With the 2015-2016 A-League season kicking off this Thursday, there’s been hype around the transfers made, coaching changes and all the drama surrounding each club. After brushing past the antics, we come back to one question: who can realistically challenge Melbourne Victory?

Let’s separate the pretenders from the contenders.

Newcastle Jets: Under rehabilitation
Licence revoked by FFA after owner Nathan Tinkler placed the club into voluntary administration failing to pay off debts. Head coach and supporting staff sacked. Attacking trio Edson Montano, Jeronimo Neumann and Marcos Flores all departed without suitable replacements.

The club needs to stabilise itself off the field before anything can be done on the field.

Their main goal this season is to rebuild and stabilise. Experienced Wanderers duo Mateo Poljak and Labinot Haliti join the club to consolidate the defence and provide an attacking outlet. Nigel Boogaard joins as a like-for-like replacement for Scott Neville. But there are no superstars, no big names and too many unproven players in the squad.

The Jets showed good signs and attitude during pre-season but realistically not finishing with the wooden spoon would be an achievement.

Predicted finish: 10th

Central Coast Mariners: Long gone are the glory days
The one word I associate with Central Coast is ‘mediocre’ after their inactivity in the transfer market. They have retained a squad without attacking finesse and let club stalwarts Matt Simon and Mitchell Duke leave.

Fabio Ferreira remains as their only attacking threat, while there are no natural wide men with pace or exceptional footwork or a natural central attacking midfielder for the number 10 role. Their season comes down to how many clean sheets Liam Reddy can keep.

Their main priority is to sign attacking threats and proven goalscorers. It’s going to be a long tedious grind ahead without many goals.

Predicted finish: Ninth

Perth Glory: Within the budget
Perth surprised most by tailing Victory until the salary cap scandal caught up with them. Glory had the pedigree and desire to challenge last season, but are still recovering off the field following the scandal.

Top goalscorers Andy Keogh and Jamie Maclaren have departed and left a huge void in the striking role. They have signed journeyman Guyon Fernandez, who scored 47 goals in 145 Eredivisie appearances, but we all know the outcomes of strikers past their prime coming to the A-League.

Free-kick specialist Nebojsa Marinkovic needs to take leadership in a relatively young squad, however the addition of veteran keeper Ante Covic brings a wealth of experience on and off the field.

Unfortunately, Perth don’t have the same strike force as last season and unless Chris Harold becomes the Harry Kane of the A-League where will the goals come from?

Predicted finish: Eighth

Wellington Phoenix: Unpredictables
Towards the end of last season, Wellington recorded four losses out of their last five home games, won three of their last four away games against Victory, Glory, Brisbane Roar, and drew against Melbourne City.

Phoenix possess the flair and unpredictability to beat any team on their day but play with too much inconsistency. The loss of goal-poacher Nathan Burns leaves them short of a target man but Roy Krishna and Roly Bonevacia should able to lead the attack.

The main issue is the ageing squad. The centre-back pairing of Ben Sigmund and Andrew Durante average 33 years between them while midfield anchors Michael McGlinchey, Albert Riera and Manny Muscat are all at the 30 mark. Being extremely quiet on the transfer scene, you question the ability of the squad to keep up physically with younger teams as the season progresses.

The lack of depth fuels this, signifying any disruption to their first team to be extremely consequential. One injury to McGlincey or Krishna and the season could slip away.

Predicted finish: Seventh

Brisbane Roar: Still searching
The Melbourne Victory of two seasons past (Besart Berisha seems to be a common factor for premierships), the Roar had a below average 2014-2015 campaign after the loss of their star striker, while key man Thomas Broich remained injured for much of the regular reason.

Corona (34) joins from the Spanish lower leagues to replace Luke Brattan in midfield, but like Phoenix, the main concern is the ageing of their key players in Broich (34), Matt McKay (32) and Henrique (30). We saw the affect on the creativity and structure of the attack during the games when Broich was absent.

Brandon Borrello and new recruit Jamie Maclaren seem to be star strikers in the making. They have proven to be lethal in the box but the question is whether they have the ability, consistency and maturity to lead the team from the front week in, week out. Steven Lustica needs to step up and become the dominant midfield leader alongside McKay.

Another serious question is the appointment of John Aloisi as head coach, who comes off a sole head coaching role with Melbourne City which yielded disappointing results. He will need time to implement his own style and that could take too long.

Predicted finish: Sixth

Western Sydney Wanderers: The religion of the West
Who do we sing for? We sing for the Wanderers! Overcommitted to Asian Champions League, burdened by off-field dramas and unrest between the squad and staff, the Wanderers come off an extremely disappointing season.

After the departure of cult hero Shinji Ono and failure of successor Vitor Saba, the revolving doors of the team change room did not stop rotating. Every week, players left and new players were signed allowing no consistency to their squad and hence performances. Their 2015-2016 season transfer policy reads ‘in with the new, out with the old’, parting ways with a majority of foundation players.

