A mere 133 days after Western United downed Melbourne City in the Grand Final, the A-League Men is finally back – so it’s time to post your final ladder predictions for the season.
What better way to prove our credentials than by posting predictions we can all dredge up again at the end of the season? I’ve glanced into the crystal ball myself and I’m confident this is how the final standings will end up.
1. Melbourne Victory
After crashing out in the semi-finals last season, Tony Popovic will expect to go one better this time around.
Former Manchester United winger Nani is the headline signing, but it’s goalkeeper Paul Izzo who could make the biggest difference. Victory look strong all over the park and with one of the meanest defences in the league, they could grind their way to the top, not least because they also enjoy the most partisan support in the competition.
Key player: Jake Brimmer
2. Macarthur
Macarthur started the Dwight Yorke era by winning the Australia Cup, and the one-time Sydney FC star has vowed to play attacking football as the Bulls’ newest manager. He’ll be helped by Daniel Arzani, who is back in the A-League Men and hoping to press his claims for World Cup selection.
The biggest question mark over the Bulls is the No.9 role, with Georgian journeyman Bachana Arabuli brought in to lead the line in attack.
Key player: Daniel Arzani
3. Melbourne City
Melbourne City have been the team to beat over the past few campaigns, but they were genuinely ambushed in last year’s Grand Final. They’ve lost some key players too, including midfield lynchpin Connor Metcalfe. Much will depend on how quickly foreign signings Richard van der Venne, Thomas Lam and Valon Berisha fit into the side. But can Paddy Kisnorbo, now heading into his fourth season in charge, inspire another title challenge?
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
Key player: Jamie Maclaren
4. Western United
Can John Aloisi repeat the feat of last season’s stunning title win? He’s essentially got the same squad available, but unfortunately for the green and blacks, they no longer have the element of surprise.
They’re now all a year older, with much still expected of the likes of veterans Jamie Young and Alessandro Diamanti. But it’s temperamental striker Aleksandar Prijovic who could hold the key to Western United’s fortunes, who will play most of their home games at AAMI Park.
Key player: Aleksandar Prijovic
5. Sydney FC
No coach is under more pressure than Steve Corica following Sydney FC’s disastrous campaign last time around. The Sky Blues are finally back home in Moore Park, where they’ll expect to put plenty of opponents to the sword.
Cross-town rivals Western Sydney pulled off a memorable heist by nicking Milos Ninkovic, but the Sky Blues retaliated by signing Jack Rodwell in return. The real question is whether Adam Le Fondre still has goals in him – particularly now that Bobo has retired.
Key player: Luke Brattan
6. Western Sydney Wanderers
The jury is still out on Mark Rudan, but one thing he brings to the touchline is genuine intensity. He’ll oversee a completely revamped outfit, with the Wanderers having made several astute signings. Lawrence Thomas, new skipper Marcelo, Oliver Bozanic, Brandon Borrello and the explosive Romain Amalfitano are all upgrades on last season’s squad, and there’s plenty of room for optimism in Parramatta.
What the Wanderers need, more than anything, is for fans to start returning to CommBank Stadium in numbers once again.
Key player: Lawrence Thomas
7. Brisbane Roar
The positives for Brisbane Roar include a return to Suncorp Stadium, albeit for three games, and the return of both Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Riku Danzaki. But it’s how involved marquee man Charlie Austin gets that could make or break the Roar’s season.
Austin dropped deep into midfield during the Roar’s Australia Cup run, but if the former Queens Park Rangers star receives some service, the Queenslanders will once again be tough to beat – particularly at home.
Key player: Charlie Austin
8. Newcastle Jets
There’s a chance the Newcastle Jets could be the surprise package of the season and stun the league by slaloming up the standings. But the Novocastrians could just as easily be prime candidates for a lower-ladder finish.
It’s hard to know what to make of Arthur Papas’ outfit, although they’ll sorely miss the guile and penetration of Daniel Penha and Olivier Boumal. Carl Jenkinson, Reno Piscopo and Brandon O’Neill are more than handy pick-ups, but the Jets lack a bit of an intimidation factor going into the new campaign.
Key player: Reno Piscopo
9. Adelaide United
How soon is too soon to be worried, Adelaide United fans? Ben Halloran has returned to the Reds, but that’s about it as far as eye-catching signings are concerned. Perhaps coach Carl Veart believes there’s already enough quality in the squad to make a run to the finals, but with the likes of Zac Clough and Hiroshi Ibusuki not always overly convincing, the South Australians look a bit thin on quality.
