“It was disappointing,” a tired Packer told au.fourfourtwo.com after flying in early from Adelaide for the finals launch in Sydney.

“He [Tiatto] apologised to the guys after the game. He was shattered and he knew he'd let the guys down.

“He plays the game on the edge and he's a tough competitor – sometimes that aggression goes a bit too far and he basically said it was the red mist.

“We're disappointed we don't have him for the Sydney game. We're a different side without Danny. We don't blame him. I mean even before his card we were pretty bad,” added Packer.

Queensland lost 2-0 to the Reds, meaning they now play Sydney FC this Friday night in the minor semi-final first leg. “I think we needed to hang in a little bit. Adelaide had a lot of their players were coming off contract and they showed a lot of pride and got stuck in.

“They knew us pretty well and sort of knew our game pretty well. It was hard for us to play – we had no time on the ball.”

Packer said the game was a valuable learning curve for some of the younger Roar players.

“The young guys have got to learn – I think a little bit of inexperience there, but that'll come hopefully in the finals.

“They probably didn't know how to change it around a little bit. That comes with experience – if their movement was a little better, it could've been a better performance.

Roar coach Frank Farina put his hands up, telling au.fourfourtwo.com, “we weren't good enough.

“We started the game poorly and conceded a dubious soft goal. I thought it was a foul on Matty McKay prior to the throw in from which we conceded the goal.

“Then when Danny got sent off, 1-0 down away to Adelaide, it's not exactly the situation you want to be in. Bottom line, on the day, we weren't good enough.
"Danny [Tiatto] was gutted," said Farina. "Particularly at half-time. Even at the end of the game he still wasn't dressed, he was still in his towel. He was very disappointed.

"I still haven't seen the incident but there were a few incidents before that most probably sparked it. A couple of situations got out of hand.

"I think young Bruce Djite did a 'Dida' in the first half. I was disappointed in that and he's better than that - and I said that to him. That was one of the incidents I think that sparked the melee where Danny got sent off. But that's life."

Both Craig Moore and Tiatto were due to make an appearance at today's A-League finals launch, but their participation was cancelled after last night's game. Officials say it was due to niggling injuries to the pair.