IF AUSTRALIA is to ever achieve a football culture that can rival others from around the world, a cup competition is clearly needed.
Midweek football, David verse Goliath battles, the thrill of the draw...these are just some of the advantages of entrenching a true FA Cup-styled contest into the Australian sporting psyche.
But, while the governing body spend more time on their World Cup bid (this is okay, too) than seemingly preparing the formation of an FFA Cup, I thought I'd ease my own despair (somewhat) that there is no such fix by starting my own hypothetical competition.
Just to prove how imaginary it is, I'm challenging my fellow bloggers on au.fourfourtwo.com to come up with their best 11, bench and coach from the first five seasons of the A-League.
Because we certainly don't speak gospel and our ideas are most certainly average, it'd be foolish for us not to listen to our fellow fans' opinions.
So, over the next week when hopefully a representative from each club includes in their blog the names of their team of the past five seasons, I want you to give them your feedback, so they can make the necessary adjustments before finalising their squad a week later.
Then, keep an eye out in the Australian Football section of the forum, as I draw the teams from a hat to determine the first round of matches.
Because it's late and this is a hastily put together concept, I'll wait to see which clubs bloggers respond to take up the challenge before deciding upon the course of play...whether there will need to be a bye for a lucky club, other hypothetical teams added, etc.
On the forum, the weight of reasoned, thought out and intelligent argument for or against the sides drawn against one another will determine who moves through to the next round of competition, before ultimately the inaugural hypothetical FFA Cup winner is crowned. Some other sort of decision making process may be needed, but we can come to that later.
There will be tears, fist pumping and plenty of man-on-man hugging after the finale, but hopefully with everyone's participation we can have a bit of fun with it.
So, to get the ball rolling here is my proposed Newcastle Jets side for the inaugural hypothetical FFA Cup.
Formation: 4, 4, 2 (Diamond in midfield)
Goalkeeper: Ante Covic - Made some mistakes and left in acrimonious circumstances but was a Championship winner in V3 and instrumental to that success.
Right-back: Tarek Elrich/Ned Zelic?
Centre-back: Andrew Durante - Joe Marston medal winner in the 2007/08 GF and a pillar in that campaign.
Centre-back: Paul Okon - Unsure to begin with, his experience told as he grew to become an integral cog in the Jets unit.
Left-back: Jade North - Title winner and sometime Socceroo during his time with Newcastle.
Defensive-midfield: Stuart Musialik - He plays and the Jets played.
Right-midfield: Matt Thompson - A Jet since day dot, Thommo is the first player to join the Jets' hundred club and our current Captain.
Left-midfield: Labinot Haliti - A tricky position to fill, Haliti is a left field inclusion but has been super impressive since returning and looks the long term goods. Joker in the pack.
Attacking midfield: Nick Carle - Jets v Adelaide the night H. Kewell was in town. Enough said.
Striker: Milton Rodriguez - Lost headbands glorifying the brilliant Colombian can still be retrieved from the Jets office.
Striker: Joel Griffiths - Newcastle's all time top scorer, still the face of the club and former player of the season.
Bench:
Vaughan Coveny - Wily Kiwi striker who could more than nab a goal.
Mark Bridge - Jets fans love to hate him now but how quickly they forgot his GF winner.
Ljubo Milicevic/Tarek Elrich/Ned Zelic?
Ben Kennedy - Gets the nod over Liam Reddy due to his passion for the club and longevity to the cause.
Coach: Gary van Egmond - Overall the best of the bunch but Branko may, long term, prove better.
