Welcome to the Roar’s A-League tips and predictions for 2022-23. We are back bigger and better than ever, after the voice of the people won out in a tight race last season.

Joining me on the panel will be football writer and Roar legend Mike Tuckerman, former NSL goalkeeper Andrew Prentice and football fiction writer, dreamer and Newcastle United supporter Texi Smith.

In addition, host of 91.3 SportFM morning show Blayne Treadgold has agreed to join in on all the fun, debate and banter. Blayne is a huge supporter of Australian football and is hoping his glory boys can rebound after a disappointing season of frustration.

The season begins with a round to savour. A grand final replay and a Big Blue headline it, yet the traditional F3 derby and the Phoenix’s true return to home digs should be an emotional one for the fans who had a brief taste of it towards the back end of last season.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say as the title holding roar of the crowd. Here are the tips and thoughts of the panel on the opening week of fixtures.

Mike Tuckerman

United, Macarthur, Newcastle, Draw, Wellington, Western Sydney.

Melbourne City’s pre-season form has been dreadful, and it comes on the back of their shock 2-0 defeat to Western United in last season’s grand final.

They’ll need new signings Richard van der Venne, Thomas Lam and Valon Berisha to gel quickly, but they’ll come up against a well-drilled Western United side here. The visitors won’t fear a clash with City on what is now their new home ground, and with Aleksandar Prijovic sticking around in Melbourne, he could fire the ‘visitors’ to a first-up victory.

Brisbane Roar are nowhere near as troubled an outfit as many neutrals would have you believe, and they should have reached the Australia Cup final.

They’ll have the talismanic Riki Danzaki back on deck this season, but unfortunately for Warren Moon, he’ll come up against a Macarthur side in form.

Danny Vukovic is a shrewd signing for the Mariners, and the Gosford side will need him given the amount of talent that has walked out the door.

Much will depend on how the likes of Kelechi John and Marco Tulio fit into the side, but with the inspirational Marco Urena and club stalwart Matty Simon now gone, the Mariners will rely on Jason Cummings and Garang Kuol for goals.

They look a bit unsettled, though, and the Jets should be in prime position to pounce when they make the short trip down the F3.

New stadium, same coach for Sydney FC. There’s no doubt Steve Corica is under pressure after a disastrous campaign and he’ll want to get off to a quick start when they host Melbourne Victory at the newly revamped Allianz Stadium.

There should be a boisterous crowd in attendance for this one and in Robert Mak and Joe Lolley, the Sky Blues boast some genuine attacking flair. It may not be enough to get the better of a watertight Victory defence, however, on what could be a wet night in Sydney.

Ufuk Talay has worked miracles at Wellington Phoenix, who have spent the better part of two years away from home.

They’ll relish a home clash with Adelaide United at Sky Stadium, and the arrival of Steven Ugarkovic and Kosta Barbarouses should provide some cover for a host of departed stars. This could be a tricky campaign for the Reds.

They’ll need imports Hiroshi Ibusuki and Zac Clough to fire, but with away form not always a strong suit, the three points could stay over in the Shaky Isles for this one.

It’s yet another new dawn for Western Sydney. Mark Rudan has put the broom through the underperforming outfit, with a host of big names joining the red and blacks.

Lawrence Thomas should be a reliable figure between the posts in a position in which the Wanderers have struggled in recent years, while much will be expected of the likes of Romain Amalfitano and Brandon Borello in attack.

Most pundits have tipped Perth Glory to finish dead last and they’re likely to start off the campaign with an away loss.

Stuart Thomas

City, Macarthur, Victory, Central Coast, Wellington, Western Sydney

Round 1 A-League tipping is a suicide mission for tipsters, but here goes anyway.

Melbourne City are my tip for the title this season, yet Western United looked decent in the Australia Cup and let’s not forget, are the champions.

City for me in another match where John Aloisi’s team may again by underestimated. Macarthur look a top four team to me and will begin with a comfortable win against Brisbane at Suncorp, barring any hangover from the cup win last weekend.

One of the best clashes of the season is always the F3 Derby and the Mariners and Jets need quick starts to their seasons. The Jets have recruited well and the Central Coast have a consistent body of work to fall back on. The home side in a very tight one.

Melbourne Victory will be far too settled for the Sky Blues in the opening Blue of the season, despite the homecoming at Allianz.

Let’s hope the weather holds as it should be a great atmosphere and spectacle in what is a stunning stadium, whilst the Phoenix will win at Sky Stadium with an emotional and bumper crowd there to cheer them on. Fingers crossed, they deserve it.

