Roar appeal against Brattan dismissed

I don't see a move happening either. The discussion should be taking place now, but could you imagine the opening conversation with the government : "Hi, we're the Bakrie Brothers and we'd like you to spend millions of dollars on a stadium for our football team ...." "No, not NRL the "other" football, you know, soccer the world game ..." "Broke? No where do you hear that? The Courier Mail? .... I didn't think they wrote about football .... I mean soccer'" "So anyway, how about it? We promise to turn Brisbane Riar into the BEST team in Queensland if you'll do it"

:)

Had a good chuckle at this Waz, one of your best

This is an option that should be looked at. Brisbane City Council own the premises and with an annual budget bigger than Tasmania and Northern Territory combined perhaps they could at least part fund a boutique stadium at QEII. The transport issues can be solved with buses to and from the Railway Stations at Sunnybank or Fruitgrove and ample parking on site. Admittedly people living on the northside will have reservations but the stadium is only 10 -15 minutes from the CBD. To me it is a better location than Ballymore which is surrounded by a residential area and infinitely a better option than Perry Park which is a pigs ear. An alternative would have been the Exhibition grounds which could have been designed into the redevelopment and other options could be Albion Park, Doomben or even a redevelopment of Boondall. Perhaps we should lobby for football to be included into the commonwealth games because there has been millions allocated to swimming, shooting, cycling etc and it would be a shame to see those facilities in 33years time having a similar outcome to QEII.

I agree. I think very good public transport is a necessity if a move happens at all. SS still has good views really from everywhere, accessible, facilities nearby, it's only that it is way too big for regular crowds. and no one really seems to know the cost of it. on the balance it comes down to one's own opinion whether to move or not.

weren't you at the old ANZ stadium which used to get 50k plus to some Broncos games mid 90s? (i was there) there is a running track around the field in front of the stands so the view is not ideal. my gut feeling is there isn't going to be funding for a new stadium but keep pitching the ideas Waz. I don't see a move happening honestly. at least Perry Park has a train station right next to it.

Injuries were a major factor last season Waz, and will be again imo. No club can carry the injuries we did last year, without recruiting. So far this year we are yet to field a first choice team, and probably won't until January. It was nice to read the club article on steps they've taken to reduce injuries. Otherwise, while things can always be improved, I'm confident we've got a great team. Against Newcastle Jets the other day, we had DeVere, McKay, Henrique, Stefanuto, McLaren, Borello, Theo, Brats (ok, his replacement) missing and Solórzano first game back, plus Broich and Polenz off early. That killed us last year. Fingers crossed.

I agree Stevo. It is a terrible location for access. Any change to Suncorp has to be closer to the city, with Suncorp standard access for all by public transport.

Not true. Roar play soccer through the concert season and Suncorp pass up several outdoor concerts each year because they can't fit them in. Taking Roar out would allow them to stage several more concerts each year with each one likely to have over 60,000 that's a real incentive to free concert time up by moving Roar out (last year we had to move ACL games to the coast this year were having to take the Wellington Phoenix game go Cairns and play an "extra" away game to allow two concerts to take place in December). Political will is the key but unfortunately there is no infrastructure plan on QLD, never has been ....

It should but it wasn't. Thwaite would be good as a start if he's still available, the Greek guy making a cameo in the FFA Cup has been mentioned but the name that's got me interested is Dario is reportedly on the move - that would be a coup.

Sounds eminently sensible, but the government are not going to build another stadium to lose a Suncorp tenant, unfortunately.

Well said, jb. I am in complete agreement, particularly on Bratten. His lack of pace, most noticeable when he had to recover from a lost ball, was a serious weakness. I was astounded when he was called into the NT squad. My felling is that he would struggle in the Championship. But then again, Jedinak prospered, and he has the mobility and pace of an aged carthorse. Good to luck to Luke. I hope it works out for him, but I agree - there is no shortage of options to replace him.

The money should have been there when the transfer windows was open.

With transfer window over and being so close to start of season, you summed it up right - what "crumbs" can JA find. I fear "crumbs" aren't the answer to our problems. The point of a coaching change is also to allow the new coach to acquire players, which has not occurred in this case.

Now we're talking about normal problems again :) Recruitment and refreshing Anges squad has been an issue for 2-3 years - Mulvey/Stead or whoever was in charge of it did a poor job and last season we were creaking a bit - this off season we've been hamstrung by events. However, better late than never, we have money to sign 4 players - two decent and two squad members. This includes Bratts replacement and a striker - let's see what crumbs Aloisi can find!?!

My biggest gripe about the squad is really echoed in your questions. Questions regarding Petratos and Stef, or even Hingert should not come up anymore. Petratos is just not good enough. Stef is way past his time, and Hingert has not overcome his same weakness season in and season out. Besides he is not a left sided player. Roar are stuck with players who really should not be considered anymore. Even Henrique being a visa player has never made his case as a starting player. It is essential for clubs to refresh the platers, there is no cash for JA to recruit. My guess is Broich is going to be the main guy (again) this season.

Lions bailed in favour of a move to Springfield and then bailed on that option, at the moment their plans are up in the air and they have even less money than Roar lol only with a bigger sugar daddy in the AFL

You might be right but do risk falling in to the trap of placing too much emphasis on preseason friendlies. Admittedly I would sleep better at night had we knocked in some goals against HAL sides but in the same vein, 2 games played and we've only conceded one goal and that was a bobbling deflection on a bitch of a pitch. We'll know by round five - all excuses can stop by then. The key for me is the decisions Aloisi needs to make viz: * Young or Theo (if he picks Theo he's showing unnecessary caution and ignoring form) * Steff or Hingert at left back (Hingert should get the nod) * who replaces Bratts - McKay or Lustica or a new signing? * where does he play Broich? * does he persist with Petratos (if he does I will believe Dimi has naked photographs of JA!!) * what does he do with the right wing - persist with Borrello or move him if drop him? * play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or both? That's 7 decisions he should have made during preseason - I just hope he has .... and made the right choices.

We've had the discussion on Borrello before and we both agree he's no winger so yup, try him in the middle as the logic is sound. My take on the new search for a "versatile striker" was pretty much to fill this gap

It's hard to say how good Roar will be this season but judging from FFA Cup and pre-season matches against A-League teams, we have not scored a single goal which is not a good sign at all. All we have done is beat up on little non A-League teams. I don't see Roar at the same level as Victory, SFC or Reds at this time.