The best that can be said about Brisbane Roar’s season is that it’s over, and in truth the finals can’t come quickly enough for the sake of the whole competition.
Here’s something that should bug A-League fans.
When there’s nothing on the line, teams play an open and expansive style of football.
But throw competition points and the importance of ladder position into the equation and suddenly A-League sides retreat into their shell.
Too many teams set up to avoid defeat instead of going out with the intent to win.
That’s something a legendary former goal scorer in Robbie Fowler will hopefully rectify next season.
Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has been unveiled as the Brisbane Roar’s new coach for the 2019-20 A-League season. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
No doubt he took one or two other things away from Brisbane Roar’s 5-3 defeat at the hands of Adelaide United on Anzac Day.
First things first, wasn’t it great to see some football played on April 25th?
The occasion was well handled by Brisbane Roar and the fans who turned out were treated to a cracker of a game.
If they had their time again Football Federation Australia would probably have preferred Wellington Phoenix to have been the Roar’s opponent, but other than that the game was a welcome addition to the fixture list.
But the more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to the way A-League fans are treated at multi-purpose venues.
Stadiums Queensland should throw the book at Suncorp Stadium security for immediately removing a Brisbane Roar jersey from the Wally Lewis statue outside the ground yesterday. But why would they?
Because in 15 years Stadiums Queensland have done the grand sum of nothing to make Brisbane Roar fans feel welcome at Suncorp Stadium.
Some of the stadium’s security staff are a disgrace – there has been a relentless campaign of security personnel hassling football fans at the stadium for years now – and the sooner A-League clubs start seeking alternative venues, the better.
Mind you, it’s hard to fathom the mindset of certain A-League clubs themselves.
Adelaide United have looked unbeatable ever since they informed Marco Kurz his services are no longer required.
It will be a shame if the colourful German is lost to the A-League entirely, and he showcased his managerial prowess by inspiring his side to a gutsy second-half comeback in Brisbane.
It was the sort of entertainment the FFA must be praying for in the finals.
The end of the regular season can’t come quickly enough – not least because we’ve essentially known who would finish in the top six for weeks now.
It will be interesting to see just how motivated both Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix are now that Adelaide United have finished fourth and guaranteed themselves a home final.
City are one of the league’s worst performing teams on the road, so you’d have to think a Melbourne derby in the first week of the finals would probably suit them.
And Wellington’s patchy run home looks destined to consign them to fifth.
Whether or not any these teams can mount a genuine challenge to table-toppers Perth Glory remains to be seen, although Melbourne Victory’s championship-winning run last season is proof that anything can happen.
But there’s no doubt that after another season to forget, the A-League desperately needs a decent finals campaign.
Changes are afoot next season – and not just in terms of who’s in charge – and we could be watching a very different A-League come this time next year.
But first we’ve got to get through the current campaign.
As yesterday’s Anzac Day showdown demonstrated, there’s still plenty of entertaining football on offer around the A-League.
We just need to see a bit more of it in the finals.
With a new-look competition just around the corner, now is the time to remind stay-away fans of exactly what they’re missing out on – and hopefully get a few newcomers through the gates too.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
A shame they can't play at the 17,000 seat Brisbane Live auditorium planned near the Roma St station. Gotta say though - the plans for the Gabba precinct - re the station and linking walk over to the Gabba all looks pretty fabulous. But that project component is separate to the stadium. The funding though around the Gabba - isn't that still somewhat up in the air? But yes - the FFA needs to engage with Govt however if I were in charge of public purse strings it's very hard to justify a stand alone new stadium for a single sport. Suncorp currently accommodates 2xRugby and soccer; the Gabba is AFL and Cricket (3 formats) plus the capacity to house the rectangular codes (and was home to 2000 Olympics soccer matches). So - - good luck - - you really need a level of biased largess to be granted; or to bring $$$ to the table.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Traditionally - if your team is going into a finals campaign where there is no real hope of a home game - - then the home fans turn up in droves to the last Home match. Well....that's my experience in other codes.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Considering that the QLD have allocated millions to Netball, NRL and AFL the FFA need to get into the Political game up here so that a boutique stadium for the A-League can be built with the Roar using Suncorp only for Finals and Marquee Events (e.g. v Liverpool). As I am writing this the QLD Government is currently working on the new Townsville Stadium for the Cowboys due to open for the 2020 season and plans have already been released for the upgrades to the Gabba. Yet Football is being left completely out in the cold with no funding?
jbinnie
Guest
Nemesis.- No matter how much you go on about finals football and Victory's success this crowd was not a good image for football. Actually City have been hiding behind the FFA's "cure all" for figure manipulation with their desire to create more "derby " matches. Although the concept is actually anti - nationalisation of the league, they, the FFA, go on with their "plan" unabated. City this season have played 13 home games showing a game average crowd of 8,140 but if you omit the "big blue" against Sydney and their joust with Victory that overall figure drops to 6,312 which puts them down among the "also- rans" in the comp. Take this weekend for example City had their worst crowd of the season at 4,950 while Roar pulled 11,790, and Jets 10,260, with both teams nothing to play for. Please explain jb.
jbinnie
Guest
Waz - seeing we are in a nit-picking mood today what about the QE11 stadium, originally a 60,000 seater but now reduced to 42,000 after expensive "upgrades" to cater for localised athletic events? While on the subject of "what might have beens". while watching most of the HAL games this season I put together a team selection in my head. It became interesting. Team- Redmayne, Franjic, Donnachie, Jackson,Zullo, Brattan, Petratos,and ????????. Barbarouses, McLaren and Champness. Could you fill the vacancy? Every other player "picked" has played with Roar. jb
jbinnie
Guest
Waz - your colours are showing again. When I said look at average crowds for WSW and Roar I could also have meant from season's start to season's finish. No? ie Roar's opening average at 14,859 down to 6084 against Wellington. or WSW,s first home derby at 18,063 down to a low of 5,067 against Roar. Careful how you analyse data always know what the message means, Cheers jb
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Well, we can only hope.