The Wanderers will finish top four this season, even though it may take them a few months to get rolling. A home win in the wet against a rebuilding Perth would be a great start for them.

Blayne Treadgold

City, Macarthur, Draw, Draw, Adelaide, Draw

The opening fixture is a tough one to judge with both looking to pick up where they left off from last season. Melbourne City will have a point to prove and possess plenty of strike power in the form of Leckie, McLaren, Nabbout and Tilio and will start with a win.

I’m predicting Brisbane to struggle this year and Macarthur will take plenty of confidence out of the Australia Cup. Arzani, Toure and Davila looking hungry. Two-nil to Macarthur.

The hardest game to pick of the weekend is the Mariners and the Jets, both have built well in the off-season and have the ability to score plenty of goals; with all eyes on the Mariners’ Socceroo partnership of Kuol and Cummings. A two-all draw looks likely.

Will Sydney bounce back into the finals? Will Melbourne Victory maintain the rage from last season? Let’s hold off deciding for now and call it a draw in the first Blue of the season.

Wellington probably haven’t recruited as well as what they would have liked despite picking up Polish import Oskar Zawada and Bulgarian Bozhidar Kraev, both however at this stage are an unknown quantity. The Reds perhaps a little too settled for them at this stage of the season.

Despite recruiting a much more balanced side this year, Perth may struggle again with a very uneven fixture. Western Sydney are also a bit of an unknown quantity and I predict them both to finish in the bottom half. A one-all draw to start their seasons here.

Andrew Prentice

City, Macarthur, Central Coast, Draw, Draw, Western Sydney

How many of us really saw Western’s premiership coming last season? (Okay, Stuart, I know you called it…) Far from flattering to deceive, John Aloisi’s “1-0 kids” kept defying the predictions and went all the way, vanquishing this Friday’s opponents in the Grand Final.

Now Melbourne City have a ready-made revenge table set for Round 1, and with the firepower of McLaren, Leckie, Nabbout and Tilio to call on, I think Patrick Kisnorbo’s men might have marked this one in their calendar a while ago.

Were it not for a tidal wave of Sydney United momentum, Brisbane and Macarthur would have been our Australia Cup final last weekend.

The Roar’s acquisition of Charlie Austin might help the “goals for” column look less anaemic this season, but Macarthur under Dwight Yorke look ready to party as much as their boss used to. Al Hassan Toure, Daniel Arzani and Ulises Davila will make the Bulls a fun team to watch this season – I hope the good folk in Sydney’s south-west think so too.

Can Monty’s Mariners revival continue? Despite losing a boatload of talent in the off-season, they’ve recruited well and continue to reap the benefits of the Mariners COE. They also have THE most talked-about player in the league until January, so eyeballs will be tuned to see if Garang Kuol can electrify domestic games as he has internationally of late.

If not, Jason Cummings will provide attacking options aplenty, while Danny Vukovic returns to marshal a Kye Rowles-less defence. The Jets lost Daniel Penha but gained Rene Piscopo in midfield, along with Brandon O’Neill.

They still have brilliant Georgian Beka Mikeltadze up front but have brought another Georgian -and another Beka – Dartsmelia, to keep him company. Game of the round, this one…

The Sky Blues finally return to their renovated Moore Park home and the first guests they invite in are the ones who, like your long-lost “other” side of the family, are destined to make the whole home-coming go pear-shaped. Steve Corica has signed two highly regarded wide players in Joe Lolley and Robert Mak to support Adam le Fondre up front, and snared Jack Rodwell to add some steel at the back.

The Melbourne Victory under Tony Popovic went from the basement to within sight of the penthouse last season. Their marquee signing of former Manchester United wizard Nani is likely to pay dividends early. Victory look to be contenders, but the Sky Blues will not want their homecoming ruined.

After everything they’ve been through in the last 2 years, who doesn’t love the Phoenix? A couple of huge home-comings didn’t quite make up for the time spent away from home.

Now they get to start a season in NZ for the first time since 2019, but with a host of new players, like Brazilian Yan Sasse and Bulgarian Bozhidar Kraev. Hopefully they can get the Phoenix faithful to strip half-naked at the 80 minute mark more often than not.

They face an Adelaide United team who seem pretty settled in comparison, with Craig Goodwin sure to be the key to their fortunes again.

With an attacking midfielder bearing one of the most famous names in football, Zac Clough may be ready to impress.

