Football Season Guide

Finished 9th in the A-League last season. Improved as the season went on when they started to rely on the energy of players brought in from the NPL instead of under-performing A-League personnel. A respectable finish in the end, given their severe financial handicaps. Interim boss Warren Moon stepped down at the end of last season due to family reasons. Club legend John Hutchinson replaces him. Moon will be sorely missed as he knew how to get the most out of a very limited group of players. Financial problems continue to dog the club. It's not a coincidence that all of their pre-season signings have either been freebies, or players from the NPL. Still, this club has a good record with promoting youngsters, and helping them become very good players, albeit for other clubs when they're inevitably transferred. Given their general lack of quality last season, it's difficult to view any of their departures as problematic. Di Pizio was one of their best players but he didn't show it as often last season, which is why he only ended up at Western Sydney Wanderers instead of the European clubs he was mooted to be joining. Ngor's output was limited, and McCalmont drifted in and out of the squad too - again, hard to view them as big losses. Goal-scoring will most likely be a problem for this season. Most of their forwards are very young/inexperienced. Lavale has more to offer but needs to be more consistent. Ortiz has been ruthless in the NPL but the A-League jump has often killed better players than him so it's a coin toss. Creativity should be fine. Auglah, Eames, and de Lima have enough to cause problems, especially with support from their attacking full-backs. They have added depth at RB to negate Roux's inevitable injuries. It's a squad with good depth in all positions. The big question is whether they can keep defensive leader Trent Sainsbury fit after yet another injury-ravaged campaign. They need him. If so, they might stand a chance of making the play-offs. Without him, it's hard to imagine the team staying strong consistently enough to do so, especially when under intense pressure. What they lack in talent, they atone for with work-rate, and all of their pre-season arrivals support that notion continuing. Naivety will cost them, especially when fatigue sets in later in the campaign, but they should be able to start pretty strongly - most teams aren't as fit/sharp as they are in the beginning.