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There has been plenty of A-League talk over the past two days but not much of it has focused on upcoming action on the pitch.
It is hard to work out if that is because of off-field announcements or a more widespread and on-going malaise.
In the case of Central Coast’s clash with Brisbane Roar at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday, much of the attention on both teams dealt with their respective Champions League matches in midweek.
Both teams played relatively well and curiously both survived missed penalties and being reduced to 10-men in their 1-1 draws with Seongnam Ilhwa and Ulsan Hyundai respectively.
But as for Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix, you’d hardly know they’re playing on Saturday if you read only Australia’s east coast media.
It’s not just in the papers but also online that there’s a surprising lack of chatter going on about the Glory and Phoenix clash.
Sometimes I see complaints from Glory fans about the lack of coverage their team receives outside of Perth, but I’ve written a few times about the Glory for pieces that end up sinking like lead balloons.
Aside from the contributions of Roar regular Nathan of Perth, I rarely see much online interaction from Glory fans – and the same goes for supporters of Wellington.
Of course that will be a moot point if Glory top the 12,600 crowd that turned out to see their team in finals action against Melbourne Heart last week.
But my concern in regard to Wednesday’s announcement of a ‘Western Sydney’ team is the obvious disconnect between those who call themselves football fans and those who actually interact with the A-League.
Fox Sports analyst Mark Bosnich made a similar point on Gold Coast United during the week, pointing out that for all the indignation directed at FFA for their axing, few people bothered to register any online interest in their plight – let alone actually attend games.
And while the FFA has clearly made mistakes in its handling of both Gold Coast and North Queensland Fury, they can’t always be blamed for fans not turning up at games or engaging in any way with the A-League.
At any rate, I can’t see the Mariners overhauling the Roar in Gosford and I think a Glory side on a hot streak will have too much firepower for a travel-weary Wellington.
With the Phoenix defence set to pay close attention to former team-mate Shane Smeltz, I can see someone like Billy Mehmet popping up off the bench to score a late winner and send the Glory through.
They’ll invariably face Central Coast because the Mariners won’t be able to overturn a two-goal deficit against the Roar, in my opinion.
Brisbane may have finished second to the Mariners during the regular season but the Roar are still the standard-markers as far as the overall competition is concerned.
Hopefully both games this weekend are high-quality, entertaining clashes that provide us with plenty of talking points.
Because as much as the birth of a new club and the demise of a former one are obvious talking points, there is still a pivotal finals series to be played out in front of us.