Who is the A-League's most valuable asset?

As managers sweat and pour over tactical systems, wearing erasers into nubs, and wander through the endless grind of team-building, the gaffers that have a stud to build around must always feel grateful they have a shiny pile to grip onto.

Football is a team sport, more fluid and interconnected than almost every other group pursuit. But the game is still dotted with sought-after, superlative individuals, who set themselves apart.

These are the players around whom teams tend to revolve, whether by design or pure gravity of talent, and the A-League – while modest in the context of world football – is no less populated with relative studs than any other league.

The top teams have have had their stars have shone. But which one is the most appealing, the most coveted, the stud that every other gaffer wants braying and flexing in their own stable?

A mixture of talent, current form, age, and position must be assessed here; attackers will be inevitably more highly coveted than defenders, such is their tangible effect on the outcomes of games.

The current form of the player is also worth weightily valuing; Gui Finkler is a sublime attacker, but the form of the Phoenix – in part a result of the Brazilian’s own under-performance – means this will be the only time he will be mentioned in this discussion.

Younger players hold more value, and the extent to which a player’s success being a result of a specific team system must also be tentatively evaluated.

What will not be included in the appraisal is any commercial or marketing value, because Tim Cahill would enjoy an unfair advantage over every other contestant. Naturally – somewhat naive though it may seem – the prospect of a player being whisked away to play in a better league, now matter how likely, will not be used as a mark against them.

5. Besart Berisha

The Albanian striker leads the 2016/17 Golden Boot race, and this season ascended to the top of the all-time A-League goal-scoring charts. He is, and has been for some time, the most reliable goalscorer in the country.

His ravenous work-rate, and willingness to drop into deeper areas to help defend, only makes his contribution more obvious, as if the goals weren’t already visible enough.

More than that, the venom that laces every mad dash, the aggression that churns with every physical encounter, forces waves of similar vigour throughout his team.

A competitor as fierce as Berisha is almost as valuable in the dressing room as he is on the pitch, and the fact that he’s only 31, with at least three good years of plunder left in him – who knows, maybe Berisha’s competitive furnace will sustain him for longer – earns him a spot on the list.

4. (tied) Joshua Brillante and Brandon O’Neill
Graham Arnold’s team tallied with smirking ease their fortieth point of the season in just 16 games, the fastest team to hit that mark in league history.

Arnold enjoys a rare luxury. His defence have been by some yawning distance the best in the league, and happily, also vying with the Victory for the league’s most potent attack.

But one of the main reasons – or, rather, two of them – his team have enjoyed such a spangling season is that both ends of his team are either built on, or protected by, two of the league’s best young midfielders.

Brandon O’Neill and Josh Brillante are 22 and 23, respectively, but both have marshalled the midfield this season with the consummate authority of two weathered veterans. Both players rank inside the top ten for interceptions among A-League midfielders.

For tackles completed by midfielders, O’Neill is ninth in the league, and Brillante is 15th. Both are inside the top five for aerials duels won by midfielders. Both have fouled often, setting the gritty tone Arnold so desires. With both players much more defensively-minded than otherwise, the fact they are both in the top 15 for key passes made is astounding.

Josh Brillante expressed his comfort after the 2-0 win over Adelaide last night at the prospect of filling in for Rhyan Grant at right-back in the upcoming Big Blue. Brillante might also be the best corner-taker in the league. The versatility of both players, combined with their ages, make them two of the most attractive, young Swiss army knives in the A-League.

3. Bruno Fornaroli

The Uruguayan remains City’s best player, their most important attacking barb, and still the most inventive, dangerous goalscorer in the league.

Berisha might be leading by a solitary goal in the Golden Boot race, as it stands, but every defender in the league, if asked, would prefer to tango with the Albanian if the only other dance partner left swaying at the edge of the dance-floor, pouting mournfully, was the slippery Fornaroli.

His ability to win fouls is totally unmatched, as his is appetite for embarrassing less-than-agile markers. It has been in spite of him that City’s season has laboured, although his abilities as captain are a little questionable.

When he drops into midfield, especially as City are breaking on the counter, he can be devastating. One flick, one shimmy, an audacious nutmeg or two, and his value radiates white-hot. For a player as skilled on the ball, as comfortable surrounded by lurching midfielders, to be as proficient a scorer as he is – equally comfortable spinning of the shoulder of the last defender – is a rare mix indeed.

At 29, and with a skillset that doesn’t really rely on raw athleticism, he has a sizeable portion of his prime remaining.

2. Milos Ninkovic

To have a superstar, one of the league’s most creative players, buy so eagerly into a hard-working mentality speaks volumes, not just to the command Graham Arnold has over his team, but to the attitude of Milos Ninkovic. He is one of the most productive superstars in the league, leading the league in assists (8) and inside the top ten for goals (7).

He is often seen popping up, doing the sort of defensive work a No.10 like him seldom does. He drops deep to collect the ball from the centre backs, lubricating the midfield, and then later – as he did against Adelaide – suddenly will offer some sublime, poised moment in the box, scoring among a sea of adversaries.

He runs with willing, purposeful strides, and almost always passes with intelligence and crispness – he should have also had another assist against the Reds, wrongly chalked off for offside. He is currently not a marquee, earning markedly less than he should be, bumping up his value to Sydney that little bit more. Only Fornaroli and Finkler have been fouled more often than Ninkovic.

He is a little older than the rest of the list, but his play this season – and the contribution it has made to Sydney’s historic season so far – has forced that to one side.

1. Marco Rojas

The Kiwi’s name pops up on every positive tabulation; 10 goals, seven assists, and eighth in key passes. But the most impressive thing about all of this is that Rojas has managed this having played at least three matches less than most of his main rivals. He has been on the pitch for fewer minutes than every other member of the goal-scoring top ten, and yet sits in double figures.

He has managed – according to the A-League stats – just 14 shots on target, with a shooting efficiency at least 15% better than any other player in the top 25 for total shots attempted.

His astonishing close control has allowed his nickname – the Kiwi Messi – to ring true, at least a little, and the role he has played in Melbourne Victory’s recent surge has been totally central.

There will be moments in matches where Rojas dances through a closing door of sinewy muscle, or down an impossible tightrope between a defender and the touchline.

He is 25, still yet to fully enter his prime. At the moment, no player offers more when it comes to tangible, game-changing input, and that – combined with his handsome youth – makes him the most coveted asset in the league.

Honourable Mentions

Jame Troisi’s all-action No.10-ing has been remarkable. Andrew Hoole and Roy Krishna’s individual success, playing as they are on struggling teams, has also been impressive. There are few defenders more steady and reliable as Michael Jakobsen, and Ruon Tongyik looks like a hugely exciting young prospect. Diego Castro, a little older but still able to illuminate a football pitch, hasn’t been forgotten. Jamie Maclaren remains a young, potent Australian striker. Mitch Nichols runs and passes, and runs and passes.

Who are some others worth mentioning?