Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd
Last season’s position: 1st (won grand final)
The new marketing spin for A-League Season 10 is ‘What Is Beautiful’, complete with the #BeautifulGame hashtag. Locked in dark rooms, Robbie Slater, Brett Emerton and John Aloisi have been asked to opine on what they see as Beautiful. “What may appeal to your eye, may not appeal to mine,” says Slater theatrically. Well, here’s what I see as beautiful, Robbie. Every A-League themed video montage and mobile phone app created by JayFCAK47. That season launch ad from last year where Marc Warren misses an open goal. And, of course, Brisbane Roar.
As we enter the 10th season of the A-League, Brisbane are perhaps the only club that can claim to have played consistently beautiful football, the type that makes the evangelists weak at the knees. Mike Mulvey has built expertly on the Ange Postecoglou revolution, and now has an A-League toilet seat of his own to show for it.
While there is beauty, however, there has always been a streak of mongrel. Thomas Broich might be spoken of in reverential tones by the commentariat, but it’s been Besart Berisha who has turned Brisbane’s carousel of passes into goals. Give me a wild-eyed, fire-breathing Albanian over a guitar-strumming German romantic any day of the week.
Since his arrival in Australia in 2011, Berisha has been the club’s top goalscorer every season, yet it’s not so much the number he scored for Brisbane but when he scored them, and the manner in which he put them away. It was Berisha who popped up to score two late goals to overcome Perth Glory in the 2011-12 grand final. And it was Berisha who scored the winner against Melbourne Victory in the semi-finals last season, and the crucial equaliser in the grand final, which Brisbane would go onto win.
Like him or loathe him, when Mike Mulvey spoke of winning being in the DNA of the club, Berisha was the double helix. But he’s gone, taking a larger pay packet and a new challenge at Melbourne Victory. Separating the ‘two B’s’ of Berisha and Broich, perhaps the most dangerous attacking combination ever seen in the A-League, is the grim reality of the salary cap.
In his place arrives another Albanian, Mensur Kurtishi, which seems a little too cute by half. Sure, nobody knows much about the Albanians, but they’re not all the same, Mike. It’s like the time when everyone went out and bought their own ageing Dutch centre back after Patrick Zwaanswijk did a good job at the Central Coast Mariners. Let’s hope for the sake of Brisbane Roar that Kurtishi will be more Kew Jaliens than Marcel Seip in that regard.
Aside from bringing in their replacement Albanian - who by all reports has looked good in preseason - Brisbane have been relatively quiet over the winter break. Ivan Franjic left for Russian club Torpedo Moscow after the World Cup, while Diogo Ferreira has moved on to Perth Glory. Mulvey has repatriated Daniel Bowles from Adelaide, who will compete with Jack Hingert for the right-back spot. Adam Sarota is also coming home on loan from Dutch club Utrecht.
Sarota joins a team brimming with talent in midfield, and will compete for a spot with Luke Brattan, Steve Lustica as well as experienced campaigners Matt McKay and Liam Miller. Mulvey hinted that he might play Sarota elsewhere. “Adam is not just a midfield player,” Mulvey told the Courier Mail. “He can play in the front three, he can play at right back, he could probably play centre-back if I asked him to … he’s that kind of quality player.”
Whether Dimitri Petratos continues where he left off last season will be interesting to see. His hat-trick against his former club Sydney FC in December last year signalled a more settled and mature young man, and with Berisha gone, there will be increased pressure for Petratos to step up and become the striker we all hope he can be.
Brisbane also have a new kit and a new logo, both of which have been well received by their fans. The new, all orange kit is a far cry from the days when someone thought blue, orange and maroon were a good colour combination. And while Mincy the Lion might look like he’s dancing to Thriller by Michael Jackson, it’s a far more handsome logo than the last one, which looked like it was designed by a high school kid experimenting on Microsoft Paint.
Brisbane Roar begin their season against Adelaide United, the side that knocked them out of the FFA Cup last month. It might not be the opening match, but bringing together two of Australia’s prettiest football sides for the opening round should be the best advertisement for the A-League’s new #BeautifulGame campaign.
