Sydney United’s Australia Cup victory the blueprint for what Australian football can become

The chetnik (ruthless paramilitary units) symbol on every serbian clubs emblems, clubrooms etc is AOK though? Talking nonsense pal.

Lionheart- It is a pity your experience in the game doesn't always let you fully comprehend what others are saying. Take this latest comment, you have me as a "hypocrite for "dismissing injuries" in one instance and then accusing me of dismissing " the need for depth" in another. My reply to SS was simply to remind him that Roar already had a left winger who had been signed indirectly from Adelaide, except for a brief sojourn overseas, which I have to accept was unsuccessful. Your other "complaint " puzzles me. You allege I "dismiss" the need for depth when in fact I specifically pointed out that today's professional squads usually consist of 23 players meaning that at least 7 or 8 of those players should be adaptable to "cover" for injuries to the recognised first team. Roar have a deep- seated problem. They appear to think that players coming out of youth football are ready to play with "the big boys." That is a dream. Coaching today has not moved with the times and there are kids playing first team football who do not appear to know the basic differences when playing (1) "defensive " football, or (2) "attacking" football. That deficiency in their thinking makes young players susceptible to error and that is what we see in most games in the ALM today, poor or hurried ball control. hurried and misplaced passing, shooting inaccuracy, poor ball winning ability, and of course the strength to go 90 minutes. If you go back to the "Golden age" you will find a comparison of playing staff then with staff now, vastly different. Theo, Franjic, Smith, Steffanutto, Murdocca, Paartlu, Barbarousas, Berisha , Broich, & Solarno all came to Roar as vastly experienced players from other clubs, but when put together formed an almost unbeatable team. That is where Postecoglue's talent emerged, he was good at recognising a player's talent and putting them together to form a good team. Cheers jb.

Guy who writes all these articles on Euro football is now telling about the need for a second division. Is this a joke you cant even follow the first division but you want a second one.

My understanding is that we Dwight Yorke at the helm, there's a professional approach down to the letter of the law. And that includes diet. I really hope that the Bulls are the next Victory or Sydney. We have strong proven clubs in Adelaide, Sydney, Wanderers, Victory and City, but with the development of Western United, hopefully the Bulls, and the rebuilding of the Jets, Perth and Mariners, we just need to get the Roar back to its glory days and watch out, the League will be attracting more attention and raising eyebrows. Then we only have one significant battle left, the collusion between the backyard codes and the media.

Stevo, football is the world game, and you have just encompassed that in a paragraph. Respect, and keep the faith.

Great article! This is so indicative of where we need to go. But as so astutely stated, we need to do it the right way, we cannot allow the boofheads to besmirch our game with unsavour behaviour, violence etc. If we can unite the clans, if we can achieve a state of collective understanding that we hold the high ground in player image, a collective family orientated environment with excellent active support that distinguishes itself with its exemplary behaviour. It has to be acknowledged that the NPL clubs have been building, and my understanding is that they are cashed up and ready to engage. The first step being the 2nd Division will be the litmus test. With persistent season long media exposure, it will be the opportunity for the NPL clubs, players and fans to prove themselves. To show that football is united and it's not the backyard codes and their signature stream of felonies and misdemeanors. The future for football is done right can be more than anyone in this country could imagine

I think you're being a bit hypocritical here JB, dismissing injuries as an excuse in one comment and in the next dismissing the need for depth in a position. Mileusnic is a senior player in the squad, I don't think his starting position is in doubt when he's fit, but he did miss a number of games and starts last season with injury. You might recall that he even played some games centrally, due to the absence of others. Courtney-Perkins is back on loan for a season, great news for depth at the back.

People are obsessed with the ethnic angle, it indicates that a lot never payed the competition any genuine attention. For starters the majority of the television news reports in the early days of the NSL was from the state league where the teams from the Balkans were yet people thought it was about the NSL. Sydney United were in the state leagues for the first 7 years of the NSL , till the conference system. The weird thing is you dont see anyone coming up we need Northern Spirit back and their skimpy body paint dancers. People seem to have not noticed they existed, but they seem to be better known than Parramatta Power who were in the last NSL grand final. What about the Gippsland Falcons why dont we see the we need them back in the A-league. The untapped vacant area that no would dream of putting in a team in.