They will, however, at least have a revamped Coopers Stadium to call home.
Key player: Craig Goodwin
(Photo by Mohamed Farag/Getty Images)
10. Central Coast Mariners
Write off the Mariners at your peril. Last season’s fifth-place finish was a monumental effort, after plenty tipped Nick Montgomery’s men to finish at the foot of the table. In Jason Cummings and Garang Kuol – who is sticking around on loan until January – the Gosford side boast a couple of genuine match-winners.
But they’ve lost plenty of quality, even if Danny Vukovic is a like-for-like replacement for Mark Birighitti in goal. The inexperienced Montgomery may find things a bit tougher the second time around.
Key player: Jason Cummings
11. Wellington Phoenix
On the surface, Wellington Phoenix look closer to a spot in the finals than the foot of the table. After finishing sixth last season, there’s no denying Ufuk Talay is one of the most talented coaches around.
But plenty needs to go right for the Phoenix to mount a finals challenge, not least the form of unknowns Oskar Zawada and Bozhidar Kraev. The won’t have last season’s siege mentality to rely upon either, with the Kiwi side finally making their long-awaited return to Sky Stadium.
Key player: David Ball
12. Perth Glory
Look away now, Perth Glory fans, because we all know where this is going. Having been shafted yet again by the Western Australian government, Glory will play 10 of their 13 home games at Macedonia Park in distant Stirling.
Rookie coach Ruben Zadkovich has brought in a tonne of new players – of whom the likes of Mark Beevers, Aaron McEneff, Ben Azubel, Mustafa Amini and Ryan Williams all look like decent signings – but on the evidence of last season, when Glory spent an eternity on the road, they’re nailed on to finish bottom.
Key player: Bruno Fornaroli
jbinnie
Guest
brainstrust - Good to see someone was either at, or viewed, the Roar game against the Cup Winners for there is little else has appeared on this blog site. Pity, when 2 of the regulars are watching the girls and the "big" clash" it would appear there is no one to fill the gap. Elsewhere Roar have been praised for a good defensive effort but when one considers they had four players in the start team that would probably tell you their best position was centre-back, Aldred,Neville,Chapman and the youngster were all doing defensive duty. The veteran Hingert gave a reasonable showing as a wing -back with constant raids down the wing but not surprisingly he ran out of legs to be replaced with another defender who has played at centre back. Is it any wonder the defence played well. At the other end of the field there was little to cheer about with no goals again being recorded against Roar's scoresheet. So, what is new???? Cheers jb.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Armiento what a performance , so he is at Brisbane now. I can remember when he first appeared for Perth looked very good, so he was missing with an ACL but he looked better than ever. Macarthur look in huge trouble, Skotadis is not able to play as the sole defensive midfielder they need Bacchus. They dont have wingers tracking back and De Silva isnt covering either. The two fullbacks they were left exposed and looked ordinary. When Hingert is owning you then its a huge worry. Jordan Rose people complained about him but they hadn't seen Carter in action. The crowd doesn't look good for great weather. I tune into Gosford just before 5 and they could have played water polo.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Mariners will surprise
Coastyboi
Guest
1. Macarthur 2. Wellington 3. Central Coast 4. Sydney FC 5. Melbourne City 6. Adelaide 7. Brisbane 8. Melbourne Victory 9. Perth 10. WSW 11. Western United 12. Newcastle
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Fair call. But don’t forget Dwight Yorke might help the Bulls break the shackles. I reckon the quality of Robert Mak and Joe Lolley at Sydney FC has been a little bit overlooked as well. But we’ll see.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
I'd be disappointed if you published an inaccurate prediction :stoked:
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
1.western united.2Mcauther.3melboune victory.4central coast.5 Sydney fc. 6. melbourne city. 7.Adelaide united. 8.Newcastle.9. brisbane roar. 10.wellinton 11.perth glory. 12.western sydney wanderes. who knows?
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
mike tuckerman you could be right,excellent final ladder postions.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I would like to see the finer details of Aloisi contract before determining what position Western United will be in. Diamanti back is very suprising, 10 matches no goals a lot of missed. That along with Troisi might indicate Aloisi might be up to funny business. I dont see at this point how you can predict anything. Nani I cant see how he is going to improve MV with their hard pressing, they had the worst goal keeper I ever seen in the A-league last year so Izzo will be a massive improvement, even though I think he is overrated. A lot of the squads have a mixture of old and young, So if the old guy gets 90 minutes and the young guys are benched or subbed thats the formula for disaster as we saw with Moon in the cup.
