000 other sports lovers wanting to be part of something special.
We haven’t always been able to say that about football, but our time has come, our time is here and our time is now.
Sunday’s Grand Final will be something special – so we should savour it – because as every Australian football fan can attest, the good times don’t last forever.