Ready for some Fish and Bling?

Apart from Phill Chadwick and his Hindmarsh army, Sydney against Central Coast is the final we all wanted, writes Sebastian Hassett.

I HAD to have a quick giggle at what my colleague Phill Chadwick wrote about Adelaide United and Sydney FC being aligned because of their so-called ‘similarities of strength’.

Sure, Adelaide’s conglomerate of veterans defied the odds this year and showed that battle-hardened NSL experience was a more reliable formula than imports and local youngsters, but their model for immediate success is not an admirable one – not if we want the game to grow in this country, anyway.

Whether you like them or not, they are no Sydney, and never will be. Certainly not while they’re pulling barely 11,000 to a final, no less.

Since gambles in squad formation haven’t worked for the likes of Perth, Queensland and Melbourne in the short term, I concede that Phill has the right to gloat about his beloved team. But soon, the clubs that have ventured more broadly – rather then begrudgingly accepting a single import (who was rather exciting, and subsequently joined by another) – will prevail.

Sadly for Phill, the adage of form being temporary and class having more permanent qualities proved true as Adelaide promptly bombed out of the title race. Is that harsh on the team who finished as minor premier? Hardly.

In horse racing parlance, there’s no point in leading the Cox Plate for 2000 of the 2040 metres – despite the fact that 2000m is generally considered a standard staying length. In the same way that Adelaide might usually be crowned champions without finals, you have to adapt to the competition you are in. If a horse can’t finish that final 40m strongly, the rest is irrelevant.

And for all the hot air being piped around by their supporters, the ‘Reds’ – as they like to be called – weren’t able to come up with the goods in any of their three finals matches, losing two and scrambling for a draw.

Central Coast on the other hand, timed their run to perfection. At times this year they looked slightly overwhelmed in such company, but have always held their feet, and deserve a crack at the title.

A few of our readers suggested Phill would have been smarter to compare Adelaide and Central Coast, for they seem far more similar, and I agree.

Sydney and Melbourne are the ‘glamorous’ clubs; Perth, Newcastle and Queensland are striving for the next rung, while Adelaide and Central Coast seem to have this certain degree of anonymity about them – needless to say New Zealand don’t even register.

Neither club should be underestimated, yet that’s exactly what happened this year. But where Adelaide has relied on the wise old heads of Veart, Beltrame, Aloisi, Alagich, Costanzo, Shengqing Qu and Fernando Rech, the Mariners have looked to the next generation.

Michael Beauchamp has been a star in defence and duly rewarded with his first Socceroo cap, whilst the fleet-footed Dean Heffernan has emerged the league’s most damaging wingback. Noel Spencer has been class, and if it wasn’t for a season-ending knee injury, John Hutchinson might have put himself into contention for a World Cup berth.

Matthew Osman has lately come into his own, and Danny Vukovic could be the next Bosnich. The best part about all this? They’re all under 30.

Of course, a few oldies never hurt, and Stewart Petrie and Tom Pondeljak still show silk touch, while the work ethic of Damien Brown and Andre Gumprecht shouldn’t be undersold. But the veterans are few at Central Coast Stadium, and they can ultimately be replaced without drama. At Adelaide, coach John Kosmina doesn’t use oldies to fill gaps – he relies on them.

Whilst early results have proved that a settled squad of mature talent yields victories, Adelaide is nowhere near as well placed as other clubs looking three or four years ahead.

There’s a confounding argument that says that in football, unlike AFL, the nature of the transfer window and the lure of overseas competitions means investing in youth only bears fruits for others. But as the A-League strengthens, and our forays in Asia continue, Australia will soon become a much more attractive and viable option for young footballers seeking to ply their trade.

As such, Central Coast need not worry about losing their young stars to Europe. In the NSL days, a team would encourage players to go, hoping to make a quick buck in the process. Nowadays, clubs and players are becoming more tightly fused together, and only ridiculously good opportunities – such as the one presented to Archie Thompson at PSV Eindhoven – can prise players from this competition.

The Mariners will continue to grow and be successful, fixating themselves as part of the Gosford community’s drive to cast off Sydney’s shadow. Indeed, Sunday’s final presents them with an awesome opportunity to do exactly that.

For Adelaide, everyone knew their window of opportunity was disturbingly short. They gambled on battle-weary types determined to endure the tribulations of an erratic new competition; for a while, it looked like paying off, and in many ways, it did. But success is only ever measured in championships, and as other teams started to clue up to their dour, defensive methods, the potential at Kosmina’s disposal had already maxed out.

They will not improve unless they invest in the next generation – and that means looking beyond South Australia’s local competition, and ploughing into the cream of the eastern seaboard. Surely Mike Valkanis is proof that Adelaide’s mistrust of interstate talent is unfounded.

However, we now come to the final – the one every true fan wanted to see. It’s the youth and guile generated by the upstart Mariners against the sheer brilliance and thrill of Pierre Littbarski’s Sydney FC. What could be better than that?

In a memorable past year for Australian football, both at home and on the world stage, a full house at Aussie Stadium shapes as a fitting tribute to the progress of the game on these shores.

And as a reporter who’s covered plenty of false dawns with the various guises of our domestic competitions, it’s nice to know this one’s finally the real deal.

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