Now that Perth Glory have been crowned premiers, Football Federation Australia better hope and pray they host a grand final at Optus Stadium.
Ivan Franjic’s 65th-minute winner against the Newcastle Jets last night was a symbol of Glory’s season.
A step-over from Diego Castro, a slide-rule pass and then a nutmeg to finish – just when the tension was starting to mount in a gripping contest at HBF Park.
They’ve been doing it all season. There’s no better team at squeezing the life out of an opponent than Tony Popovic’s outfit.
And no team deserves to lift the Premiers’ Plate more than Glory. They’ve been the most consistent team in the competition, and they’ve proven it by winning their first piece of silverware in 15 years.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
But we all know what comes next. The finals boast the potential to trip up any team, and the Glory players will arguably be more nervous than most when the regular season wraps up.
There’s still the unpredictability of what is essentially cup football to go before Perth Glory are crowned champions of Australia.
And that’s okay – at least as far as I’m concerned – because every team starts the season knowing exactly what is required to win the A-League.
To my mind, the real question is whether Glory can fill the new 60,000-capacity Optus Stadium should they host the grand final.
They’ve done it once before, when Perth hosted English Premier League giants Chelsea in a friendly last July.
But will 60,000 fans turn up for an A-League decider when Glory’s average attendances this season have hovered around the 10,000 mark?
My bet is that they will. But a few things would need to happen to make that a reality.
The first is that the FFA have to abandon their traditional tactic of trying to gouge the life out of anyone inclined to buy an A-League finals ticket.
Time and time again they’ve been told their finals ticket prices are unrealistic, and time and time again they’ve gone for greed over common sense.
We know that running a professional football competition is an expensive proposition, but trying to recoup every last dollar from the finals series has only served to disappoint committed fans and alienate any potential casual ones.
So some sensible finals ticket prices is a must.
The other thing Glory themselves need to do is simply remind Perth football’s community that there’s a championship on the line.
You have to dig back deep into the annals of history to dredge up this statistic, but it’s worth remembering that when Glory hosted the Wollongong Wolves in their National Soccer League major semi-final second leg in May 2000, some 42,760 fans packed into Subiaco Oval to watch it.
So there’s a long history of fans in Perth showing up for big fixtures when there’s something on the line.
Whether or not they’ll do so in 2019 is the question.
But there’s no doubt that should Perth win the right to host the grand final, it will be played at Optus Stadium and not HBF Park.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
There’s no way the FFA will ignore the extra ticket revenue a grand final there would generate, and the Western Australian government would throw a fit if the decider wasn’t at their costly new venue anyway.
It’s a bit of a shame there’s not much riding on Sydney FC’s clash with the Glory at Kogarah on Thursday night now, although the Wanderers were good value for their point in Saturday night’s entertaining 1-1 Sydney derby draw.
The Sky Blues have consistently dropped points throughout the season and they’ll do well to hold off the advances of Melbourne Victory in the race for second spot.
But it’s Perth Glory who deserve all the congratulations. They’ve finally won a trophy.
All that’s left now is to claim the one that really matters in front of a full house at Optus Stadium.
Stephen Bowes
Guest
Good article, but flawed. The Premier's Plate is the goal, the measure of the best, the most consistent winner of points in the A League.
jbinnie
Guest
Anon- From where do you procure your figures that HAL attendances are "dire"?. If one cares to examine the figures and predict "average' results for the last ten games, the "reduction" comes out at around 100,000 down for the season ,which, if spread over 135 games equates to about 740 being absent from every match played over the season. Now when one considers that 2 of the better supported teams from last year,Roar and WSW can account for 25,830 missing fans in 17 games ie 1520 per game, it is not hard to put a reason behind the original "dire" drop.The two teams with outstanding increases this season ,Perth and Phoenix, have been winning games regularly and their attendances have RISEN accordingly Perth by a calculated 26,750, Wellington by a calculated 45,675 so it becomes very obvious what has to be done to increase crowds------get a winning team. Cheers jb.
anon
Roar Pro
A-League attendances and ratings are dire.
chris
Guest
Well he craves attention. It must get lonely in his rocking chair way out west.
Kurt
Guest
This is regrettably entirely true. Anon posts nothing but negative stuff about the AFL and is now sharing his winning personal style with you!
Kurt
Guest
Hey Anon, you've found some people who dislike your posts even more than we do over on the AFL tab! That's quite an achievement by the way.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Even though I liked some of the more "Boutique" GF's at Jets stadium and AAMI Park, it's like moving the Adelaide Grand Final and they want to be able to include as many as possible after all this time HBF may be suitable for an FFA Cup Final in time Hopefully they do get the ticket pricing correct in the event Perth do win hosting rights, it's good that the enthusiasm has managed to roll around to different cities every couple of years or so and hopefully Perth would get a bump in the event they do host the GF
RF
Roar Rookie
Yep, and the pigs are flying past my window as I read this. Beautiful pink wings.
anon
Roar Pro
You're not making a point.
chris
Guest
You didnt understand what i was saying. Try and read again and try again. Your blinkered rage is not allowing you to think clearly.
anon
Roar Pro
Are for real? You're hurting your argument because on a per game basis only the EPL and Bundesliga come close to the AFL. The other hundreds of league around the world can't hold a candle to the AFL. You should support a home grown league mate. No need to diminish it. We're punching above our weight.
RF
Roar Rookie
Indeed. And if I was a SFC supporter, I'm sure I would feel the same way - mostly. Because there was no doubt, as a Brisbane supporter, that the Roar under Ange won a lot but could be boring as batshit too.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Yeah, excellent post Ben.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Beach, I went to most of the games at SFS when Arnold delivered the titles in the previous 2 seasons, I was entertained, I saw some very exciting plays & players, some of the games weren't that exciting as SFC just dominated most games. So different strokes for different folks.
chris
Guest
Per game basis...not many games though right? Globally how many games of AFL in a season? Count every game globally.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Tend to agree Tiger Woods winning the Masters & Perth Glory winning the A-League should be main story. Oh how could I forget Winx winning his last race & Mo Salah’s goal. I googled Andrew Gaff, he’s an AFL player for West Coast Eagles.
AR
Guest
Nick, you just proved my point beautifully. You really think more people in Sydney want to hear about Perth Glory than about Greg Inglis shock retirement from the Rabbitohs, or Smith & Warner’s return to the Aust Ashes XI..? Ok then.
Beach
Roar Rookie
Actually Punter I think your club has first rate fans. The Cove in particular are great value. (this is my mobile phone moniker) I don’t dislike SFC… It’s more disappointment really. The club promised so much during that time first season. In the the end Lavicka and Arnold delivered titles but little excitement. I had hoped that Sydney would be something special and from players to coaches to its wildly unsuitable stadium, it’s fallen well short.
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
Absolutely correct Waz. And the other fact football people need to come to terms with is the average A-league attendee is also likely a rusted-on fan of another code. We need to play summer seasons to survive, but we should also expect a dip in numbers as the season draws to a close and has to compete with the winter codes. This is the inherent value of the finals series: it gives games a marquee value that (usually) convinces the wider public to turn up when a lot of them would otherwise be spending their paycheques on other sports by that time.
Baggio
Guest
The eagles have at least 5 posts a day on the west/watoday/sunday times facebook page. Stories like the value of Nic Natanui's mansion in Swanview going down or the controversy of eddie mcguire commentating on the western derby. While glory are lucky to get one post a month. That is not reflective of interest in the glory in Perth or the Eagles.