Nonbloke
Roar Rookie
Not a fan of your predictions mr Tuckerman………. There are glaring instances of shallow research. The bulls are full of players that have failed to last a season and coaches already have tactics in place to nullify them. Melb city’s problem is they are over coached. Frontline output is disgraceful but you only have to watch the pressure Kisnorbo puts on them from the sideline. To say Monty’s inexperienced is laughable……. He is a student of the game since his days in the epl and he understands TEAM …… both in the squad and the coaching staff. He has built a squad capable of being rotated to offset tactics from opposing coaches and he has coached his philosophy into the squad from academy through five years. The other team of note is the defensive team at western united under the watch of Hayden fox. Popovic has not had the same success since he split from Fox but has needed cash to buy keep his reputation. Western’s clean sheets last year were not by chance and winning games needs to start from the back. There are six players in the glory side and three in the coach and support staff with more experience than the coach…….. good luck with finding a recipe for that soup mix. Then you have Corica……… lost in trying to implement a plan A with no plan B just like Arnold …….. although Arnold did it successfully because he had a superior squad at the time. Corica has gone for old and slow, with his centrebacks being the most experienced and slowest, but nobody else wanted them, they are my pick for missing the finals.
chris
Guest
Good to hear :)
chris
Guest
Agree LH. Roar played some good football last season but lacked a cutting edge. Austin could be the provider of that edge. And you are right - we need a successful Roar. Surely after a disastrous last few months for the Broncos the Roar could provide some happiness up there :)
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Roar and the Jets are deff fighting it out for the spoon, SFC wont make the top 6 again and Adeliade will make another slow start before hitting the top 4 slot. Nix will be 5th.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Reasonable picks. As they say, someone has to finish last, and the Glory are about as good a pick for that as anyone. I think Western United's efforts last season were a bit of a fluke, expect them to tumble down towards the bottom of the table this season. Roar and AU will fight it out or that final spot in the top six.
Sports
Guest
If the Australia Cup performance is anything to go by than I doubt Macarthur will be in the top 3. Depending on how long their players last I could see them struggling for the top 6 on the back half of the season.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Hi Cpaaa. I appreciate the sentiment. I was on the road last weekend, otherwise I’d have covered it. I’ll be back on deck on Mondays for the rest of the season.
Cpaaa
Guest
Hi Mike, Articles related to the ALM Season on the eve of the season are necessary, but I was kinda disappointed you didnt have an article related to the Aust. Cup Final, as it was always going to generate a massive amount of hits.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I'm confident Roar will be a top six team, if their defenders are fit. When they are, last season and this preseason, not many teams score against Roar. When they have to rely on the likes of Milnaric and Chapman as centre-backs, or a half-fit Aldred and their second keeper, they leak like a sieve. Off the field in the administrative buildings they are putting in a huge effort to lift the club out of the duldrums. Let's hope a bit of luck falls their way on the field, for a change. The A Leagues need a successful Brisbane. The predictions you make Mike, of a top six made up solely of Melbourne and Sydney based teams will be a disaster for the league.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Interesting predictions Mike. Adelaide and Central Coast so low? Your table shows how even our competition is. Which teams will surprise us this year by playing better than or worse than expectations and which teams will have stars that last or do get injured? 1. Victory. 2. Sydney. 3. WSW. 4. City. 5. MacArthur. 6. Adelaide. 7. WU. 8. CCM. 9. Newcastle 10. Wellington 11 Brisbane. 12. Perth. I hate putting teams like CCM and Newcastle out, but it’s impossible to fit everyone in. Adelaide just always seem to make the top 6 and Veart could be a very special coach. First coach sacked - Zadkovic as Perth will probably perform poorly and management responds quickly.
Waz
Roar Rookie
It’s a tough one to call but I wouldn’t stray too far from mikes predictions, other than: - I think SFC look strong and I’d place them top 3 along with Victory & Bulls. City have stagnated but should be good for top 4. - Western Utd will be pants this season and won’t make finals. The rot had set in at the end of last season but a great finals performance has papered over the cracks. - Rudan has done it again. Another rebuild with good players signed but led by the worst coach in the comp. 8th. - Roars season will be determined by the end of R4 with four tough games in the opening rounds. Finish that set with no wins and plenty of defeats snd there’ll be no way back. A new 3-4-3 system should make for exciting viewing though - if Moon’s going down, he’s going down all guns blazing #InChazWeTrust