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I sincerely hoped you enjoyed the semi-finals. If you didn’t, I am not sure what more the A-League can do for you. Sure, the football had its moments, but if that didn’t suffice from an entertainment perspective, I am not sure what would.
Just the big dance remains, The Newcastle Jets face Melbourne Victory in front of a McDonald Jones Stadium that will be bursting at the seams. As I wrote during the week, this will not be decided on strategy and tactics alone; this will be about will, passion and determination.
Right now both teams have it.
Thanks for reading the tips and predictions throughout the season, putting your selections in and commenting on the tips of the experts that have had their highs and their lows.
Congratulations to Daniel Jeffrey for his victory in what has been a season of upsets and inconsistency in the main.
Make sure to put in your tip for the grand final and have your final say as the voice of the crowd. Enjoy the game and let’s hope it lives up to the considerable hype.
Here is how the experts see the grand final panning out.
Mike Tuckerman
Newcastle Jets
It all comes down to this.
Can the Newcastle Jets hold their nerve? Or will Melbourne Victory crash the party?
You’d have got the longest odds imaginable at the start of the season for a Jets vs Victory grand final, but now that we have one, it’s a question of which team can handle the magnitude of the occasion as much as anything. Victory, of course, have seen it all before and have a couple of big-game match winners in the form of Besart Berisha and Leroy George on hand.
But I’m going to tip the Jets. They’ll have a partisan home crowd behind them and a golden opportunity to make history, and in Ernie Merrick they have one of the shrewdest coaches in the business. He’s won grand finals before – with Victory, no less – and his touchline experience may just be enough to get the Novocastrians over the line.
(Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Stuart Thomas
Newcastle Jets
Are 20,000 people capable of willing a team to victory; inspiring 11 heroes to the performance of a lifetime? I think they are and I think the people of Newcastle will.
There is evidence that both of these teams could claim the quirky A-League championship trophy on Saturday night. Newcastle could continue their stunning goal production throughout the season and be too intense and frequent with their attacks into the box for the Victory to survive.
It wouldn’t surprise. Nor would another masterclass from Leroy George and Kosta Barbarouses, with their service providing Besart Berisha the chances to put the exclamation mark on his brilliant career.
Either way, the physical battle will be intense in the middle of the park. Winning that might be the key to opening things up the attacking third. This is truly one of those matches were the ‘better-performing team on the night’ cliché is so apt. There is little between them, except maybe the stadium and the Hunter. Newcastle to win in extra time.
(AAP Image/Darren Pateman)
Daniel Jeffrey
Newcastle Jets
I’m tipping that we get the A-League grand final Australia needs this weekend. We’ve got the right venue for it already, a sold-out crowd, and with a bit of luck we’ll have a fairytale winner in the Newcastle Jets.
Make no mistake, the Victory are right in the reckoning and probably deserve to be favourites. They have the look of a team on a dominant cup run, and that will stand them in good stead during the cut-throat scenario of a grand final. Plus, they managed to beat Sydney FC on the road. No mean feat, that.
But there are concerns around Melbourne. They’ve had one less day to recover from their semi-final, a pulsating match which included 30 minutes of extra-time. Newcastle have no such troubles. That the Victory will be missing Rhys Williams only further harms their case.
The Jets are playing excellent football, their dangerous attack proving too much for many a team throughout the season. They’ll be fresher than their opponents and have won both their home games against Melbourne this season. With a raucous home crowd backing them, they’ll be good enough to win a third, and the championship – but only just.
(AAP Image/George Salpigtidis)
Alan Kearney
TBC
| Grand Final | Mike | Stuart | Daniel | Alan | The Crowd |
| NEW vs MVC | NEW | NEW | NEW | ? | NEW |
| Last week | 1 | 01 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Previous Total | 59 | 58 | 64 | 56 | 61 |
| New Total | 60 | 58 | 64 | 57 | 62 |