WITH the addition of two brand spanking new teams with exciting players and very different approaches to the league - one softly, softly and the other guns a blazing - this is undoubtedly the most highly anticipated A-League season yet.

The friendlies that didn't count unless you won, in which case they were indicative of your team's solid pre-season preparation, are over. Expensive recruits and marquees have not yet failed to fire.

In fact, previous seasons' failings have largely been forgiven or forgotten, teams are fresh and relatively injury-free and, courtesy of some solid recruiting and two new teams of contenders, for the first time in a long time it's anyone's guess just who will finish the season on top.

Will Sydney please their fickle fans and elevate the per-game crowd numbers to the desired 17,000?

Will Perth's Socceroos finally give the team the glory it's been lacking over the past few seasons?

Will Culina avenge his unceremonious Sydney FC dumping and frustrate his son's team by guiding a Newcastle resurgence?

Will Fowler buy up big in the depreciated Australian property market?

Will McKinna's last-minute recruitment drive gazump the rest of the league, which had all but written off the Central Coast?

Will Sydney, who play host to the A-League's very own version of Survivor, see their fifth coach in five seasons outwit, outplay, and outlast previous coaching incumbents?

Meanwhile coaches and teams, knowing only too well that it's a long season and there are too many unknowable and uncontrollable factors (say, for example, fallout from the FFA's decision to crack down on diving), are trying to deflect championship predictions.

Well, with the exception of the GCU, that is.

Perhaps bearing the burden of the greatest expectations is Brisbane Roar (with the newly-signed, least-Brazilian-sounding player, Scotsman defender Bob Malcolm), who shoulder the rest of the A-League's hopes of immediately quashing GCU's prediction that they can go through the season undefeated.

Because let's face it, while there are some decent match ups in the first round, all eyes will be on Suncorp come Saturday to see whether the GCU can actually walk the walk or if Roar, whose home record is patchy at best, can derail GCU's pre-season claims.

Sadly, this blogger thinks maybe not. At home and with little change in their attacking line up, let's hope they pull something special out of the bag.

Slightly further away, but almost as eagerly anticipated, is the second season of the Westfield W-League.

The FFA announced the draw on Friday for the competition, which commences in October and, like their A-League counterparts, Roar Women will carry the weight of expectation. Theirs, however, is whether they can defend their inaugural W-League championship crown in the second season, which kicks off with a grand final rematch against Canberra United.

To say that I'm a little disappointed that the season remains but 10 weeks long and that the ABC will still only broadcast one match per week, despite the fact that the free-to-air W-League broadcasts out-rated the pay TV A-League ones last season, is an understatement.

I do, however, understand that North Queensland and the Gold Coast need to get some solid A-League footing before expanding the W-League to a 10-team comp. And frankly, at this stage I think it would be kinder to distance GCU Women from the current OTT GCU hype.

Which brings us back to Queensland's first local A-League derby. Despite Farina's declaration that he just wants to get the match, with its great expectations, over and done with, by this time next week we'll know whether GCU are be able to put Palmer's money where his mouth is or if Roar will pass the inaugural GCU-thwarting baton to the rest of the A-League.