The A-League marquee player is a contentious concept and watching Round Eight of the A-League at the weekend highlighted the risky nature of the marquee selection.
It is an opportunity to break the shackles of the salary cap and sign that player which will win games and fill stadiums. However judging by the weekend, very few are living up to their bill...
We’ll start with Sydney FC’s John Aloisi, who admittedly had a stalled start to the season after being ruled out for six weeks, but he looked completely innocuous up front alone against Perth. He hasn’t scored for Sydney yet and has failed to show any glimpses of his former self. However, there's a way to go this season, so Aloisi still has time to justify his bloated pay packet.
Adelaide’s marquee man Paul Agostino started on the bench and played the final 20 minutes of the Reds’ win over Queensland Roar, the same scenario for him as in the previous round against the Mariners. The round before he was an unused sub. Like Aloisi he has failed to score this season. Agostino has consistently failed to live up to his billing, whether that be because of copious injuries or his underwhelming strike rate.
Another goalless marquee is the Jets’ Edmundo Zura who finally looked like breaking his goalscoring voodoo after stepping up to take his team’s spot-kick, only to smash it into Melbourne’s left post. That said, he looked a real handful despite his miss and if he can play like that every week, the goals will come.
Melbourne’s main man, Archie Thompson, who failed to make any impact on the first hour of the game against the Jets, spent the last 30 minutes of the game in the changing rooms after his straight red. However outside of this weekend, I’m not going to question Archie’s value to Melbourne or his A-League achievements.
The final marquee to assess from Round Eight is Roar’s Craig Moore. Fresh from his heroic return to the Socceroos, Moore was at the centre of his team’s defence as they went down to Adelaide. However Moore falls into the Archie category and has achieved a lot more than just what happened this weekend. He is also the league’s only non-striker marquee, so isn’t weighed down by the expectations of a decent scoring ratio.
So Round Eight wasn’t a good one for the league’s “superstars” and it provides a good platform for discussing the value of the marquee system. The salary cap attempts to create a fairer playing field and judging by Perth and Wellington’s victories at the weekend, it seem to be doing just that. Written off early doors in the season, Wellington are now only one win away from the top four.
But what of the marquee system? Should it be scrapped and the salary cap expanded? Maybe clubs should be given the opportunity to choose between either a marquee player or an extended salary cap? What problems would that create?
Tell us what you think.......
It is an opportunity to break the shackles of the salary cap and sign that player which will win games and fill stadiums. However judging by the weekend, very few are living up to their bill...
We’ll start with Sydney FC’s John Aloisi, who admittedly had a stalled start to the season after being ruled out for six weeks, but he looked completely innocuous up front alone against Perth. He hasn’t scored for Sydney yet and has failed to show any glimpses of his former self. However, there's a way to go this season, so Aloisi still has time to justify his bloated pay packet.
Adelaide’s marquee man Paul Agostino started on the bench and played the final 20 minutes of the Reds’ win over Queensland Roar, the same scenario for him as in the previous round against the Mariners. The round before he was an unused sub. Like Aloisi he has failed to score this season. Agostino has consistently failed to live up to his billing, whether that be because of copious injuries or his underwhelming strike rate.
Another goalless marquee is the Jets’ Edmundo Zura who finally looked like breaking his goalscoring voodoo after stepping up to take his team’s spot-kick, only to smash it into Melbourne’s left post. That said, he looked a real handful despite his miss and if he can play like that every week, the goals will come.
Melbourne’s main man, Archie Thompson, who failed to make any impact on the first hour of the game against the Jets, spent the last 30 minutes of the game in the changing rooms after his straight red. However outside of this weekend, I’m not going to question Archie’s value to Melbourne or his A-League achievements.
The final marquee to assess from Round Eight is Roar’s Craig Moore. Fresh from his heroic return to the Socceroos, Moore was at the centre of his team’s defence as they went down to Adelaide. However Moore falls into the Archie category and has achieved a lot more than just what happened this weekend. He is also the league’s only non-striker marquee, so isn’t weighed down by the expectations of a decent scoring ratio.
So Round Eight wasn’t a good one for the league’s “superstars” and it provides a good platform for discussing the value of the marquee system. The salary cap attempts to create a fairer playing field and judging by Perth and Wellington’s victories at the weekend, it seem to be doing just that. Written off early doors in the season, Wellington are now only one win away from the top four.
But what of the marquee system? Should it be scrapped and the salary cap expanded? Maybe clubs should be given the opportunity to choose between either a marquee player or an extended salary cap? What problems would that create?
Tell us what you think.......
