I know what you're thinking. "Yeah right, you one-eyed Jets blogger, you're having yourself on". But follow my logic and let's see where we get.
Now, the Jets haven't actually won a game yet this season. But, due to the vagaries of the draw and the byes, they have ended up playing the better teams in the competition in this past month.
The draw has resulted in two distinct groups of teams facing off against each other. The first group is: Newcastle, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Heart and Brisbane. The second is Gold Coast, Sydney, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne Victory, Wellington and North Queensland. There's a bit of overlap between the groups, but it's only a few games here and there.
Now I have to ask you to be honest, even if you are fan of any of the teams in the second group, which of those two groups are playing the better football? It's obvious. The first. Perth are apparently finally living up to their potential, Brisbane are playing lovely stuff, and Adelaide are on fire,
Melbourne Heart are the whipping boys and Newcastle are playing to knock down the top three teams in their group.
Of the other group, Sydney are playing poorly, which even a rabid Sydney fan would have to be worried about, Victory are not performing like they should, Gold Coast have been poor except for their last game, Central Coast have been improving and possibly the best of the second group, and then there's the surprise package North Queensland. Wellington are winning at home and losing away as usual.
Given that the difference between all the teams isn't going to be as clear as the EPL due to the A-League's salary cap, you might have to squint your eyes a bit to see what I mean. But on current form, you would have to put Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth in the finals. You would also put Melbourne Victory there too just because they have loads of experience.
Then you would just be guessing who else. Wellington? Central Coast? Watching that game between Sydney and Central Coast recently, you wouldn't think it would be either of those teams. That was awful to watch. North Queensland? Maybe, but it's too early to be confident in their form.
This writer's humble opinion is that the Jets haven't had the results they deserve this season so far. They have been playing some superb football, with strong passing and fast counterattacks. They had one or two games where things just conspired against them , such as Ben Kantarovski's own goal which robbed them of three points.
They have played three difficult away games in Perth and Adelaide. In the first Adelaide game they looked better than the Reds and came away with an away point. And they only conceded one goal away to Perth. Even losing 2-1 away to Adelaide isn't that poor.
Looking at last weekend's game they had chance after chance after chance, all saved by the heroics of Galekovic and a goalpost. Michael Bridges's through balls split apart Adelaide's defence on a number of occasions. Those crafty passes, in combination with Shou's ball skills and Brockie and Jesic running forward as well, will result in goals and wins.
One day soon, Marko Jesic is going to score. And Michael Bridges. And Shou. And Ljubo! And Rooney, Elrich and Adam D'Apuzzo. The Jets gave easily as good as they got in the first half an hour of the game. At times it was one-way traffic with the Reds really under pressure. The same thing happened in the second half.
And that's really saying something because Adelaide are Premiership material. They play a very tight, organised and structured game, getting all the simple things right. And on top of that they have Leckie, Flores and van Dijk. Leckie is a phenomenon and if he can maintain his form will go right to the top of Australian football. It's hard not to wax lyrical about him even as a fan of an opposing team.
His speed, physicality, movement off the ball, first touch and willingness to shoot are superb. At one time during the game he was cruising in from the left, the other times he was threatening D'Apuzzo on the right, another time he ghosted in between Topor-Stanley and Wehrman to head home a great goal.
Jets also had to face Flores too and his touch and deftness on the ball had the Jets defence looking like the Keystone Cops.
But the Jets gave as good as they got. Adam D'Apuzzo, not often spruiked by other writers, has come on in leaps and bounds this season. He seems to have toned down some white line fever that won him plenty of yellow cards in seasons past and is using some prodigious skills in very threatening mazy runs down the left. You get a sense whenever he starts those attacking runs that there is distinct danger for the opposing team. I think he has been excellent this season and overlooked.
So to say that the Jets had Adelaide on the ropes for large portions of the game is a great compliment and that's why they will figure in the finals. Because they are playing this weird draw where they end up playing three teams who may end up 1, 2 and 3 this season, and at times outplaying them, is another reason they will make the finals.
Because they are building their form early in their season is another reason. And because they are building an anger and desire to win through a series of frustrating draws and losses is another reason they will go on a run this season and figure in the finals. Do you agree or disagree?
