Well that’s a wrap! After 30 weeks in Australian top-flight football, Perth Glory hosted Sydney FC in front of over 56,000 fans at Optus Stadium.
Sydney secured their fourth A-League championship, but let’s see how all 10 clubs performed throughout season 2018/19.
Adelaide United
It’s been yet another substandard season for Marco Kurz’s squad, finishing in fourth place.
While going one better than last seasons fifth, the Reds’ inconsistency led to only 12 wins.
Australian marquee Craig Goodwin showed spark throughout the season, with nine assists and ten goals.
The Reds hit top form at just the right time of the season, knocking out Melbourne City 1-0 in the semi-finals then pushing Perth Glory to a tightly contested penalty shoot-out.
Brisbane Roar
The once-great Roarcelona concept is utterly diminished.
John Aloisi’s exit midway through the season added to a struggling season for Brisbane. Interim coach Darren Davies was unable to counter the losses, ending with just four wins.
Eric Bauthéac and Dylan Wenzel-Halls showed promise, however new coach and Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler will have his work cut out for him come pre-season.
Central Coast Mariners
Consecutive wooden spoons demonstrates just how deep Central Coast’s problems really are, succumbing to 20 defeats and enjoying only three victories over the course of the season.
After an 8-2 drubbing by Wellington, interim coach and former Matildas boss Alen Stajcic took the reigns.
Things slightly improved under Stajcic, reclaiming one win over the Newcastle Jets. Things need to be rectified in Gosford, otherwise the woeful statistics and poor club morale will continue.
Melbourne City
The Manchester City sister club with unprecedented financial backing have lacked depth and consistency throughout season 2018/19.
Off-field issues have crept in and Joyce’s departure was willingly received by most City supporters who will be hoping for better next season, after finishing in fifth place and never posing a threat to the top sides.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Melbourne Victory
After a surprising championship last season, huge foreign marquee investments were made in Ola Toivonen and Keisuke Honda.
Expectations were somewhat lived up too, with Toivonen scoring 13 goals in his maiden A-League season while Honda boasted seven as the best high-profile marquee since Alessandro Del Piero, despite injury halfway through the season.
Kevin Muscat’s men hit a rough patch of form coming into the finals, with claims of going back-to-back in the early weeks of their campaign. The heavy 6-1 defeat to arch rivals Sydney FC in the finals brought their season to an abrupt and disappointing end.
Newcastle Jets
Last season’s runners-up failed to recapture any form of the attacking brand of football they demonstrated last season.
Newcastle finished out of the top six after a poor start to the season and poor foreign imports.
Big losses such as Andrew Nabbout and Riley McGree taunted the Jets this season, while Roy O’Donovan missed nine weeks of the competition due to suspension, taking the majority of Newcastle’s attacking grunt out of the equation.
A good run of form ended the Jets’ season, putting a smile on some Novocastrian faces. However, it was too little too late.
Perth Glory
The Glory days were so nearly upon them, after an incredible turnaround from an eighth-place finish last season to premiers, unfortunately falling short on the league’s day of days.
Tony Popovic has surely cemented himself as one of the A-League’s greatest managers despite an unwanted grand final record. Popovic exploited a defensive tactic of three at the back, while getting the best out of the ageless Diego Castro, Andy Keogh and Joel Chianese up front.
Neil Kilkenny’s vision and consistency in the midfield was amongst the best in the league, while Chris Ikonomidis continues to stake his claim as a potential Socceroos regular.
Sydney FC
A successful grand final in the nation’s west tops off an incredible finals purple patch for the Sky Blues, despite finishing second and showcasing gritty performances throughout the season.
Filling Graham Arnold’s void was always going to be a tough gig for Steve Corica, who did well.
English marquee Adam Le Fondre displayed great form and striking prowess, as did Siem de Jong despite a horror run of injuries in the midfield.
Following this, right back Rhyan Grant has surely confirmed his spot in the national squad after some stellar performances throughout the season.
The new home of Jubilee Stadium provided a warm welcome for both players and fans. It’s time to rejoice in the Harbour City as the toilet seat is sky blue again.
(Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)
Wellington Phoenix
Yet another incredible turnaround from an under-performing club. Clearly not as memorable as Perth, the Phoenix gave the competition a shake-up this season, after many underwhelming seasons and questions over their future in the league.
Mark Rudan has turned this club around, unbelievably finishing in sixth place. Sarpreet Singh and Roy Krishna both enjoyed one of their best seasons at the club.
Meanwhile Western United bound goalkeeper Filip Kurto claimed the golden glove award. Rudan’s exit will be very undesirable to Nix supporters.
