Bouncing Back
After a second poor showing in as many weeks, this time at home to Adelaide, Brisbane will be looking to return to the winners circle after losing their grip on top spot in the A-League.
Last weeks performance was another one where the Roar were punished for their mistakes in possession, and their inefficiency in front of goals. All reports suggest that the focus of training this week has been to fix the issues at the defensive end, while the issues in the final third could be as simple as the return of Jamie Maclaren.
In his absence, Brisbane scored just one goal in around 300 minutes since he was substituted in round 13, and that was a penalty in the loss to Adelaide so John Aloisi will no doubt be hoping his star striker brings the goals back with him.
Brisbane now travel to Sydney to take on a similarly out of sorts sky blues side that has had it’s own difficulties in the final third in recent weeks, they on the other hand however have been able tor rely upon a solid and stable defence.
For the game Brisbane will welcome back their trio of Olyroos in Maclaren, Brandon Borrello and James Donachie, while Graham Arnold will again have defender Alex Gersbach at his disposal after he missed the trip to Melbourne.
When these two sides met back in round 6, it was a rather dour 0-0 draw with neither side really creating any clear cut chances, although it was the home side who played the better football.
Transfer update
It’s been a quiet transfer window here in Brisbane, but things heated up this week with the arrival of Australian u/17 midfielder Joe Caletti from the FFA Centre of Excellence program. Caletti, a holding midfielder by trade captained the Joeys to a round of 16 berth in last years u/17 World Cup, a run which included a win over Argentina in the group.
While he’s unlikely to feature in the short term, the Sydney born midfielder will learn his trade from Spaniard Corona while fine tuning his craft in the sides youth team which begins its NPL Queensland campaign at the end of the month.
Jamie Young meanwhile has signed a new two year contract extension which will keep the shot stopper in Brisbane through the end of the 2017-18 season. After a decidedly shaky start, Young has made 40 appearances in all competitions for the Roar and has now emerged as a genuine threat to Michael Theo’s stranglehold on the #1 jersey.
For Brisbane’s football department, there remains a lot of hard work left to do with a further XI players out of contract with James Donachie, Jade North, Jack Hingert, Daniel Bowles, Steven Lustica, Devante Clut, Javier Hervas, Henrique, Brandon Borrello and Jean Carlos Solórzano all potentially on the move. Shane Stefanutto is also out of contract, but the veteran full-back has indicated he’s likely to retire at seasons end.
W-League
Last week was semi-final week in the W-League and Brisbane gave a spirited account of them selves against Premiers Melbourne City on Sunday, holding the hosts to a 0-0 draw over 90 and 120 minutes before going down 5-4 on penalty kicks.
City had the chances to win the game in normal or extra time, but wasteful finishing from the hosts in addition to scrambling defending and fantastic saves from Haley Kopmeyer sent the game to penalties.
In the shootout, both sides were perfect through four penalties before young left back Angela Beard stepped up and cannoned her effort into the crossbar. Ex Brisbane striker and now City captain Lisa de Vanna then stepped up to send the hosts through to the Grand Final- where they will take on Sydney FC.
While it was no doubt disappointing for the season to end in that way, it was still a success overall for Belinda Wilson’s young side, who struggled through some mid season struggles before emerging from that to clinch a finals berth and give the heavily favoured City a real fright.
On the back of solid from this season, five Brisbane players have been selected in a training camp this week as the Matildas prepare for next months AFC women’s Olympic qualifiers. Angela Beard, Katrina Gorry, Clare Polkinghorne, Tameka Butt and Emily Gielnik all spent the week in Canberra and are in with a chance of trying to get the side to the Rio Olympics.
Pourre Statement/Debt
It was also an eventful week off the pitch, with CEO David Pourre alerting members via an email that the club is now fully debt free, having fully paid off debts which left the club in an extremely tough spot.
Despite that however, Pourre was adamant the challenges remain in returning the club to the force it has been in the recent past on the park, while continuing the stabilising of the club off it.
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