A flying Newcastle Jets are the best thing about the new A-Leagues season

Sydney have got heaps of midfielders, they could use a winger. What they really need though is Wilkinson to get the chop, and the rest to be benched. Unless they are bringing over someone like Kante it will be hard to find a player with enough speed and endurance to compensate for Sydney's golden oldies.

If 10 can’t get over 100,000K viewers soon on a Saturday night……it’ll be ditched to a secondary channel. Back to re run movie’s.

jb Watching the live game it was apparent there was a system in play which revolves around the 3-5-2 and getting Hingert/Brown in behind defenders which was done with reasonable effect. Once there it was very clear that there was no focus point for the attack - Akbari seemed to be sitting deep (I wouldn’t say as a “false 9” although MacDonald in commentary referred to him as such) and between the two strikers both of whom sat wide, half way between where a striker would be and where a winger would be. It wasn’t without success but the speed of forward movement was such that Adelaide had time to react and cover to the counter and it became quite tedious Away to WU is one of the worst displays I’ve seen Roar put in. Something like a 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1 structure but no clear pattern of play - I’d go so far as to say no one player knew what the other players were meant to be doing. Very simply that’s a coaching issue in my book. If there aren’t some very harsh words and hard work on the park this week I’d be very surprised. As for the subs - all a bit reactionary and (listening to the press conference) fixing fitness issues I’d expect Roar to hit the transfer market in January and bring in a proper 10

Lionheart -yes, yes, and yes, all observations correct, the list over the last 15 years is almost endless, and combine the lot together and there can only be one outcome. jb

Waz - For some weeks now we have seen up to 5 substitutes used by Moon in most games and this in itself points to the fact that he is far from a settled eleven in his own mind. That in itself doesn't surprise me, when trying to introduce a team heavily leaning towards local talent great care has to be taken to ensure that this is done when the team is in a winning run, at this point in time, a "dreamtime" for Roar. Everyone writing in these columns will tell you Papas has had great success so far this year while forgetting to remark as to how well his " imports " are working to achieve his ,the coach's, aims. I have watched the Roar fastidiously over the last 4 matches and I still can't work out the team's 'shape" or what they are trying to achieve. That leads me to worry about what the die-hard fans are thinking, where are the A-League class players of bygone seasons when 15,000 were being attracted to Roar matches?. Week in week out we see the same players being used ,sometime in the same positions but even that is not certain. The end result for these lads?, 1 goal after 360 minutes of football is not what one would deem a confidence building environment and lets be honest ,none of the signings they have made look as if they could alter that status quo. As I said a few weeks ago it is going to be a long hard season for our A-League representative. jb.

you got a stutter there Waz. resources? like a home training ground, or office space for the admin staff? They were badly let down by the Logan Council, present and past (who weren't locked up after all). Round five and I haven't received my membership cards yet. I understand they were badly let down by their suppliers, happens most years. The draw, to be told on Tuesday by APL for the weekend's match - I can understand why it got under their skin. Moon keeps a pretty cool head most weeks, win or lose, and he speaks honestly post match, no excuses, accepting not deflecting blame. I see that it's clearly a hard gig running an A League club in SE Qld, lots of factors to overcome. Why?

I agree yes. I do think with the new stadium at Moore Park things will dramatically increase. SFC's major fan base is miles away from Kogarah and people are just sick of driving out to there

Punter you'd think it was a no brainer with the number of teams. We have at least double the player base and more players than all the other codes combined yet we have less teams. All these players and coaches and nowhere to go. There would surely be others like Papas floating around in NPL1

the frustration from coaches/players comes from inconsistencies with how the game is officiated - what one ref deems is a foul, another might not and let the game flow as an example until every referee is on the same page even with small things (eg shirt pulling), you are going to get 'frustrated' players and coaches when it comes to decisions do i think coaches/players should be carded for foul language? depends on the situation - if they're joking around (eg laughing around with the referee and saying everything is "F" crazy like jammo normally does for melbourne city lol) compared to getting in the refs face and gesticulating and swearing your head off - its the context its used in no official deserves to get sworn at, unfortunately its an emotional sport. The ref has the power to card whoever he wants for foul language, its ultimately up to him to decide if a card is worthy.

Farrell looks very good and seems to have an attitude as well. Mariners look good as do the Jets.

