Roaring To Go

Although it’s only early in the pre-season there have been two major movers in the transfer market , well, two and a half if you include the Jets. One, obviously, is new club Melbourne Heart, the other, perhaps a little more surprisingly, is Brisbane Roar. Today’s article will focus on Brisbane Roar - with the Heart, and illustrious coach John van 't Schip, being put under review closer to seasons start when their squad and coaching staff is nearer to being finalised.

Now, Brisbane is currently a club in transition, a natural occurrence after a change of coach, and after the departure of eight first team players since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou there was an obvious need for new troops. Last season was a strange one for the Roar, injuries contributing to an unsettled start, they recovered well until change of coach and a weak finish left them stranded in their lowest ever finish. And of all the talk Postecoglou kept up about ‘’Building for next season’’ and ‘’transition’’ it doesn’t hide the fact that when he took over the Roar they were sitting third, yet by seasons end they finished second last.

Possibly the most important signing so far for the Roar is former A-League goalkeeper of the year and premiership winner Michael Theoklitos. Ever since the departure of established number one Liam Reddy, the Roar has looked quite exposed at the back and this signing will go a long way to rectifying that problem. The former Socceroo squad member will be looking to impress and get back into form after a disastrous season with Norwich City which saw him concede seven goals in his solitary match and miss the team bus in his only other call-up. Expect big things.

Another player filling in a weak spot is Former Socceroo and left back Shane Stefanutto. Due to Postecoglou’s insistence on not playing Danny Tiatto, left back has generally been nothing but a speed bump for opposition attacks. After a season cut short through injury, Stefanutto will be hoping to form a lethal left side combination with fellow new singing Rocky Visconte, who is more or less a direct replacement for Tommy Oar.

Two gaps remaining in the squad is a strong front man, following the departure of prolific striker Sergio van Dijk (pictured below with one of our own), who after struggling initially to get used to the A-league, turned into one of the most feared forwards in the competitions short history.

Although Reinaldo may seem a suitable ‘replacement’ his recent injury history makes him somewhat unreliable. There is also the issue of a true playmaker. Costa Barbarouses and Erik Paartalu have both been brought in respectively for these two jobs. Both are promising former junior internationals (Barbarouses is in fact a senior All Whites representative), but realistically, still unproven youngsters.

This is Postecoglou’s chance if ever he had one. He has brought in his own players, modelling the squad in his own way and no longer has any excuses. He has the cattle, it’s up to him to sort them out. Unfortunately for Roar fans, last season he was shown up to be quite tactically naive, and there were many questions raised about the intelligence of his appointment, but given a clean slate he may yet surprise. Which the whole A-League community is hoping he will do, as the Roar still undoubtedly have one of the more exciting squads in the league.