Sorry all I got a bit distracted this week with the birth of my new daughter and have not had time to write a blog congratulating Brisbane Roar for a great season and the Championship win.
On the balance of the whole season Roar deserve the plate and the toilet seat, we here in Gosford will just have to continue to do without a two tone seat for our throne. But in all seriousness Roar have been nothing short of sensational and deserve the success they had this year. I look forward to the Mariners and Roar mixing it up next season in the A-League and would love to see the two of them come together in an AFC final against each other.
To the mighty boys of the Yellow and Blue, well done this year you did the region proud and all the Central Coast supporters can only be proud of your efforts throughout the year. This has been the most enjoyable season of football I can remember, even more enjoyable than the Premiership season. I say this due to the style of play and the positive attitude the team always goes out onto the field with. I know a lot of people claim the Mariners are a counter attacking team but this is only true when they have played teams that are holding the ball well, the Mariners in every game tried to go out and play possession football with positive movement forward. This play has gone a long way to ensuring that the finals series was a spectacle and the grand final was a game for the ages. Likewise though the counter attacking style employed when they are not able to out-possess the opposition shows the team's adaptability and willingness to do what is required to win the game.
The other thing that I am so happy about with the Mariners season is the future prospects of the club. The team that has done so well is in the most part quite a young squad who still have huge development potential. Additionally the youth players that Graham Arnold has brought on all look to have great futures at the club and beyond, this especially makes the season special to know that it has been done using only the original squad (I don't count Baird as a replacement given he played a total of about 30mins for the team) and promoted juniors. With any luck this approach and the success the Mariners have had will continue and will spread across the league to other clubs and Australian football can start to produce some real talent which can play both at home and abroad.
Finally my thoughts on that devastating event last Sunday afternoon. I have ask Mr Arnold why-o-why were you not playing a 10-0-0 formation on the final corner? Why were there players sitting outside the box? Why were there two men on the post and not 10? Oh well what's done is done. I know that most people dislike seeing a game go into a penalty shootout however it has to be said that no other sport in the world can match the drama and pure theatre of a penalty shootout. Although this is a hard way to lose (and possibly a disappointing way to win) a grand final this game really did deserve just this type of theatrical finish. Successful sports always seems to produce a spectacle at the time when they most need it. For example Rugby League produced the Newcastle - Manly grand final when they were facing a very dark future which re-united warring factions. So has the A-League now with this Grand Final, in a year when support was trending down and the outlook was darker due to the loss of the 2022 WC. The Mariners and Roar have produced one of the best, if not the best Grand Finals ever seen in the A-League for both sets of supporters and the neutral alike. Have these two teams done enough now to possibly turn the A-League around and send it on a positive run to become a power house in Australian sport? We can hope so.
Well done Roar on a well deserved season win.
All the Mariners boys, hold your heads up high as you have done well, all the fans are proud of you and thank you for your season. As always in sport there is always next season.
