After disappointing 2021/22 season, the A-League Men’s competition is under pressure to deliver a year that sees rising interest, capitalising on a mid-season World Cup.
The A-Leagues have come under plenty of fire since being officially taken over by the APL (Australian Professionals Leagues).
With a wide variety of issues – including low crowd and TV numbers, a lack of marquee names and a dodgy new app – fans are restless for signs of promise.
Many recent issues can be attributed to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but the A-Leagues are under no illusions a big season is a must.
One positive step has been the development and exporting of some exciting young stars; taking on opportunities across Europe and Asia.
But the APL also promised big names down under and that hasn’t really materialised. Headlining a new crop of marquees are former Manchester United’s Luis Nani (Melbourne Victory) and former Premier League striker Charlie Austin (Brisbane Roar).
Who’s in the mix?
With a focus on youth and a mixture of experienced players from across the globe, the 2022/23 season is set up to go down to the wire.
Western United will be back, eager to prove their Grand Final win was no fluke. While its two state rivals, Melbourne City and Victory, are hoping to drown out their noisy neighbour.
The three Sydney sides enter this season with plenty of new faces, adding an extra element of spice to the derby games.
Central Coast and Newcastle will be many experts’ favourites to be the underdogs of the 2022/23 season, with a group of local youngsters looking to follow in the footsteps of Garang Kuol and make a big move abroad.
Adelaide United and Brisbane will look to disturb the top of the table with their new big-name recruits, while Wellington and Perth come into this season with a few new faces, too.
Let’s take a look at the biggest storylines in our A-League Men’s Major Guide.
Key storylines for the 22/23 season
The rejuvenated Sydney Derby
One of the most bitter and storied derbies in A-League history, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers simply despise each other. After a couple years of lacklustre fixtures, this season’s Sydney derbies are shaping up to re-light the flame between these two rivals.
The first big move came after the end of the 2021/22 season when the public dispute between Sydney FC and star Milos Ninkovic reached boiling point, with the club confirming his departure, only for the Serbian to confirm he had signed for the Wanderers.
Ninkovic established himself as arguably one of the greatest players to ever don the sky blue jersey in his near seven tenure, winning three grand finals and leading Sydney to becoming an almost unbeatable powerhouse.
Crossing the bridge was seen as unacceptable by the Sydney fanbase and as much as Ninkovic presents his side of the story, there will be zero love lost for the former cult-hero come derby day. The Serbian’s departure did more damage to Sydney’s PR as opposed to their on-field play as it was fairly evident that Ninkovic was past his prime and could no longer carry the weight of Sydney’s attack.
With Sydney desperate for some star power back in the middle of the park, they looked no further than Western Sydney’s former marquee Jack Rodwell. The former Manchester City midfielder joining up with the Sky Blues didn’t have the same impact as Ninkovic going the other way, but is still sure to cause plenty of anger amongst the Wanderers fan base.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’6JfKi5hJT3Zj-liKqxEXVA’,sig:’3RwsJl1u78MfY8_vyE4Lzw3WZX3mSvHakwvcv4tRnhE=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’1414346664′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })});To add to all that drama, Sydney are finally back at their home in Moore Park, with the recent opening of the rebuilt Allianz stadium. The new stadium has already become a major boost for attendance numbers, with the few events held there already being near or complete sell-outs.
The ALP will be hopeful for a similar effect on the A-League and early indications look positive, with over half of the allocation already sold just over a month away from the first derby at the new stadium.
Both sides went through a clean out of sorts in the off-season and there will be plenty of new faces hungry to assert themselves on the marquee fixture.
If the first derby is a success, the hope is that the fans will slowly start to get back into attending games regularly, which could see the A-league recapture the buzz it built from 2012-16.
The battle of Victoria
For the first time since the inception of Western United, all three Victorian-based sides finished in the top-six of the A-League. The 2021/22 season was dominated by these three sides and ultimately came down to a decider between City and Western United, where the latter completed an incredible upset to claim their maiden A-League championship.
The three sides could only be separated by four points in the regular season and its looks likely that we will be treated to a similar race for the top spot in 2022/23.
The reigning premiers, Melbourne City enter this season relatively untouched losing Carl Jenkinson and Conor Metcalfe. Metcalfe may prove to be a massive loss for City, but due to the contingency and talent in their side they should be favourites to take out first place once again. City’s only major arrivals are Callum Talbot from Sydney and Kosovan international Valon Berisha. Berisha’s experience will be a much welcomed addition to the City squad, whilst Talbot showed flashes of great potential in limited playing time at Sydney. Along with Socceroos Jamie McLaren and Marco Tillio, anything other than at least one piece of silver this season will be considered a failure for the citizens.
Melbourne Victory were one of the more active side’s in the off-season, adding nine players whilst departing with seven more players. Amongst the big names coming to the Vuck include Tomi Juric and Paul Izzo, but they both pale in comparison to Nani. The Portuguese winger comes to Australia as one the biggest names to ever sign for an A-League club and is sure to bring the crowds in. Victory are without a Grand Final win since defeating Sydney FC in the 2015 decider and will be searching for a return to the promise land with Nani leading the way in attack.
Onto the champions, Western United who look to defend their crown with a relatively familiar group of players.
United kept it tidy on the transfer front, letting three players go whilst brining in four players in. James Troisi’s arrival gives the champions a big boost in the middle of the park, adding to an already deep position for John Aloisi’s men.
The Truganina-based side will once again have to overcome the odds to go back-to-back, but it seems as though they relish being the underdogs, much like last year. With plans for a new rectangular stadium moving forward, it’s an exciting time to be a part of the A-League’s 11th franchise.
From the bottom to the top-six
Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar finished last season in 12th and 11th placed respectively and made mass changes within their playing squads in order to put themselves in contention for a finals spot.
The failed Daniel Sturridge experiment is over for the Glory and they’ve rebuilt around experienced player like David and Ryan Williams, Zach Duncan and Mustafa Amini. The Glory may struggle to start the season with the amount of new faces, but the undeniable talent from the new faces should boost their chances as the season progresses.
The one thing that plagued Perth’s season in 2021/22 was injuries and they’ve done plenty to ensure they will now have the experience in their squad depth to deal with an injury crisis, if it was to occur.
Although Brisbane finished second last in 2021/22, it didn’t seem like a true reflection of the bright future they now have. Brisbane brought in the second biggest name for this season with former Premier League striker Charlie Austin. The Englishman’s time at the top was reduced due to injuries, but he looks to be back in top shape for the upcoming A-League season. Not only does Austin bring a wealth of top-tier experience, he will be sure to drive up the crowd numbers from the disappointing ones we seen in 2021/22. It looks promising for the Roar on the field, but off the field they may face a few legal issues with the ongoing battle with former player Corey Brown.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’qDAhoYE9QhZuzUFL0ejiow’,sig:’n4klhFDZbud_GOxvJeN42DiPusqCHfpcUgYiSDBMJ-k=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’1427830595′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })});The 2022/23 A-League season is shaping up to be one of the closest in recent history and the fan numbers will be sure to progress if the quality of the league continues to grow.
