HAVE you ever noticed how one piece of news will often be drowned out by another?

Nobody cares, for example, if a thousand Africans are killed by war or starvation so long as Madonna adopts someone's child.

Chances are, if you're a supporter of Perth Glory (or any other A-League team which isn't Gold Coast United) you'll know exactly what I mean. The failures of one man, big as he may be, are casting a shadow over the league; and in doing so they're hiding the failures (and successes) of other football clubs. On one hand, this is a good thing - it hides Perth Glory's soft underbelly from opposition clubs and fans, and makes us seem a semi-serious contender this year. On the other hand, it breeds a false sense of confidence that the team will be okay, just as long as others crash harder than we do.

Thus, it's my duty as an online hack to pause at this, the (near enough to) midway point of the season, and say "FFAWTF? We still haven't played Sydney FC. How's that work?". Oh, yeah... and to sit down and dissect what has gone wrong and what's been done right out here in the west.

God knows every other news source in Australia will be drawn to the rotting whale carcass that is Gold Coast United this week. But not this shark, oh no - he has taste. Besides, I'm on a diet - and whale blubber just goes straight to my thighs...

The Good...
Beginning with the good news, and whilst many other parts of Australia struggle, the crowds are flocking back to ME Bank Stadium. The club, so often criticised for poor advertising and non-existent marketing, has responded in the best possible way - putting more bums on seats than at any other time in the A-League's history. Hey Clive, if you're struggling to fill that sandpit on the Gold Coast, ask your mate Tony for some advice. He certainly had some choice words for you before the Melbourne match on the weekend.

Another positive has been Glory's off-season recruiting. Three Socceroos, one ex-EPL captain, and one Serbian striker of a high calibre. What's more - they've delivered. Andy Todd is displaying the strength and determination so often lacking at the heart of Perth's defence for the past few years, along with a surprisingly good ability to carry the ball upfield. Mile Sterjovski showed the quality he's capable of producing against Melbourne last weekend, whilst Jacob Burns has been one of the most underrated midfielders in the A-League this season.

Then there are the results that the club has been getting. Whilst Perth is only fifth on the table at the moment, at various points the club has been vying for top spot - something unheard of in the last few years. Even if the current form slump continues, Glory have still at least got a couple of road wins under their belt to complement what will hopefully be an impressive home record.

Finally, there's the best improvement of all - the fact that you feel the club's finally beginning to get its mojo back. The past year or two saw many a fan (myself included) wonder if it was even worth signing up for another year of torture. Inevitably, we did - but the silent resignation to another year of failure and an ongoing disconnect with the club was soon replaced with excitement and the feeling that fans are being heard once more.

There's even the feeling that soon enough, Glory games may once again be the place to go for a good day out.

The Bad...
Life's not all beer and skittles in the west however. Which is a pity, because I like beer, and I am mildly attracted to most flavours of skittle.

Glory may be fifth on the table, but they're on a three game losing streak with some very tough assignments in Wellington (away) and Sydney (home) coming up. There's a complete lack of creativity across the middle of the park; "run with ball" and "pass sideways" seem to be the two instructions programmed into the minds of most of our midfielders. Burns, Srhoj, Sikora, Howarth, and Pellegrino are all good players in their own right - but none seem capable of the vision or spark needed to consistently create chances for the team (though I'm perhaps being a bit harsh on the Dutchman).

Adriano Pellegrino especially has been a big let down this year. After a cracking debut season for the club where he performed above all expectations, he seems unable to reproduce the same drive and verve he displayed last year. Perhaps it's an injury, or maybe a different role is being asked of him by the coach; but whatever it is, it's enough to have Glory fans asking for a positional switch... to the bench. Last season's star striker Eugene Dadi has also been disappointing; but that's kind of our own fault. For those who don't know, Mitchell was undecided on re-signing Dadi, but the club was (likely) swayed by public opinion as fans loved the pineapple-headed one.

There also seems to be a gigantic black whole where Glory's team strategy should be. On the weekend, Melbourne played a game which allowed it to leverage the creativity of Carlos Hernandez and supply balls to Archie Thompson and the other forwards. They played diagonal balls to beat the Glory defensive line, and at corners they packed the box to draw Perth defenders in, before feeding the ball back to an unmarked Hernandez at the edge of the penalty area.

Glory on the other hand ‘did stuff'; runs up the wing, passing balls to each other outside the penalty box, long balls forward - but it lacked the cohesion and common purpose of Melbourne's approach. One suspects that this will be the difference between Glory and a top-two side by the end of the year.

The Unknown...
As well as the good and the bad, this season's performances also raise some big questions about the team. Possibly the biggest centres around coach David Mitchell - is he good enough to drive the club to anything more than a middle-of-the-road finish? Mitchell has been criticised by fans for his tactical inflexibility and debatable selections; not to mention a perceived failure to respond to changes in-game.

Another unknown is whether Mitchell (or anyone else for that matter) can keep the dressing room happy. Despite the club's assurances otherwise, there's a strong suspicion that all is not well amongst the playing group. At various times this year players have been seen or heard complaining about each other, and even post-game appearances in the members bar don't exactly have a unified look about them.

Additionally, at the beginning of the year the Glory's flanks looked to be a real strength. Pellegrino/Sterjovski on the right, being fed by Neville/Coyne, with Sikora and Sekulovski teaming up on the left. It looked though the wings would bring a wealth of goals and assists - and early performances certainly did nothing to disprove that. But lately, the wings are becoming dysfunctional and the fullbacks exposed. Attacking strength, or defensive liability? By the end of the season, we'll know the answer.

The Big One
Of course, I have yet to mention the greatest unknown of all - "Is this Perth Glory good enough?". This is a hard question to address. On their day, Glory can beat anyone in the A-League; and I mean anyone. The problem is there are yet to be many days marked on my official season calendar as "Perth Glory Day".

Herein lies the rub. Is the team really good enough - nay, consistent enough - to string together a series of strong results that puts it in finals contention? And I'm talking serious contention here, not just the 5th and 6th-placed sympathy spots that make our finals series such a bloody joke. When I ask if the team's good enough, I don't just mean the players. I'm talking about the manager, the coaches, the fitness and diet guru, the administration, the tea lady, the bloke inside Spike The Glory Kid (that just sounds wrong).

Simply; we're better than in previous years, but are we good enough?

I simply don't know. If I did, the rest of this article would be meaningless. So I put it to you, Glory fans- based on what you've seen so far this year, are we good enough?


There you have it; a quick rundown of the ups and downs, the mishaps and mysteries, of Perth Glory Football Club, 2009/2010 edition. Congratulations - if you just finished reading this, you're now full bottle on at least two A-League teams, and one of them isn't Gold Coast United.

As it turns out that the Gold Coast whale carcass isn't actually dead at all (at least, not in anything other than a "Bring Out Your Dead" sense) I'll leave you to swim away from the isle of Glory and rejoin the rest of the feeding frenzy. Feel free to come back and visit any time however - we're not as deserted as we used to be (and even then, wasn't as deserted as Skilled Park is now).