Punter
Roar Rookie
I think Jordan is trying to highlight that it's not all doom & gloom, while you Mister Football are just booing from the sideline as you & your kind normally do. BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Nemesis
Guest
If you quadruple the figure for streaming as you suggested, that means 50k watched the match, which would be excellent for a meaningless final match featuring the bottom team on the ladder representing a country town.
RF
Roar Rookie
For the life of me, I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would have wanted to watch that game. A horribly coached team playing lifeless football with almost no supporters versus the worst team the A League has seen since the NZ Knights, possibly even worse. Brisbane running them close, though.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Fox ratings of 10k for last night's game. You can double, triple, even quadruple that number for the multitudes streaming the game and it still adds up to no one watching.
Waz
Roar Rookie
BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ANOTHER STADIUM IN BRISBANE THAT IS SUITABLE TO HOST A HAL GAME surely it’s not that hard to understand?
Waz
Roar Rookie
So yeah, Roars average crowds went up then.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
You're right AR. Since 1916 Anzac Day has been marked with a dawn service, a mid-morning march and then when possible, Servicemen on operations or at war have played organized sport of some sort, like an inter-unit match. It's often not possible because of the job at hand, but that's the general spirit. In peacetime, and at home, it's a time for unit reunions after the march. I'm not keen on the idea of continuing the Anzac commemoration on through the days following, like last night's match, but I don't think most servicemen would care.
Nemesis
Guest
Why is it not a good omen? How will that impact anything to do with finals? There is no scenario where Melbourne City can host any finals matches, so what does that figure tell us about matches being played in: Perth, Adelaide, Sydney & the match in Melbourne will be hosted by the biggest club in the A-League?
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
If we don't include finals, we fall about 40,000 short but I don't see why we shouldn't include finals.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
It's not a good omen that Melbourne City could only attract 4,900 to their final home game on the eve of the finals, on a night when there was no other sport in Melbourne, on a Friday night!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
We can only hope, and as one who always encourages a positive outlook on things, I'll support and disseminate your figuring to the hilt, although, as jb points out elsewhere, these average normally focus on regular season attendances.
jbinnie
Guest
Fadida - The tactical ploys used in football are constantly on "the move" and the tragedy is that we have people in the game who try to copy what the "big boys" are doing with only one huge problem,they don't have the players talented enough to carry out their "instructions". If you attend a match remember one thing,it is highly probable that the person "writing " about the game has had very little exposure to these self same changes, and so we have general descriptions being used to describe what they,the writers, have witnessed during the game that you too were watching. For some years now there has been a "basic" being followed in football and that is "you cannot score a goal if you don't have the ball". This has resulted in two huge changes as to how the game is played,(1) how to keep the ball (possession), and "(2) how to win back the ball (defensive pressing). As is usual the "copyists" have tried to duplicate these trends and in doing so they have found that their players are not so adept at "first touch control","accuracy of passing" and the "use of pace and constant movement" to achieve "space" in which to move forward. The other change has seen players being trained to a higher standard of fitness and attitude to "work", so that all over the field they can put pressure on the ball carrier. Thus when 2 "good" teams are in opposition the game should ebb and flow back and forth across the pitch with plenty of "entertainment" going on for those who fully comprehend these tactics. As we drop down the differing standards we see little faults like ball watching,lack of movement,poor ball control,inaccurate passing,all contributing to loss of possession and, lack of discipline, ball watching and in some cases just an obvious lack of tactical knowledge contribute to re-gaining possession. This is tactical football today and to appreciate and assess how your team is performing these "measuring sticks" have to be used when assessing the overall team performance. Cheers jb.
jbinnie
Guest
Waz- Roar's average attendance last year was 9,246 for 14 games This year they have averaged 9,632 a gain of 4%. However one must consider what the potential attendance would be when looking at the overall A-League picture and last year Roar has 6 crowds passing the 10,000 mark. This year they started with 2 'gates" of 15,000 and finished (second bottom) with a wonderful crowd of 11,790 and yet only 4 crowds exceeded that magical 10,000 figure. Let's be frank and honest here Roar had the potential this year to average 13 games over 10,000 but it never happened and we all know the reason why. As I sat in the stadium yesterday I was once again reminded of the potential this club has to represent a city in a national football league, a potential I don't think any of the past administrations ever considered.The game yesterday was entertaining but not because of the football played ,simply because 2 defences conceded 8 goals during the 90 minutes. Fans love goals ,attendances prove that, but today in football "good play" starts with good defence and in that department Roar are a basket case. Maybe next season. jb