When Nikolai Torpor-Stanley slid in on Archie Thompson on Saturday night, he guaranteed Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic had a ready-made excuse after another costly defeat for the visitors.
There’s no doubt in my mind Victory were denied a cast-iron penalty against the Newcastle Jets as Thompson’s pace took him around Torpor-Stanley and into a scoring position, prompting the Jets defender to scythe Thompson down.
“We all make mistakes” was how Durakovic summed up referee Jarred Gillett’s decision to wave play on but the embattled Victory coach had every reason to feel hard done by regarding the decision.
Meanwhile, journalists everywhere had something to report on and analyse.
And as dire as some of the refereeing has been this season, the truth is it generates some much needed talking points.
It’s a similar scenario to what’s going on down at Adelaide United, as the Reds lurch from crisis to crisis under coach Rini Coolen.
Adelaide’s dismal form raises some interesting questions about the Reds – including “why have they forgotten how to defend?” – but it also prompts some scrutiny of the men who recently decided to extend Coolen’s contract.
Lawyer and current United Chairman Greg Griffin and former North Adelaide AFL club executive Glenn Elliott were two of the figures who saw fit to hand Coolen a four-year contract extension at the start of the season.
No doubt the pair thought signing a European coach to a long-term contract was a smart thing to do, but what do they do now that United are sinking faster than the Titanic?
Could it be that a pair with little football experience were hoodwinked by the notion that signing a European coach would automatically guarantee success?
Perhaps – yet Coolen is sitting pretty knowing the Reds can hardly afford to terminate a contract reputedly worth more than $1 million.
The kerfuffle surrounding Coolen’s coaching capers at least has people talking about Adelaide United.
It’s a shame former North Queensland coach Franz Straka didn’t give his infamous beige jacket to compatriot Vitezslav Lavicka when he left the A-League, since beige is the colour which best sums up Lavicka’s personality.
The affable Czech coach seems like a lovely guy but when Sydney FC started losing under Lavicka the Sky Blues dropped off the media radar.
That’s not to say excess column inches necessarily equates to good football or even stable off-field situations but what talking points do is help foster a culture of discussion around the A-League.
And it’s culture which helps entice neutral fans to turn out at games, as many in the more than 17,000-strong Newcastle Jets crowd did on Saturday night.
They were joined by Newcastle Knights coaching supremo Wayne Bennett and the Jets would do well to pick the mind of a coach who has a healthy respect for the round ball game.
Nathan Tinkler is in the midst of building a multi-sport empire in the Hunter and the Jets looked as stylish as they did successful in their red and blue stripes against the Victory.
Ordinarily changing a club’s colours is a sure-fire way to alienate long-term supporters without encouraging too many new fans to clamber on board.
But in the Jets’ case, mirroring the colours of NRL side the Knights is a strategically sound decision in a fiercely partisan town like Newcastle and I’m sure plenty of casual fans will return after sampling a fabulous A-League atmosphere on Saturday night.
So whether it’s dodgy refereeing decisions, coaching controversies or colourful new kits, what the A-League clearly needs are some obvious talking points.
We’ve had plenty so far this season and long may it continue, as the A-League looks to generate some comprehensive media coverage and ingrain itself in the psyche of Australian sports fans.
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The real concern comes down to football's growing trend of big corporations taking up slices of the world game at the expense of smaller teams.
