Just five weeks of regular season play remain in the 2023/24 A-League Men’s season and the race for spots in the top six is on in fury.

This week’s play begins when the sixth-placed Wanderers host Brisbane on Friday; a team looking to sneak into the finals with a late-season run. Western United will have plenty of emotion behind them at their new stadium when Macarthur comes to town on Saturday afternoon and the top of the ladder clash between the Mariners and the Phoenix headlines the round in the twilight.

The Melbourne Derby follows moments after the match in Gosford and Melbourne City simply cannot afford to drop all three points against their arch-rival. Sydney FC travel to Newcastle on Sunday to face the fading Jets and the round ends with the dependable Glory up against Adelaide in the west.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say as the voice of the people.

The Crowd sits just two points behind leader Andrew Prentice, with plenty of matches still available to rein him in before the season ends.

Here are the tips and thoughts of the panel for all the Round 23 action.

Texi Smith

Brisbane, Western, Central Coast, Victory, Sydney, Adelaide

A team with only a weak sniff of a top-six finish up against the team in sixth – this is a recipe for a classic. Brisbane soak up the pressure in the first half, riding their luck as Wanderers smell blood, but when Keegan Jelacic waltzes through to score on the hour, the home fans look on bemused. The empty RBB section doesn’t help and Jonas Markovski comes on to finish the job, the rest of Commbank Stadium mirroring the RBB by the 90th minute.

The decision to move this game to Tarneit is a wise one. It will give the new home of Western United some further exposure and provide a much more appropriate venue to house a paltry crowd. It will also give Western United a good opportunity to enjoy some real home-ground advantage.

Visitors Macarthur will be reeling from Monday’s collapse at home to Western Sydney Wanderers and will be up for this one from the start, with Clayton Lewis pulling the strings from midfield. Valere Germain’s temper gets in the way as the first half draws to a close, sent off for an impudent trip following a big tackle, and from that moment the game swings in Western’s favour.

Daniel Penha is finally free to do what he does best, and he terrorises the Bulls’ defence, teeing up Lachie Wales for the only goal of the game.

The Central Coast Mariners clash with league leaders Wellington Phoenix is a worthy curtain-raiser to the Melbourne derby, and the palm trees will be swaying in the sun as New South Wales enjoys its final night of daylight saving.

Angel Torres of the Central Coast Mariners. (Photo by Kelly Barnes/Getty Images)

The Mariners’ late win on Tuesday after their dismantling on the weekend in Sydney showed character, and they will be in Wellington’s faces from the first whistle. Christian Theoharous is recalled after his impressive showing midweek and scores early to get the crowd roaring.

Ben Old levels just before half-time, but Phoenix are missing their midfield general Alex Rufer and can’t sustain their hard-running counter-attacking game in the second half and the Mariners take control, Jing Reec smashing home the winner with ten minutes remaining.

Saturday night’s Melbourne derby is a fascinating match-up. Victory have been the better team all season but may run out of games to rise to the summit. City have been flirting with the top six for weeks now, and if they are going to snatch a spot in the finals series, they need to get something out of this one.

City’s exertions in Gosford on Tuesday night may leave them a little jaded, and the exciting front line of Daniel Arzani, Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli will be ready to rip them apart at the back. The unlikely figure of Connor Chapman gives Victory the lead, showing Bruno the way to goal, and City are in danger of folding when Machach slides home a second before the break.

City rally, Tolgay Arslan winning a penalty that Mathew Leckie hits wide, and Nishan Velupillay races clear to finish the job, a poor week for City compounded by Leo Natel’s second yellow in stoppage time.

Newcastle Jets return home after a hard-fought draw in Melbourne against City, and they will fancy their chances against Sydney FC. An early afternoon kick-off plays into the Jets’ hands, with Sydney so used to playing under lights, and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos gives the home side the lead in a first half littered with fouls and stoppages.

Sydney FC struggle to get into their rhythm, but a slip by Philip Cancar hands a tap-in to Fabio Gomes that even he can’t miss and the final fifteen minutes are breathtaking. Mark Natta hits a speculator against the bar, Kosta Grozos has a diving header cleared off the line, and with the last kick of the game, Anthony Caceres curls in a Maradona-esque winner from a contentious free-kick to seal three fortunate points for the Sky Blues to lift them into fourth spot.

Adelaide United’s season is in danger of ending early if they don’t continue their streak at Perth Glory on Saturday afternoon. HBF Park is buzzing as the home side take the game to their opponents, danger man Nestory Irankunda sitting on the bench watching his side struggle in the heat.

Daniel Bennie’s cork has been popped and he slots home a lovely finish to open the scoring in this one, Gio Colli’s free-kick routine tees up Mustafa Amini for the second and the game looks wrapped up at half-time. Adelaide score within a minute of the restart, Zach Clough firing home under heavy pressure, and when Irankunda comes on in the 60th minute there is a buzz about the visitors.

Ben Warland rises to equalise with a towering header. An end-to-end last twenty minutes sees Stefan Mauk strike a shot that trickles through Oli Sail’s hands to roll across the line, and Hiroshi Ibusuki leaps highest to finish the job in the final stages to give United the three points to keep their slim finals dream alive.