Assuming the owners are paying their bills (no reason to believe they’re not) then this start comes down to a combination of things. The first is the ridiculous travel schedule under COVID rules - that should never have been allowed to happen although Roar shouldn’t have let it get under their skin. The second is local management - they have enough resources to compete and the fact they’re not is down to local conditions not absentee owners. Moon is an experienced coach and he will know that coaching is like being a “benevolent Dictator”, one where you only coach with the permission of the players — lose them and a coach is toast. That performance suggested the players were so totally confused they didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing or they were so totally over things they were sending a clear message. Neither is good for the long term prospects of any coach tbh!!

Assuming the owners are paying their bills (no reason to believe they’re not) then this start comes down to a combination of things. The first is the ridiculous travel schedule under COVID rules - that should never have been allowed to happen although Roar shouldn’t have let it get under their skin. The second is local management - they have enough resources to compete and the fact they’re not is down to local conditions not absentee owners. Moon is an experienced coach and he will know that coaching is like being a “benevolent Dictator”, one where you only coach with the permission of the players — lose them and a coach is toast. That performance suggested the players were so totally confused they didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing or they were so totally over things they were sending a clear message. Neither is good for the long term prospects of any coach !

Your last sentence, 100%. We need to give young players and coaches a go in the A-League. This is why we need more teams, while some are expected to win & will spend there are others that need to embrace that this is a development league & allow them to get transfer fees to allow them to benefit.

I've never understood managers on the sideline abusing the 4th official as if they have a lot of influence on what the refs are doing. This goes all the ways up to the big leagues as well.

Yes the Jets are playing well. Funny, many has discussed giving Papas as run as a coach before he went to Japan with Ange. Not knowing enough of the local game to comment, there were a few who saw his potential. It's a shame that they are not giving these young guys a chance & we keep going for the likes of Robinson, who talks a good game, but the game has moved on. Have a look at the best coaches in the world, they are not all ex superstars, you don't have to be an ex socceroos to get a gig in Australia. So happy for Papas & the Jets. SFC can & will buy their way out.

TV is where the A league needs to lift its game. The explanation on why crowds are so low is a bit dubious but let’s go with it. But when your TV ratings are as they are - then it’d time to be worried. Can’t go to the game - okay but watch it on tv. Very very few are doing that. Channel TEN’ is now getting beaten by the ABC five nights out of 7. Yes it’s propped up by CBS but they must be worried that their whole slate is underperforming and Saturday night is a disaster.

When at the game I use to laugh to myself at how silly and insignificant Kevin Muscat looked when he would go on his technical area rants. The cameras do tend to magnify the action no doubt. The trouble though is that kids these days are so good at lip reading. Anyway it's good to see Kevin behaving these days, coaching in a country where respect means exactly that.

like i said above, i dont want to 'curse' the player - the last few younger players i've spoken in detail about, seem to have stagnated lol i dont think he moves on at season end though, this is his first season getting into the team - one more year to be consistent and then move on if he keeps up the hard work (and gets a hair cut haha) he could be the next one out of the the famed mariners developement program. - i would be very encouraged if i was a mariners fan. i actually could see him playing further forward as a left winger or even in a wingback system, hes always been a good crosser of the ball i specifically made a point about this in his scounting analysis (kind of similar to craig goodwin, who was playing as a left back but then moved to left winger) im not comparing the players either, completely different players with different skill sets lol

Yeah if Robinson didn't want to stay - regardless of the reason - then happy to see him go. Most Jets fans have been wishing him well ever since. :stoked: We've been trying to get Papas back for years. I think all the stars have aligned: more injection of funds to recruit; actually being able to recruit majority of the squad and sign/release players at Papas' call, not the club management; first in preseason with a plan and the training to realised it; clear capability of pouring over players stats and understanding them and who to recruit to match what Papas wants. It was going to be a slow burn but there is a whole season ahead. At least a two season project but more questions of how to embed this when he eventually leaves. Which won't be to WSW. Apart from disrupting and starting all over again mid-season, Papas like Newcastle and has a bit more honour than Robinson, no matter how hard WSW owners want to agitate. I can see a few raids on the Jets in January for players and such - will be interesting to see if any do go to another A-League side. I don't think we'll see the antics of Ibini to leave, or Ugarkovic feeling the need to move on after long years of service. I think it will be more like cancelled loans or transfers on to foreign teams, maybe not necessarily better ones. Just quietly after watching my team shred the Nix the way they did, the other games were just a bit boring to watch. But that could just be me :laughing:

Agree 100% and good mention in your first post about what should be acceptable in the work place. AA - not sure what you mean in your reply that it’s a refereeing issue. Do you mean the ref should issue any coaching staff that verbally barrage the officials with obscenities a yellow card, or that the refs deserve it cause they get decisions wrong? Hopefully the former.