Western Sydney Wanderers
Disenchanted performances, unsettled fans, unfulfilled potential and a lack of home ground advantage sums up the Wanderers’ season.
Their campaign concluded with an 11-point margin behind the seventh-placed Jets. Midseason transfer Mitchell Duke added spark on the attacking front.
Defensively, the Wanderers have been unsubstantial all season. Markus Babbel’s maiden managerial campaign started horribly.
Subsequently, the axe has begun to swing with Oriol Riera, Roly Bonevacia and Alex Baumjohann all headed for the exit door.
Bankwest Stadium will surely help things. However, it seems the Wanderers’ problems lie deeper than this.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Wellington deserves a B- and I agree.
Bruz
Roar Rookie
Craig Goodwin was a pricy pick up itself from the Dutch league Mike, as for the FFA cup I clearly display A-league only content in my article, as the FFA cup is an entirety different comp with a mixture of semi pro teams. I might also add it’s quite easy to finish 4th in a 10 team competition.
At work
Roar Rookie
4th our of 10 isn’t too special, and it’s still pretty easy to progress far in the FFAcup as the A-League teams starts way to late. But I agree on the small budget and overachieving. The Reds bosses need to start spending some money, reckon Kurz could prosper at a club with a little more coin.
At work
Roar Rookie
Adelaide: B Brisbane: D Mariners: D City: C+ Victory: B- Newcastle: C+ Perth: A+ Sydney: A- Wellington: C+ Wanderers: C-
Nemesis
Guest
My Year on Year Performance Assessment for 2018/19 Improved Perth MVFC NIX AUFC Same CCM WSW Worse Sydney City Newcastle Brisbane
Waz
Roar Rookie
A planet where finishing 4th and not reaching the GF is considered unsuccessful??
Waz
Roar Rookie
Only two sides reached their potential. That is not the same as reaching the GF. Victory were the “best of the rest” but with quite a gap between them and the performances of Glory and SFC. They have some of the best players in the competition in their ranks (Kosta for me is the best player and Toivonen not far behind) but never looked remotely much more than a mediocre side
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
There were a lot of good performers in this season, the coaching was the worst aspect. Muscat he recruits two big names all he needed was one good winger to replace Leroy George and then he would have won the championship. Kurz his team physically were the best at pressing and scrapping all season, however he showed faith in players who kept fluffing their lines, and putting his potential goal scorers as far away form goal as possible. Popovic repeated his Wanderers stint in one season, he went from fearless and experimenting during the regular season to choking in the finals with aging players. Rudan did the same but a much bigger choke in the finals leaving one of the best players out of the team. Corica did well with what he had, rotated well enough, but he could have done better if he had relied more on youth. He is the best of a sad bunch. Joyce I dont know if having Kalac there undermined him, there was a strange variability, i dont understand why he shunned Fornaroli and kept some of the lazy clowns he did play, Harrison and Fornaroli could have made beautiful music together. Merrick was always going to fail this season, thats not suprising he did the same with Victory. The other three may have had ulterior motives, Babbel is the best actor I have seen. Their teams performances went up and down mysteriously. I think they largely contributed to the finals problems of other teams its very hard to tell how good players are going against such variability.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
If Victory did meet their potential then one of Glory or SFC wouldn’t have. I’m not sure I follow your logic.
Mike
Guest
A substandard season for Adelaide United? They won the FFA Cup and finished fourth in the league against clubs with massively larger budgets to invest in marquees. They then went within one penalty of beating Perth to reach the Grand Final. Which planet do you live on, Damo?
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I just read the column and then wished I hadn’t as it makes depressing reading. It really has been a poor season on many fronts and unfortunately the season ending game probably reflected the season’s woes rather than hiding them in a memorable spectacle. Our representation in the ACL was another lowlight. I know I am in a small minority that really enjoys the ACL and type of football played and each time I switch on hoping for our teams to perform well, I am disappointed. I still get the feeling that clubs don’t put their collective hearts and souls into it. I’d so much prefer to see a team go all the way and win that two legged final in November, so much more than the season ending squabble for a toilet seat but I’ll have to make do with plaing FIFA - oh wait; there is no Asian Champions League in FIFA, maybe if there was, people would sit up and take notice.
Waz
Roar Rookie
This has to be one of the poorest seasons in record. Only Glory and SFC can say they achieved their potential. Victory massively underperformed with their most expensive squad ever and even Nix, consistently held up as a success, only went from 9th place to 6th place. 8/10 sides need a huge improvement next year.