THE WORLD of television they call it the B-story, the more literary types call it a subplot and the non-attentive don’t have a word for it all.
It is the story within a story and finally this A-League season has provided one for Queensland-based fans - the Cane Toad Cup.
This week the saga for Queensland A-League supremacy continues in Townsville as the Kermit-green clad North Queensland Fury welcome Brisbane Roar for their first competitive encounter.
The two clubs did meet during the pre-season twice with each side picking up a win as the teams trialled both players and tactics in preparation for the season ahead. However, these Mickey Mouse games mean nothing in the Cane Toad Cup which is a serious, non-official sub-competition invented by your humble blogger solely for the purpose of meeting this week's word quota.
As such, the Cane Toad Cup requires a serious non-official sub-competition table.
As you can see things are not going too well for my beloved Roar at the moment and things are going even worse for lads from the tropics. But this weekend both teams have the opportunity to take their first win in the Cane Toad Cup and in Fury's case the season proper.
Brisbane will feel confident seeing as North Queensland's squad are still yet to fully settle. While Robbie Fowler is starting to knock them in and Fred Agius is finally seeing some game time, it still seems more likely that one day an episode of Lost may provide genuine answers than Fury keeping a clean sheet any time soon.
There are problems for the orange and maroon as well with the midfield-engine room missing both Massimo Murdocca and Matt McKay. Additionally, Andrew Packer's ongoing absence again deprives Brisbane of a genuine wing-back.
Brisbane, being the away team and with their hand forced by injuries, will likely promote David Dodd to the starting eleven to simply plug up the central midfield while feeding the ball out wide to the likes of Michael Zullo, Robbie Kruse, Henrique and Reinaldo.
North Queensland for their part will be encouraged that Brisbane's previously lauded defence has itself been a touch leaky this season. However, with Brisbane familiar with David Williams' undeniable talents and Bob Malcolm, Danny Tiatto and Craig Moore all having seen the likes of Fowler before, it will be a tough task for Fury to nab the two or more goals they would likely need for a win.
Hence, as I sit here wearing my replica Johnny Carson Turkish headdress, I will predict Brisbane to get up 2-1 on Saturday to open their points tally in the inaugural Cane Toad Cup. For those that are interested this will result in the table looking like this.
And, if by season's end Brisbane and North Queensland manage to turn the tables on Gold Coast United, I would expect it to look a little something like this.
