In a curious fixture scheduling, every team has completed their Round 13 set of matches, though there is still one more Round 12 match to come.

While also still looking to the last Round 12 match on Wednesday night, let’s look at some of the talking points to have arisen from the last two rounds.

Perth are glorious
The regal-looking purple of Perth Glory looked appropriate against Sydney FC midweek, as they slammed in three quick goals to stun the Sky Blue visitors and march to a gaping six-point gap at the top of the table.

The stunning turnaround of the Glory under the tutelage of Tony Popovic has been stark, to say the least.

They played against Sydney with the freedom of a champion team that has intense belief in its players and systems.

It was something of a surprise that they found themselves down at half-time to the weaker of the Sydney teams, again at home, and looking down the barrel of a surprise loss to the eighth-placed team.

Of course, it isn’t the first time this season Perth have gone in at half-time behind to an opponent outside of the six, so that might be something for Perth to be mindful of.

But so far, the majority of sights and sounds coming out of Perth are looking and sounding good.

Perhaps games like the Round 13 clash against Western Sydney are good reminders for a team not to get too far ahead of themselves.

To be fair, Western Sydney are starting to run out of chances, and decided to play the game of their lives against the ladder leaders.

It wasn’t a bad lesson for the Glory to learn what it’s like to now be the hunted.

For the rest of the season though, Perth will do well to break down what worked so well for them against Sydney FC.

In that game, the Perth team played structured, disciplined, flowing, and attacking football, and appeared to be the team to beat.

Melbourne not completely Victorious
Was the loss to Adelaide the loss that Melbourne had to have?

Probably not, but if it was, the win over Newcastle was very much the win they needed to have.

There is no doubt that Melbourne looked tired against Adelaide, in Adelaide, so it would have heartened Kevin Muscat to see his men scrap and scrape to a vital home win over a dogged Newcastle to maintain that top two spot.

It also helped having a revved-up James Troisi scoring a winner, apparently with a point to prove to Graham Arnold with every touch of the ball.

Of course it is easy to look to Keisuke Honda as the reason they lost in Adelaide, and struggled to beat Newcastle, but the truth is so much deeper than that.

It was more a case of perfect timing for Melbourne to lose when they did against the Reds, given that lengthy winning run leading up to that match.

As for the Newcastle game, despite being seventh, Newcastle are no easy beats these days, and Melbourne did well to control that match and score the vital goals at the vital times.

Melbourne played good football over the last week, and coming off that Reds loss (their first since Round 2), Melbourne could not settle for anything less than a win on Saturday to right the good ship HMAS Melbourne.

Melbourne Victory are built of stern stuff, and being able to blood a young NPL player in Elvis Kamsoba just adds to that already deep squad, that can hopefully continue to cover for Honda, until his return at the end of the month.

Sky Blue with work to do
Sydney took the challenge to Adelaide, but were completely outclassed by the ladder leader over rounds 12 and 13.

That more than likely sums up where Sydney are at the moment: they are still a force, but they are no longer the frontrunner.

Sydney are still a top three side, as the ladder illustrates, but are they the previously feared side of the last two seasons?

No, no they are not.

Sydney seemed, surprisingly, bereft of answers against Perth, and at times they certainly rode their luck against Adelaide (Andrew Redmayne, take a bow).

Sydney at the moment simply are not the cumulative value of the sum of their parts. At least, not yet they aren’t.

All the pieces are there for the side to take the competition by storm, and while ever they have Milos Ninkovic in the middle and Adam Le Fondre up front, the goals they scored against Perth and Adelaide were proof of how heavily reliant upon their big stars the sky blues are.

But no longer do Sydney appear the clear-cut favourite when facing the tougher opponents.

Melbourne are doing the job in and out of the city
Round 12 and 13 present Melbourne City with an opportunity to pick up a relatively easy six points against the bottom and second bottom teams in the comp.

City were professional against Brisbane on Friday night, and when you keep yet another clean sheet, you go a long way to, at the very least, not losing.

The most curious aspect of Melbourne’s win over the Roar was the goalscorer, and where he started the match.

Richie De Laet, defender extraordinaire, leading the line for the City side, and doing so as the match winner.

Defenders really are winning matches for Melbourne City.

With only 10 goals, going into the Central Coast game, Melbourne have the best defence in the league, but as evidenced by the fact their defender scored for them, Melbourne also have the worst attack in the top six, with just the 16 goals from 12 games.

And make no mistake, Central Coast will not be easy on Wednesday.

Melbourne cannot expect to stroll into another three points in Gosford, but if their defence continues to man the fort like they have to date, and comfortably keeping that pressure on the likes of Sydney, Victory and Perth at the top of the league.

Melbourne are on three wins in a row at the moment though, and with Warren Joyce seeming to have won his battle with Bruno Fornaroli, he would very much like to make that four in a row in Gosford.

Wellington are truly the rising Phoenix
Wellington enjoyed two 3-2 wins over Rounds 12 and 13, but each was of entirely different complexions, perspectives, and circumstances.

Wellington would have been both happy, and somewhat surprised, with their win over the Wanderers.

At 1-all late in the game, the result amazingly finished 3-2 to the visitors, and Wellington entirely deserving of the win, showing the mettle to jag a win away from home, and somewhat late in the piece.

And then the match against the Mariners.

Well, what do you make of that?

Durante’s 300th, at home, playing the bottom of the table, the result should have been a case of who wins, but by how much does Wellington win?

Now, to be fair to Wellington, Central Coast played brilliantly to start the match, and the 2-nil scoreline was reflective of how good the Mariners were, rather than any deficiency with the Phoenix.