In fairness, Perth Glory endured almost as much homesickness as Wellington last season, but didn’t engender the same sympathy. Remarkable to think that the club hosted a grand final record crowd in 2019 before the world fell apart.

They seem a long way from that now. In his first full season as coach, Ruben Zadkovich needs to stitch a lot of disparate threads together to get the club living up to their name. The form of Tunisian international Salim Khelifi will be a key.

The Wanderers have got to recapture the vibe of the Popovic era soon and make CommBank Stadium the raucous cauldron it was for that first Sydney derby back in 2019. With Oliver Bozanic signed to anchor the midfield, there’s no better time to start than this weekend.

Texi Smith

City, Macarthur, Newcastle, Victory, Wellington, Western Sydney

The array of stars that brought home the Premiership last season remains in place for Melbourne City, the forward line is still one of the most powerful we have ever seen in the A-League.

The signing of Valon Berisha can only make City even stronger.

Western United have gone out on a limb and signed Malian journeyman Tongo Doumbia, an unknown quantity who could add some sparkle to the midfield.

Their attack-minded team, coupled with the man mountain Leo Lacroix at the back, will be difficult to contain, but in this exciting season opener, we’ll see the full force of a City onslaught.

Forgotten Socceroo Andrew Nabbout will score a double and Marco Tilio will show us that he really can score tap-ins with a third in a comprehensive thrashing of their ground-sharing rivals.

After Macarthur FC’s bright showing in the Australia Cup final, their opening A-League fixture shapes up to be an exciting encounter at Suncorp Stadium.

Macarthur boast the sublime skills of Daniel Arzani and he now looks like the player we hoped he would become all those years ago. In Al Hassan Toure, they have a forward with allegedly the heaviest touch in the league, but his lightning pace makes up for it.

The home team have their own striking weapon in Charlie Austin, and with Henry Hore and Nikola Mileusnic on delivery, there should be no shortage of goalmouth action. Macarthur in a tight one.

The Mariners will be favourites to take out the F3 derby. Josh Nisbet will pull the strings, but alongside Jason Cummings will be unproven quality.

A new look centre of defence will be under scrutiny from the start, and the Jets’ Phoenix imports of Reno Piscopo and Jaushua Sotirio will cause havoc. The game will be frantic, and Newcastle will start with a win on the road.

Sydney FC face the prospect of playing in front of a massive bank of Melbourne Victory fans on Saturday evening, the lure of the first game at the new Allianz Stadium attracting a huge travelling support.

While the Sky Blues have recruited, it has not been spectacular; Victory though have gone to town, adding the likes of Nani, Paul Izzo and Tomi Juric to a squad already brimming with talent. This one will be a spectacular event and a stunning early season statement from the Victory.

Sunday begins with Wellington Phoenix playing in their home stadium and it will be a glorious occasion against visitors Adelaide United.

Phoenix have let go a number of stars after their Australian adventures, and have replaced them with a hodge-podge of international misfits; it will be with cautious optimism that a bumper crowd turns up at the Cake Tin to see how this new-look team comes together.

Steven Ugarkovic is a fantastic signing, and the forward line should be able to fire against a lightweight Adelaide United backline.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s another new start for Western Sydney Wanderers, but this time it might be for real.

Bringing in Ruon Tongyik and Oliver Bozanic from the Mariners is astute, raiding Sydney FC for two quality midfielders at opposing ends of their careers, Calem Nieuwenhof and Milos Ninkovic is brave, and signing Kusini Yengi from Adelaide is clever.

There is a big turnover of playing staff, and Mark Rudan may need time to find his best team. The same could be said of Ruben Zadkovich at Glory.

A new wave of signings has brought fresh hope yet the Wanderers will bring the crowd along with them, and a bumper attendance at Commbank Stadium will witness the beginning of another chapter in the history of the Wanderers, a 2-0 win thanks to Ramy Najjarine and substitute Bernie Ibini.

Round 1	Mike	Stuart	Blayne	Andrew	Texi	The Crowd
MCY vs WUN	WUN	MCY	MCY	MCY	MCY	?
BRI vs MAC	MAC	MAC	MAC	MAC	MAC	?
CCM vs NEW	NEW	CCM	DRAW	CCM	NEW	?
SYD vs MVC	DRAW	MVC	DRAW	DRAW	MVC	?
WEL vs ADL	WEL	WEL	ADL	DRAW	WEL	?
WSW vs PER	WSW	WSW	DRAW	WSW	WSW	?
Previous total	0	0	0	0	0	0
Last week	0	0	0	0	0	0
New total	0	0	0	0	0	0