Stuart Thomas

Western Sydney, Western United, Central Coast, Victory, Sydney, Perth

There is plenty on the line for the Wanderers as they desperately hang on to a finals spot with Melbourne City breathing down their necks. The Wanderers cannot slip up against Brisbane and won’t.

Western United will use the emotion of Tarneit to claim the points against Macarthur on Saturday. It has been a long wait for the club and finally, the dream and vision is becoming a reality. Let’s hope plenty of people turn up.

The attacking instinct of the Mariners will get them over the line against the Phoenix. Expect a bumper crowd and potentially one of the matches of the season. I expect the Melbourne Derby to be a brutal affair and the Victory can make life very hard for Melbourne City if they manage to pinch all three points. Arzani to star and Victory to make a real statement.

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Sydney will manage the Jets with ease on Sunday before Perth continue their late-season rally and beat Adelaide in the west. If Alen Stajcic can get the Glory up to seventh on the ladder, next season begins to look a whole lot brighter for a club on the up, both on and off the field.

Andrew Prentice

Western Sydney, Macarthur, Draw, Victory, Sydney, Adelaide

There’s a fair degree of negativity surrounding the A-League, but damn if it doesn’t deliver in spades as we enter the pointy end of the season. Stories and narratives worthy of the best screenwriter or pulp novelist abound, and clubs that looked to be in free-fall mere weeks ago are suddenly re-energised.

The Wanderers are a case in point, blown apart by Melbourne City 7-0 three games ago, they have rediscovered their mojo at the right time. If Western Sydney win and Melbourne City lose in the derby, it will seal a play-off place for the Wanderers. They’ll get the first part of that job done on Friday.

History! Finally, The Rock has come back to…wait, no, that’s some other event happening this weekend which I’m sure WWE fan Bozhidar Kraev will be keeping an eye on. A-League history happens when Western United finally play a real home game. Let’s ignore that they promised this about half a decade ago and keep it positive.

Well, not too positive, because I think Macarthur will be ready to wreck the homecoming party. Having been ambushed by their Wanderer brothers in the second half on Easter Monday, the Bulls have much more to play for. They too can confirm their play-off place with three points. This could be made easier if half the Western squad go to Geelong by habit.

How good is this? And who would have thought Central Coast and Wellington would be contesting a first versus second match in a game that could decide the Premier’s Plate? Two clubs that have endured more than any others through the last half-decade or more will be playing in front of a hopefully sold-out Central Coast Stadium. Let the good times roll.

The Mariners looked heavy-legged in both of their games last week but Max Balard showed exquisite timing to bag his first ever A League goal against Melbourne City. It’s been a brutal schedule for the league’s smallest (in budget) club, but they have arguably the biggest heart, exemplified by Josh Nisbet who has played just about every minute of the season in both league and AFC Cup.

The Phoenix held on with ten players after Winton Rufer’s red card against Brisbane. They have won or lost by no more than a goal in all but one game this year (not counting draws). Yet coach Italiano is as cool as a cucumber. I’d be a wreck. Given the high stakes in this one, I’m leaning towards a 1-1 draw but it’ll be a ride everyone should get on.

It’s a vital game for City this week and it’s a derby in prime time (a bit rude relegating Mariners-Phoenix to the 5.30pm slot). Lose here and they’ll more than likely fail to make the playoffs for the first time since losing their Heart and aligning with the City group.

Victory got the job done against Perth but unusually for Tony Popovic-coached sides, they failed to close the game out when ahead 2-0, and were made to sweat in the end. City had an amazing bench of firepower against Central Coast midweek, with Maclaren, Leckie and Tilio all coming off the pine to try and nab the winner. Surely one or more of them starts this week, with Marin Jakolis likely to make way (in fact, given I put him in my fantasy team, I’ll almost guarantee it).

Victory will look to familiar sources for goals in Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli. I fancy that combo will lead the navy half of Melbourne to the win and consign their less noisy neighbours to a long wait for 2024/25.

The Zdrilic Press sounds like it belongs in the earlier-mentioned Wrestlemania but it’s the Sydney FC way of smothering opponents. Used to great effect against the Mariners, it’ll be interesting to see if they’re able to carry it through to Sunday in Newcastle, bearing in mind they had a midweek game to play in Perth, drawing 1-1.

Form and logic points to a Sydney win though. A cruel April Fool’s joke did the rounds in Newcastle on Monday declaring Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney of ‘Welcome To Wrexham’ fame had bought the club. Coach Rob Stanton will be keen to get one over his former employers, but Sydney are working through the gears smoother than Lewis Hamilton at the moment. It might be the Talay block that gets them the win over the Jets.

The round finishes with a game that almost always delivers goals galore and last-minute escapes. The fact neither the Glory or Reds have much to play for should loosen the shackles and give fans an attacking treat in Perth.

Adam Taggart has only a few more games to catch Bruno Fornaroli for the golden boot and will want to hit the target more than once against the generous Reds defence. But Adelaide have won their last two and began the Nestory Irankunda farewell tour last week with three goals and six backflips. More gymnastics and goals are likely at HBF Park in a high-scoring thriller which Adelaide should have enough in them to win.