So it says a lot about Wellington how well they responded after half-time to score three goals, attack freely, and grab the win for their captain’s marquee game.

Andrew Durante truly is one of the unsung champions of the A-League.

So often talk turns to marquee men, young up and coming Australian players, or personality players (think Eric Bautheac).

Meanwhile, the hardworking Andrew Durante is forging a 300-game career, 250 of them as captain of Wellington, and a championship winner to boot.

Full credit to the veteran, who is arguably having one of his best seasons.

His 300th match certainly was a game he won’t forget any time soon, but otherwise look back on with amusement and fondness.

Adelaide ran red hot, but still cold
It is quickly becoming the story of Adelaide’s season: inconsistency.

Adelaide were untouchable against Melbourne mid-week, and given the match was in Adelaide (where the Reds have so far struggled to win this season), it was a huge performance for the South Australian outfit.

For a team that has been dominant away from home, their inability to win consistently at home (the solitary win in Adelaide before Round 12) was a curious occurrence.

When they defeated the imperious Melbourne Victory mid-week, you felt Adelaide had finally turned the corner this season.

So it makes sense that they were somewhat flat against Sydney, going a goal down to the sky blues early, and ultimately losing, despite their best efforts.

A loss away to Sydney isn’t something you can be too critical about, but by the same token, the round 13 clash was an opportunity for Adelaide to make a statement.

Alas, for the Reds, the statement remains the same: we are good, we just don’t know when.

Newcastle Jets failing to take flight
Playing well in patches, can’t take their chances.

That line is likely going to be written on the gravestone that sits atop Newcastle’s season 2018/19.

You could make the argument, and this writer does, that in some ways, Newcastle are playing better football than they did last season.

They hold the ball better, the move the ball more precisely, so in general play, Newcastle look like the more complete unit.

They certainly ‘looked’ the goods against Brisbane and Victory.

But up front and down back?

Oh dear, Newcastle have zero confidence at the moment.

Every time either Brisbane or Victory attacked, you felt they were going to score, while every time Newcastle attacked, you never truly believed they were going to score.

In fact, Roy O’Donovan and Kaine Shepherd’s goals against Brisbane and Victory, respectively, were those scrappy finishes where anything could happen, and you truly were stunned the ball was in the back of the net.

A close-fought loss against a top two opponent and an unfortunate draw against the team second from bottom?

Rounds 12 and 13 summed up precisely where Newcastle are this season, and confirmed they need to improve.

A lot.

Western Sydney wondering what they need to do
If Newcastle are frustrating to watch this season, Western Sydney are just bewildering.

On paper, they are a top four side.

On performance though, they are lucky that Brisbane and Central Coast are in such a shambles.

For large parts of the match against Wellington, Western Sydney were more than competitive, and while unlucky not to get a point, at times you felt they could press on and get the win.

Alas, Wellington ran over the top of them.

Then, to round out the weekend, the Wanderers travel to Perth, where you would assum they would be fodder for the ladder leaders, and they take it to their former coach’s side with a strong first half, and lead to boot.

And that is without their best player, Baumjohann, out through injury.

Western Sydney have a good coach.

They have good players, and here’s hoping the introduction of the likes of Majok and Yeboah can infuse a bit of extra life and energy into the Western Sydney club and team.

The bottom line is that the Wanderers should be doing a lot better than where they are.

Unfortunately, too many lost matches at home to Wellington are obscuring the good work they are doing in the games like in Perth.

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Brisbane are roaring, but not biting
What exactly are Brisbane playing for, both now and for the rest of the season?

Brisbane would have been happy with their point against Newcastle (back on 2 January), and while a trip away to Melbourne City is never easy, I would think they would have liked to get something out of that match.

But as long as they continue to ply their trade under an interim coach, what exactly are Brisbane playing for in season 2018/19?

One thing that Brisbane have shown in abundance in those two matches (and even in round 11 against Sydney) since John Aloisi left is that there is some fight burning inside the men in orange.

Brisbane managed to come back from behind twice in Newcastle, and had some luck gone their way, could have pulled out of Melbourne with another point.

So the talent is there, but again, under a makepiece coach and second from bottom, it can’t be easy for the players, who must be wondering what they are trying to achieve.

If Brisbane can turn some of that fight into a win (yet to register a win since Aloisi left), it is unlikely they will play finals, but they can at the very least leave their mark on the competition by changing the fortunes of other teams.

Central Coast low on confidence
Gee, that had to hurt.

As I sat their live-blogging the Mariners’ match in Wellington, the away side up 2-nil at half-time and my predicted 3-nil win to the Phoenix in tatters, at the very least you had to feel some happiness for a Mariners team that looked like they would finally, finally, win a game this season.

At half time, I commented that Central Coast really didn’t want the match to halt for half time, but rather carry on to full-time, and you hoped that they didn’t drop their bundle from there.

Instead, it took precisely 22 minutes for Central Coast to concede three goals and go a man down, and instead lose yet another game.

Yep, that hurt a lot.

Whatever else has been said about Central Coast, they are very much a team that has forgotten how to win, coming up on a full year since they last won a match.

What that first half showed though is that the talent is there to play good, at some times great, football this season, and with the fighting Matt Simon up front, there is some hope for the Mariners.

They were all over Wellington at times, but as has been the case all season, matches are not won at half-time.

Instead, for the second week in a row, Central Coast took a lead, lost a man, and threw away a lead.

If Central Coast can just find a way to play 90 minutes, they have the talent to win.

It now falls upon Mike Mulvey to figure out how he gets his players to do that.

He would be spending the next three days ramming home to his players: discipline, discipline, discipline.