YOU could be forgiven for thinking that it was all about size at Suncorp on Friday night, first with mini midfielders McKay, Murdocca, and Zullo taking on what appeared to be a comparatively towering Mariners team, which boasts among its ranks the A-League's tallest man in O'Grady.

Secondly with kids battering each other with the giant inflatable ‘I heart football' index finger-pointing hands that were handed out to fans (Thankfully, they got them a neutral white this time around, instead of blue last time when Roar were playing, gee, Sydney).

And thirdly, with the giant yellow rain ponchos-meet-muumuus that my brother bought, which were both uncannily Mariners yellow and which were inordinately difficult to put on (yes, I'll admit I sat there for a full 10 minutes before I realised that they actually had arm holes).

But while all talk was of whether the A-League's loftier ‘comeback kings' could snatch a second leg smash-and-grab victory, a subtler, more heartening message came out of the 4-1 aggregate Roar victory: it's not the size that matters - it's what you do with the ball that counts.

Indeed, far from being intimidated or outplayed, the vertically-challenged men of the Roar reminded me why I much much prefer (proper) football to any other football code - if you have the ball skills as opposed to the weight and battering-ram momentum, you can take on anyone and win.

Which is exactly what Roar did, whether it was through terrier-like McKay slotting away a left footer in a one-on-one with the keeper, wee man Zullo carving up the defence so thoroughly that half the Mariners adopted an if-you-can't-beat-him-hack-him style of play, or Murdocca desperately seeking to build on his lone A-League goal, scored way back in Version 1, with wild, long-range, they-were-never-on shots that invariably had us yelling ‘Don't let him shoot!' Still, he came the closest he's ever been to scoring his second A-League goal with the on-target albeit keeper-bound shot that the not-so-large-himself Nichols shinned in.

Australians normally barrack for the underdog, which will, as we cast our eyes towards this weekend's sudden-death preliminary final, invariably be the imploding, potentially soon-to-be-coach-less red team hailing from the ‘piss-ant town' of Adelaide. But this week I think most Queenslanders (and Victorians) will be barracking for another victory for the little men with the ball skills. Go the Roar.