Unless your surname is Trump, Packer or Fowler chances are your careful about how you spend your hard earned bees and honey. To most $50 represents dinner, a night at the movies, or a few beers at your local. This week, I'm going to forego the latest blockbuster and put it on Fury, because as far as I am concerned at $5.50 (as of writing this) they represent better value than $3 pints!
Looking over the NQFC line up, there aren't many names that jump off the page (aside from Mark Hughes, as we recently found out there is more than one), however before writing them off because of that there are a few things to note. Mark Hughes, Andre Killian, and Eric Akoto all come with impressive footballing pedigree that will sharpen our defence. To be honest it would appear as if our weakest player at the back this year is Pasfield. Seeing his form at the end of last year and knowing our financial situation, if someone had given me odds on that two months ago I wouldn't have taken 100-1, but it now seems as though it would've been smart money.
Because our side lacks any Socceroos or players who have made a name for themselves in the A-league, I had to do most of my research online reading about them and the odd youtube clip. One thing that most of our players seem to have in common, is that they have all been praised for their hardwork on the field and the training paddock, I believe it showed in the Adelaide match, and that it got us close to the finals last year with a weaker side.
With that knowledge under my belt and seeing how hard the team worked on the field against Adelaide makes me confident that the boys will work their bollocks off to do the job and prove themselves in the league. This week represents a tough challenge for our defence coming up against Fowler, Sterjovski, Burns and the gang, particularly knowing that the majority of the Perth side played together last year, but could there be a better way for Hughesy and Akoto to show their worth? I think the quality of our defenders and the strength of Gareth Edds as a holding midfielder should be able to hold the Glory boys at bay, particularly if we can get them to come at us through the middle.
Our attack will be the key. If Isaka Cernak and Chris Payne again put in the performance and effort they did against Adelaide out wide, it will make it hard for Glory's wide players to get forward, making sure that they will then have to try to go through the middle. Up front both Dyron Daal and David Williams can finish if given the service from the midfield. Unfortunately Talay is not yet recovered from injury, so won't be there to deliver, however I am sure that Edds, Spagnoulo, and Nikas (if they are selected to start) will do the job.
Given NQFC's offseason dramas, and that fact that we have only just signed our 20th player, Glory deserve to go in favourites, but with the quality that the we have signed, the attitude that they have shown, and the attacking style of play that Straka seems to encourage (and that we seem to have bought our team to suit) the odds on offer are very generous and I'll be heading down to the bookies with a nifty $50 this week (and watch Shrek 3D next week).
