Here’s what we learned from a significant round …

1. Wellington’s a Winning Journey
A Scottish-based Spaniard and an English-born American walk into a Wellington football club; what happens next? They collect their wages for a few weeks, fail to impress in the odd cameo and depart a month or two later to the despair of a single fan keen to prolong the ‘cult following' joke. Well, usually, but not in the case of Wellington duo Dani Sanchez and Alex Smith, who once again proved their credentials by starring in midfield for Wellington in the club’s fourth consecutive away win, a 2-1 triumph over Adelaide on Friday night. In a side brimming with understated but overachieving rejects and veterans, Sanchez and Smith’s respective paths to prominence have given hope to journeymen everywhere and enhanced Ricki Herbert’s case for Manager of the Year. From Malaga to Inverness, Dallas to Sydney, and with a stop on the Glitter Strip renewing determination for both, the well-travelled pair have stamped Phoenix as a haven for the overlooked and forgotten.

2. Never Go Against the Godfather … Or Elbow Your Teammate in the Face
If Matt McKay is the prodigal son, Besart Berisha must be the Godfather of Brisbane Roar’s playing staff, albeit lacking the familial ancestry. Or, at least, that’s what his displeasure at teammate James Meyer’s reported “disrespecting” of him during and/or after Brisbane’s 2-0 away victory over the Mariners seems to suggest. While few should ever dare to disrespect “the Godfather” – you all know what happens … the tunnel incident, etc – Meyer’s reasons were perfectly excusable. It was said after the match the former Hertha Berlin youth player had taken exception to Berisha’s in-game criticisms and was unwilling to discuss the matter in the match’s immediate aftermath; in reality, Meyer was clearly still fuming at the stray elbow he copped from the Albanian during Brisbane’s second goal celebration. Much talk regarding Berisha’s temper has again ensued in the wash-up of Saturday’s encounter – a simple apology and a free face massage might assist in repairing, if not romantically complicating, relations.

3. Heart’s Fullbacks Are Best in Class
Ask any Adelaide fan which single player they have been missing most over the past months and the response will be unanimous. Since few of you will actually bother to consult them, we’ll just tell you: the answer is Cassio. The outstanding debut of Adelaide native and two-time trialist Craig Goodwin, 20, will have only compounded the misery for Reds fans pining for an heir to the Brazilian’s throne as young Goodwin seamlessly replaced the incumbent Aziz Behich in Saturday night’s third and likely final Melbourne derby of the season. The left-fullback’s relentless attacking forays were an unexpected highlight of an ultimately disappointing scoreless draw. With his second-half rasping drive on goal forcing yet another deadlock-preserving save from Ante Covic, Goodwin confirmed Melbourne Heart’s status as undisputed home of the league’s best fullbacks.

4. Hope Springs Eternal
Fact: Sydney FC were very poor in the first-half of their 5-2 home drubbing at the hands of Newcastle. Fact: Newcastle Jets were excellent in the first half of their 5-2 away drubbing of Sydney. It was only two weeks ago today that Newcastle were preparing for what would turn out to be another uninspiring result as they could grab only a point from a midweek meeting with Adelaide, coming on the back of a painful 1-0 home loss to Wellington. As we so often see in the A-League, however, an originally slow death can be halted in an instant, just as it was for the Jets last week as they awoke from their comatose state to shoot down Brisbane. And, at the risk of sounding like a footballer, all credit should go to Newcastle for the manner in which they extended their recent revival on Sunday afternoon – the away side’s movement off the ball, exchanges in attack, and ruthlessness in front of goal rendered the Sky Blues’ defence redundant and almost had former Jet Liam Reddy hurling his hat to the ground in anger. While the result pushed Newcastle above Sydney and back into the top six, it will be the evidence that his players are capable of executing his plan which most pleases coach Gary van Egmond.

5. ‘New Perth’ Are Proven Professionals
Rod Stewart, according to Wikipedia and probably numerous other dubious sources, was once a trainee with English club Brentford and briefly harboured hopes of becoming a professional footballer. We considered leaving the fifth lesson of this week at this rather useless piece of information until watching through Perth Glory’s emphatic 4-0 victory over bottom-placed Gold Coast and realising, where the singer ditched his ambitions, Perth have succeeded in a becoming a truly professional outfit. (Incidentally, Stewart’s football career may have been somewhat embellished, but that’s neither here nor there … nor Perth). While not without incident – both team’s aerial defending was at times atrocious – Glory controlled the contest from first whistle to last and should have had several more, proving this writer’s prediction of a slip up incorrect and instead opening a four point gap on fifth-placed Heart. Since ‘New Perth’ have come into force – somewhere around the time Ian Ferguson began to employ a 4-2-3-1 – The Purple Nowhere have proven themselves to be a professional, consistent unit equipped to overcome any A-League opposition. And that description? They wear it well...