Incoming pair Dario Vidosic and Mitch Nichols provide the balance in the box-to-box midfield roles while ex-Newcastle pairing Scott Neville and Jacop Pepper add youth alongside Socceroos centre-back Nikolai Topor-Stanley in defence. Fresh Spanish recruits Andreu, Alberto and Dimas Delgado showed good chemistry in their pre-season matches.

It will take too much time for the many new faces to gel. Mounting a title challenge is out of the question but with Popovic’s experience and quality recruitment, the Wanderers should find themselves playing in the finals series.

Predicted finish: Fifth

Adelaide United: Post-Gombau
The end of the Gombau dynasty at Adelaide demonstrated similar traits to Jurgen Klöpp’s Borussia Dortmund era coming to an end. Gombau instilled open attacking oriented football preached by his Spanish Armada of Isaias Sanchez, Cirio, and Pablo Sanchez. He projected the club from mid-table dwellers to serious contenders in the last two seasons.

Eli Babalj joins on loan from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, bringing with him an extra dimension of attack out wide, while Iacopo La Rocca and Mate Dugandzic provide experienced midfield depth for the squad and are proven quality A-League players.

On the field their main concern is the responsibility of Bruce Djite being injury prone, as he is the sole central forward. Adelaide should be pushing to sign a backup target man that can fit into their system as the main priority.

With Gombau’s departures, the passion and presence that he brought to every match has left. It will take time for the team to adapt to a new coaching system and the atmosphere will no doubt be different. However, with the talent available in Marcelo Carrusca, Tarek Elrich, Eugene Galekovic and the Spanish Armada, Adelaide should have not problems playing in the finals series.

Predicted finish: Fourth

Sydney FC: AS Monaco
Affluent club that produces stars who eventually leave for bigger European clubs (sound familiar?). It was an incredibly consistent 2014-2015 campaign for Sydney FC, led up front by Golden Boot winner Marc Janko, Alex Brosque and Socceroo Bernie Ibini.

However, the off-season saw the exit of Ibini (Club Brugge), star midfielders Terry Antonis (PAOK) and Peter Triantis, custodian centre-half Nikola Petkovic (Westerlo), Janko (Basel) and his understudy Corey Gameiro (Melbourne City). Their only attacking signing thus far comes in the form of Matt Simon, who is nowhere near the class of Janko or has the potential of Gameiro.

One needs to question the decisions made by the club hierarchy on their transfer policy. They are still in the process of signing of marquee player and most likely will have a busy mid-season transfer window. Until they bring in appropriate replacements for a club of their reputation and stature in the A-League, a title challenge seems far off.

Sydney FC just do not have the same class across the squad to challenge the stronger teams. A slow start to the season will alarm the management to bring in the big name marquee and based on the high possibility of mid-season reinforcements I have place them to finish third.

Predicted finish: Third

Melbourne City: In the making
Becoming the sister club to Manchester City brings high expectations; something Melbourne City have not lived up to in previous seasons. Whether it were failed big name recruits past their prime, lack of focus on defence, poor coaching or injuries to key players, one way or another City have failed to live up to their hype.

For the first time, a real change is passing through the club and that breeze carries with it a desire and hunger to win. They have made the most out of the transfer window by bringing in world class ex-Premier League keeper Thomas Sorensen, Socceroo custodian Ivan Franjic, promising striker Gameiro and target man Bruno Fornaroli.

In past seasons, City lacked a clinical goalscorer who could guarantee 10 goals a season. They will be hoping to find that in Fornaroli and his back up Gameiro. Aaron Mooy, a future superstar, and Slovenia captain Robert Koren are into their second seasons at City. We saw in their demolition of Heidelburg in the FFA Cup, the chemistry of their key players in the midfield.

Look for Mooy to have a breakout season, if he wasn’t a superstar already.

The squad and coaching staff are all into their second year, having had the time to gel and fine tune their system. If the season goes smoothly without any key injuries or major off-field dramas, City have the squad and resources to challenge for the title.

Predicted finish: Second

Melbourne Victory: The Dynasty
After their seventh domestic trophy last season (three premierships, three championships, one pre-season cup), Victory have consolidated their stature as the team to beat. Under Kevin Muscat, their 4-2-1-3 formation flourished with Berisha, the target man, serviced by the midfield maestro Guilherme Finkler.

The footwork and pace of their wide men in Kosta Barbarouses and Fahid Ben Khalfallah was unmatched, and balanced by the class Mark Milligan and Carl Valeri in midfield. At the back Matthieu Delpierre formed an impenetrable defence losing just one game when he was in the starting line-up.

Socceroo Oliver Bozanic comes in as a direct replacement for departed club captain Milligan, and if Victory can reproduce last year’s form, barely any A-League teams will keep up. After coming off a premiership season, the question lies over whether the players still have that same hunger and desire to win trophies.

Berisha looks unstoppable in the box and with the class of players around him will guarantee at least 10 goals. Their key issue is the lack of quality depth in the squad. If they manage to avoid key injuries like last season, the first starting XI outclass any other in the A-League on paper.

Backed by the resources and facilities of the club itself, Victory also have the ability to attract top players in the mid-season window to reinforce their title defence. Form is temporary, class is permanent. Victory is all class.

Predicted finish: First