As the A-League has proven during its short history, more than anything, titles are won by teams that have strength in depth as suspensions, injuries and transfers all take their toll through the season.
And in the A-League is there a club that has a deeper list than Melbourne Victory?
Adelaide have shown, with their ability to wage war on several fronts – brilliantly in the Asian Champions League and competitively in the A-League – that their playing list runs deep.
Sydney, especially early in the season, covered for the loss through injury, international absence and suspension, of several key players by going deep into their playing roster.
But do these two clubs (or the equally resilient Mariners for that matter) possess the all-round quality that Victory have? It’s a moot point. Victory have the highest scoring pair of strikers in the league, Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp. They also employ the most effective leader in the competition in ex-Socceroo Kevin Muscat and have two current Costa Rican internationals in Jose Luis Lopez and Carlos Hernandez.
The experience of players like Steve Pantelidis and Leigh Broxham provides a telling example of Victory’s depth. The duo may not be superstars, but the former was a virtual ever-present in Victory’s title winning side and now should be entering the peak of his career.
Yet Pantelidis is one of a number of experienced Victory players who can’t get a look in. Such is the strength of coach Ernie Merrick’s defensive and midfield options that the former Young Socceroo did not feature for a single minute in the first team squad during the initial seven rounds of this season.
Broxham is a hard working midfielder who went to Beijing as an Olyroo stand-by player and has even represented Australia at senior level, winning a cap against Singapore earlier this year.
This season he missed a lot of the pre-season because of Olympic duty, but even since his return to full fitness, the 20-year-old has struggled to break through, playing a total of 54 minutes through the first seven rounds of the new campaign.
Time is on his side, and, with injuries and suspensions he may well get a chance to show what he can do later in the campaign. And that is the strength of Melbourne overall. Even a player like Nick Ward, an Olyroo, the competition’s inaugural under-21 player of the season and Victory’s junior marquee player is no guarantee to start in this side.
Admittedly Ward has been plagued by injury all season and has barely been available. But most clubs would miss his powerful box-to-box running and ability to chime in with goals from midfield.
Not Melbourne, who have been able to draft in the likes of Tommy Pondeljak and Billy Celeski. Both players joined Victory at the end of the 2007/08 A-League campaign and have fitted in seamlessly.
Michael Thwaite is a player who, until recently, was very much on the national team radar. The 25-year-old has come back to Australia to relaunch his career and has looked one of the most assured defenders in the league. At the one third mark of the season Melbourne had conceded just six goals and had kept clean sheets on four occasions.
Victory have been quick to safeguard their assets against poaching by a new Victorian franchise and the other expansion sides, signing promising young goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak and wing back Evan Berger, along with experienced centre back Rody Vargas, to new deals.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating early next year, but Melbourne’s strength in depth should surely make them a very serious contender for A-League honours when the season comes to its business end in late February.
And in the A-League is there a club that has a deeper list than Melbourne Victory?
Adelaide have shown, with their ability to wage war on several fronts – brilliantly in the Asian Champions League and competitively in the A-League – that their playing list runs deep.
Sydney, especially early in the season, covered for the loss through injury, international absence and suspension, of several key players by going deep into their playing roster.
But do these two clubs (or the equally resilient Mariners for that matter) possess the all-round quality that Victory have? It’s a moot point. Victory have the highest scoring pair of strikers in the league, Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp. They also employ the most effective leader in the competition in ex-Socceroo Kevin Muscat and have two current Costa Rican internationals in Jose Luis Lopez and Carlos Hernandez.
The experience of players like Steve Pantelidis and Leigh Broxham provides a telling example of Victory’s depth. The duo may not be superstars, but the former was a virtual ever-present in Victory’s title winning side and now should be entering the peak of his career.
Yet Pantelidis is one of a number of experienced Victory players who can’t get a look in. Such is the strength of coach Ernie Merrick’s defensive and midfield options that the former Young Socceroo did not feature for a single minute in the first team squad during the initial seven rounds of this season.
Broxham is a hard working midfielder who went to Beijing as an Olyroo stand-by player and has even represented Australia at senior level, winning a cap against Singapore earlier this year.
This season he missed a lot of the pre-season because of Olympic duty, but even since his return to full fitness, the 20-year-old has struggled to break through, playing a total of 54 minutes through the first seven rounds of the new campaign.
Time is on his side, and, with injuries and suspensions he may well get a chance to show what he can do later in the campaign. And that is the strength of Melbourne overall. Even a player like Nick Ward, an Olyroo, the competition’s inaugural under-21 player of the season and Victory’s junior marquee player is no guarantee to start in this side.
Admittedly Ward has been plagued by injury all season and has barely been available. But most clubs would miss his powerful box-to-box running and ability to chime in with goals from midfield.
Not Melbourne, who have been able to draft in the likes of Tommy Pondeljak and Billy Celeski. Both players joined Victory at the end of the 2007/08 A-League campaign and have fitted in seamlessly.
Michael Thwaite is a player who, until recently, was very much on the national team radar. The 25-year-old has come back to Australia to relaunch his career and has looked one of the most assured defenders in the league. At the one third mark of the season Melbourne had conceded just six goals and had kept clean sheets on four occasions.
Victory have been quick to safeguard their assets against poaching by a new Victorian franchise and the other expansion sides, signing promising young goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak and wing back Evan Berger, along with experienced centre back Rody Vargas, to new deals.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating early next year, but Melbourne’s strength in depth should surely make them a very serious contender for A-League honours when the season comes to its business end in late February.
