Roar's lottery hopes needing justification

It's a lottery, they say. Anyone can win it, they say.

Whoever says it, few arguments can be made to say this season's finals structure offer equal perks for higher-finishing teams than in previous years.

Credit: Brisbane Roar

But let's contend that Brisbane Roar, the two-time reigning champions and, as of Sunday evening, losers in just one of their past six matches, finish fifth at the end of Round 27.

What is the likelihood of them making an impression? Well, given most teams in the A-League can beat each other 'on any given day', those chances are subjective to form.

A first-half blitz, Thomas Broich's screamer and Melbourne Heart's generosity to the Roar cause could all wash away the exasperation over Brisbane's performance in Gosford the previous weekend, but they shouldn't.

Therein lies the Snorlax blocking the path to a Grand Final for both Mike Mulvey's team and those in their immediate company: inconsistency, a trait genuinely good sides abhor.

It will inevitably catch up with only-sometimes-good teams, even in the two matches needed to navigate the new finals series. It's why Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Newcastle, aside from being often inferior to the Western Sydney and Central Coast machines, have been locked so claustrophobically in their ugly scramble to get across the line, though without a Steven Bradbury breaking into the clear air of the top four.

Yet, there is hope - at least in Brisbane's case. If they can shut out Sydney on Thursday in the manner they did to Heart in the first-half, care-free optimism will not be without reason. Combined skill and tactical assertiveness are still in their favour - after all, how else can you explain three hard working midfelders in Heart's Thompson, Meeuwis and Garcia being so overrun?

With Jade North's return sure to curb the danger of the counter-attacks Melbourne wielded to threaten Roar in the second-half, the improved form of Broich and Mitch Nichols expanding on the repertoire of Luke Brattan - who should be the leading contender for the club's Player of the Season award - and a Besart Berisha who thrives in seeing his team home, Thursday night's visit of Sydney FC might finally deliver the continuity Brisbane craves.

It will need to be nothing short of a top notch team realisation of potential, lest a possible final the following week have its ticket pre-emptively stamped. Those two coveted positions in the Grand Final have already been promised to teams of greater consistency and, despite the 'lottery' of the system, will be claimed by them, unless a flawless latecomer decides otherwise. Failing to be that team will not be entirely without fulfillment for Mulvey's Brisbane Roar.

Finishing places will become a postscript to the season for all bar the premiers. Rightly so, at least for those who sneak in at five and six. Dissatisfaction with their performances, not lack of achievements, will hurt, though just because post-season competition may be achieved via an obviously excessive pool of contestants does not mean their participation should inflict condescension, but rather pride, however small, at ousting equally desperate counterparts.

To finish with a bold, likely-to-be-retracted prediction: Brisbane will meet Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium in week one, record their third win at the Reds' home ground this season, and then fall the following week.