Can someone please explain why there is now a generic Australia Cup promo on Channel 10. They really waited till after the semi finals to show a preview. What about the complete whole A-league season and the lack of an A-league promo. They showed no promos for the Matildas either.

SS -Thank you for your comment and it is not for me to question your ability at assessing players, however to return to the main topic of this comment you go on to say your man will fill a void for Roar !!!!!!!!. You surely haven't forgotten that Roar already have a left winger, one who came to them after a brief sojourn overseas , after playing in the ALM for some years with a team called Adelaide. I refer of course to Mileusnic who , to be honest, appeared to struggle somewhat to claim a starting place in Moon's run- on teams. It is exactly this kind of player procurement that causes me to observe the running of Brisbane Roar with a somewhat jaundiced eye. Cheers jb.

that match in adelaide for the australia cup - i think mislead alot of brisbane supporters full credit to brissy, they deserved that win, i have zero issues with the result - that first half showed what brissy is capable of doing, however it must be taken in context. adelaide was (theyre out of it now) the toughest part of thier pre season training, lots of players had "jelly legs" and were pulling up with cramp in the several training sessions in the couple weeks leading into that match absolutely did not look at the races, veart tore shreds off them at half time.

that move stings, i know alot of the supporter base are up in arms of going to a direct rival. its something i hate seeing and its becoming far too common these days of switching from adelaide to victory and vice versa. another reason for the move to melbourne is for his work, hes now a qualified barrister and everyknows in adelaide theres not many jobs in that field (most of the law graduates move to melbourne or sydney) he is part of football royalty in south australia, with both his brothers former adelaide united youth team players (still playing excellent in the SA NPL) and thier dad a succesful coach at NPL level. adelaide looked after him very well through 2 ACL injuries (a lot of club would've cut the player) - extended his contract twice. hes a good agressive box to box midfielder with a wicked long range shot, but has never been the same player since the first ACL tear - let alone the second

very hard to gauge the impact Armiento will have at brisbane JB (i wrote a detailed bit about him a couple posts above) i wouldn't read too much into the fact he played for the wooden spooners, before he went down with the ACL injury - he was excellent for perth. capable of creating and scoring goals (which he didnt get to show unfortunately at adelaide due to the competition for players. he fills a void for brissy, as an actual left sided attacker - the only concern i have, is in relation to how much pace he has lost. on paper it looks tantelising - with armiento swinging crosses onto the head of austin. he always been a very good crosser of the ball, even as a junior

Lionheart- First let me say I had no real idea as to who the player Armiento was, what I do know is that he played last season with a team that struggled just as badly as Roar and therefore had to be somewhat of a "struggler" in what was not a very successful team. Secondly I did not disagree with your disappointment , I simply was disappointed that a dyed in the wool fan like you is left to rue what lies ahead in the coming season. Blaming injuries and other trivialities does not hold with me, a team does not only consist of 11 players it is backed by at least another 7 or 8 other players allowing for injuries. That back up has to be included when assessing the overall strength of a squad. The coach that ignores the quality of his back up players is asking for huge problems over a 26 game season. To get into the problems facing Qld football and what has been achieved over the last 50 years is another story altogether. Suffice to say there is a political agenda that has been followed faithfully and to be honest it would require many more "inches" than is available here to have a debate about that subject. Just 50 years ago your favourite team was called Brisbane Lions and was without doubt one of the richest (in assets) clubs in the whole of Australia. They owned acreage, income earning property, had an extremely hard working committee, and yet the "bubble" burst in 1980's when, due to some bad decision making, the club slipped out of the NSL, gained some momentum in the lower local league, and then with some desperate financial dealings managed to scrape into the ALM, where they have seen changes of ownership, losses to their land assets and have become a shadow of the former financially viable identity. Despite all that keep the faith. they are Queensland's rep.in a national comp. and deserve our support. Cheers jb.

