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 |
Midfielder
Guest
Brilliant article about the GF being played in Newcastle..... enjoy all who read ... this is good stuff.. https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5374907/a-league-honours-its-promise-to-regions/?cs=6160
Melange
Guest
Waz, Roar as in all the Roar comment makers that share their thoughts here every day. But if it was Roar vs Victory, I'd be on your side
Redondo
Guest
Rick, explain the AFL draw for us.
tim
Guest
Hopefully the chanting is more creative than 'New-Cast-Le'...
Nemesis
Guest
If you aren't in Australia, the ALeague Grand Final will be broadcast into 89 countries via traditional Tv, cable TV, Satellite Tv.. https://www.a-league.com.au/our-international-broadcasters Or, you can LIVE stream in HD anywhere outside the Australia https://www.oz.com/a-league
Waz
Roar Rookie
On behalf of all Roar supporters we thank you ... not sure what the Jets/Victory fans are thinking but we’re pretty confident Roar won’t lose this weekend.
Norman Whiteside
Guest
I’m fairly sure Dandenong is still a suburb of Melbourne, Caltex.
Kangajets
Guest
Correct, apologies for the ewoks comment. Remember when Han Solo petratos was cryogenically frozen in the first movie ,that’s what happened when the jets went off the boil . I would cast Ernie Merrick in an obi one kenobi role for starters in this movie . And Riley Magree possibly resembles a young sky walker ,and he has fine tuned his light sabre but alas the evil empire has been deployed from a galaxy far far away. Darth Berisha and lord Muscat and his stormtroopers have descended upon planet Novocastria. Will lord Muscat prevail with his death stair or will the Han petratos and his deputy Riley sky walker fly their millennium falcon JETS and blow up the death stair ... I think we know how that episode ended .. kaboom!!!!
Melange
Guest
Kanga, I think you were comparing teams to Star Wars characters a while back. With Jets stumbling toward the finals after Nabbout's departure, Petratos reminded me of Luke Skywalker shooting blanks at the Death Star and trying to return to the days where he just trusted the force, and as he was about to lose all hope, Riley McGree as Han Solo revived the Rebels spirits as he scores a hat-trick against the greatest club ever to grace Australian football fields and returns fire again with his scorpion kick. Do Han, Luke and their rebels have the will to overcome the evil Victory empire in this final installment? I hope so, have a great day at the game!
Melange
Guest
Best wishes to all the Roar Jets/Victory supporters on the weekend. If your team loses I hope you can at least appreciate that they performed their part in an epic. Can't pick with this one, I hope Victory turn up to play rather than scrap, games like last years GF and last weekend's big blue are exciting because of the drama - I'd rather it be exciting because of the football.
Griffo
Roar Guru
No guesses who I'm picking :twisted: I don't think Victory's one less day will affect their recovery that much. It was not like they had to back up 2-3 days later. Dropping my daughter off at school this morning for "Jets Day" and the whole playground is just a see of red, blue and gold. It's all anyone is talking about. Saturday is going to be madness. Kit has flown off the shelves. Someone posted the RAAF should do a few flybys of the Victory hotel instead.
Griffo
Roar Guru
No, it was a long shot getting the RAAF at short notice anyway. Just have to scream louder at kickoff ;-)
Sam
Guest
What odds of a scorpion kick goal in the GF?
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
You headed over for the entire World Cup, Nem?
Waz
Roar Rookie
RAAF Jets grounded for Saturday night .... looks like an omen to me ?
Lionheart
Guest
'No one likes us' Oh come on Nemesis, you know it ain't so. Don't mistake envy for something else. Good luck to Victory.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
A comfortable win for the Victory predicted — a team that has the pedigree & understands how to peak at the right time. No point winning midseason, like the Sky Blues, when the real teams are taking it easy, luring them into a false sense of security. This is why we have Finals Footy, to determine which team is the best when it counts, not the team that racks up victories against the clubs taking it easy in a compromised draw.
Kangajets
Guest
Fair enough
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
For the good of Australian Football I hope it's Newcastle. The euphoria will be send a clear message to the FFA that the game now needs to pioneer into regional areas like Tasmania, Wollongong, Dandengong and Canberra instead of expansion teams in the suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne. My prediction is Newcastle: because they will be fresher and playing in front of their home crowd.
Griffo
Roar Guru
You've got to switch Alexa off at night, Stuart...