This weekend's game at Bluetongue Stadium against red hot Roar could have been tarnished by the actions of the FFA months ago. This game is a real test for the Mariners and on the surface looks like a red hot matchup. However with both the Mariners and Roar having played so many games in the past two weeks are the players legs going to be too soar to make the game live up to its potential.
Around a month ago Roar and the Mariners last met at Suncorp stadium, on that night the Brisbane team definitely had the better game and deserved the three points. The Mariners looked poor and a little rusty after an almost three week layoff. However the weeks straight after that game showed that the Mariners were in good company, Roar going on a rampage which included giving the top of the table Adelaide side a real hammering with just 10 Roar players on the field. Roar have replaced Adelaide at the top of the A-League table and they deserve that honour based on the way they have been playing. This current Roar squad is a real pleasure to watch, the game they are employing is high energy and enthusiastic. With the youthful squad Ange Postecoglou has assembled they have been able to maintain this high energy style for a long stretch of the season. However the last two weeks they have been given so many games to play and with the Australian travel the energy is starting to waiver and Roar have found the last few results have been more difficult to come by.
The Mariners not to be overshadowed too much by the Roar team's great form put together their own small form run. Gaining a great deal of momentum while on the road which included emphatic wins over Phoenix and Glory. This run of three wins on the road netted the Mariners almost as many goals as they had scored in the preceding 10 rounds of the season. However in the past two weeks as the Mariners schedule started to condense and the team was required to play more games with greater travel the results started to falter. The last three games have only resulted in two draws and a loss, thus sounding a stumble in the form run of the Central Coast team. However the most impressive thing for me on this run of form for the Mariners is that they have done so with their best player in their squad sitting in the stand watching. Additionally they have also had fits of other form players being injured or unavailable including Pedj Bojic and Rostyn Griffiths.
So given that both of these teams have been the form squads since round 10 you would think this game could be billed as the game of the season to date. However the Mariners have played 4 games in the last 10 days and Roar the same in 11 days, this has made both squads appearing heavy in the legs. Neither team looks quite as sharp the last few games and the results have followed (more so for the Mariners than the Roar). So the question has to be asked is the current scheduling run of the A-League going to put a bit of a dampener on this fixture?
I know some of the Mariners scheduling woes are of their own doing given they requested a period of time to allow the resurfacing of the pitch at Gosford. However on Wednesday night we had the unbelievable situation with three midweek games. So why is it three teams needed to be played on a Wednesday night?
One of the three games was the rescheduled Jets Mariners game for the Galaxy clash however it seemed okay for Sydney FC to play Galaxy on a Wednesday night why not the Jets?
If Sydney FC could get the massive crowd they got to play Galaxy midweek then why would it not be just as possible for the Jets to get a crowd a third the size (currently the EAS capacity)?
I am really looking forward to seeing Roar play the Mariners this weekend, I am actually looking forward to seeing this Roar squad live. But I really do not want to see a pale imitation of the Roar team that are so spent and tired that they are only performing at 70 - 80 % of their capability. If this is the case then I believe the FFA will have really cheated the public of the best performances possible. Next year the FFA will need to be more consistent with the scheduling of teams, I think most players are happy to have midweek games but not week after week for a month and then no games for a month. The hardest thing for the teams and players is inconsistent scheduling as it throws the players preparations into a tail spin. If the FFA are going to include a cup competition into the already confusing schedule they are going to have to be more organised. What would have happened if one of the A-League sides progressed through the ACL to the final. Would they have expected the teams to be playing four games a week?
I hope we see the game this Sunday live up to all the potential!