My main concern is the cost of a NSD franchise licence. Then, it’s the possible refund Western United or Macarthur stipulate, if their unfixed A-League position is threatened by relegation.

Exactly right.

Hoolifan, you're spot on. In fact, Adelaide City actually pulled out of the NSL weeks before the final NSL season started due to lack of support and escalating costs which they couldn't cope with. It was either they persevere in the NSL and go bankrupt or save the club by pulling out. The SA Federation at the time used this opportunity to create Adelaide United in a matter of weeks. The result was over 15,000 at the first game against Brisbane with thousands being turned away. The point is, although a pro-NSD is definitely required to increase the opportunities for more players/coaches/administrators to develop, it will not be the saviour of the game as some people with vested interests in these clubs would have us believe.

you misread me here JB. Apologies if I misunderstand your discard reference, but my question was Armiento, and your answer was discard. I don't see why you would be disappointed with my comments or predictions JB, I'm merely reflecting what you and most of the experts here are saying, based on an analysis of pre-season results quite obviously.(how the commenter to whom I was replying could make such a prediction is beyond me seeing Roar's preseason results against A league clubs). Ever considered that those trials (?) and constant changes you refer to last season might have been forced by injury and a catch-up schedule? Or the state of play at Roar is merely a reflection of the state of football in Qld? I'm a relative newcomer to the sport but I often ask myself, what have those who've been running the game in Qld been doing for the past 120 years? let alone the past 40 or 15?

Hoolifan -Your second last sentence in your comment is as close to the truth as you will ever hear in Aussie football. When Frank Lowy was asked to set up a "football organisation" in 2004 he used his experience as a football manager with Hakoah /Eastern Suburbs in the early 1980's as a guide, and, knowing his costs in those days were passing $300,000 per season , he elected to go the whole hog and try and attract enough money and interest, to start a full time professional league. So we had a new situation where clubs had to have financial backing to a tune of around 2 -3 $millions just to get 23 players on a contract. Then we had coaching, medical staff and administration workers another 2 $millions before a ball is kicked. Now to the punch line. In 2004 there was not an NSL identity with that sort of ready capital and none had the nerve to ask their social clubs to service a debt of that magnitude and so we were left as we are today. Costs have risen, pandemic has seen gate numbers tumble, and football is in limbo. with one terminal weakness, lack of financial backing. Maybe it is time our leaders went cap in hand to FIFA and asked that funding be made available. Cheers jb.

Lionheart - Correction. I did not use the name "Armiento" and the word "discard' in the same sentence. If that lad is to be classed as a "discard" it is only the management of Perth that can do so, they have released him.!!!!! My comment was aimed at Roar management who in recent times have made a habit of signing players from other ALM clubs many of whom have struggled to get game time in the respective first teams. These players have in fact been "discarded" from their clubs My point. If you want to challenge for top four positions you have to try and retain the players you know will make a difference when the chips are down. Roar are not blessed with too many of this type of player and at this point in time are not doing too much about that status quo. Young, who apparently you do not rate, was in the eyes of many the best keeper in the ALM over the last 3 seasons yet was allowed to go , winning a championship medal at his new club!!!!!! Gillesphy, a more that useful back four player. who got among the goals, was also allowed to leave. Fowler, in his wisdom, brought 2 centre-backs,a midfielder, and a central striker to the club with him, he also assessed Young and Neville and reckoned they could do a job and so Roar's sterling defensive record over the last 3 seasons was established. Since then that record has been steadily eroded as youngster after youngster was trialed and tested in key positions some with a little success, but mostly being replaced at crucial times in the game. The blunt truth is that Roar have steadily deteriorated as a football team and to see a loyal fan like you forecast them as this year's wooden spooners before a ball is kicked in anger is somewhat disappointing. JB.