the good;
we came back from a goal down twice, that wouldn't have happened last season. some of our passing was very good in tight spaces, our movement seems 100 times better than last season. we dominated possession and did well winning the ball back quickly particularly in the midfield. i thought Mauk had a very good game. Our tackling and defence (once it was set) was very good Aldred and Gilesphie are great pick ups.

the Bad;
our bench was well bellow par. I though O'toole looked lively when he came on (probably the only one that lifted the output of the team off the bench) O'neil was passable (he didnt make any glaring mistakes but was pretty invisible, though akbari didnt have the same output as against SFC so O'Neil was probably on par with him) we lost a lot of our movement with Mauk coming off for pepper, who also was very loose with his passing, a big step down from Mauk. Finally when inman came off for Ingham we lost what little threat we had up front, another big drop in quality. A big worry for me is Neville and Mcging, that seems to be our biggest weakness and it is no surprise that CCMs 3 chances (the pen, the goal and Oars thunderbolt that hit the bar) exploited them on that side. In both our games now i have thought that Neville and Mcging have been bellow par so i would like to see a change there now. i think Neville is more suited to the WB role than the CB role and i think mcging should be dropped. Otoole looked good when he came on and we also have powel for the LWB role so JCP to CB and neville to RWB is what i would like to see. ROD was doing dropping back between the lines quite a bit but offered very little in attack. he needs to output more if he is going to lead our line (that may chance when we have AAH and DWH back as it will probably see akbari out with Inman and oshay dropping into the deeper roles, that lift in quality may mean ROD wont have to do so much work building up and will have a real threat with DWH and AAH running in behind)

finally our set pieces were woeful. we had 15 corners and i think that resulted in 1 shot on target not to mention all the fouls in good positions. that is really, really, really bad. we also struggled a bit on defensive set pieces time to dedicate some training time to them i think. 

Have to disagree about mariners looking fitter and stronger . We dominated large parts of the game . Difference to me was they had about 1 shot first half and scored it and also the penalty . They had about 25 minutes second half where they pegged us back for awhile and had some wild shots (apart from Oars goalpost screamer) but overall I thought we completely  dominated play..Where I do agree is that we lacked that killer instinct up front. Not sure on our shot count but it was not high. Lots of good opportunities wasted by passing instead of having a crack. I am quietly hopeful Fowler can remedy this .

Enjoyed watching what the Roar are working on (even though the result was hugely disappointing). A few negative observations about the game;

• Set pieces were abysmal
• ROD should not be starting and played worse than I had thought he would.  Can't wait for DWH and Holloway to return from injury
• The defense looked a bit fragile and I think a lot has to do with Neville, who seemed to get caught out of position a lot

Nice, that's a fantastic crowd for this stage of the cup.

Hell of a day - in Kingaroy most of the day, back to train U18’s, left and just got there 10 minutes after kick off, an hours drive home afterwards, up early this morning and already in the way to Toowoomba 🤪

mariners looked fitter, stronger and wanted it more. That’s a bit hard to take but Stajic is doing well. 

Put Holloway or DWH up front and I recon we win that, up front we just lacked something. 

Great crowd though - 6,235 despite the rain in the arvo and threat of a storm 👏👏

I don't think we looked terrible, but not great either. Central Coast deserved the win based on what I saw. 
They packed their defence, and we really struggled to get through it/break it down (which has been a common theme in recent seasons - a lack of creativity). Delivery into the box was pretty poor all night, and the finishing wasn't good either. Our bench was also pretty weak in attack. 
From what I have seen so far, Roy hasn't made a case for being in the starting XI. Hopefully having DWH and Amadi-Holloway fit will push him to improve and take his chances and perhaps give us something different in attack. 

Terrific little venue Dolphin Stadium. Good crowd at 6,200. Cheap food and I scored myself a shirt for $35.

The team played quite well in the first half. Well structured and easily the better team. Conceded a goal against the run of play.

Second half different story. The more they played the looser they became and predictable they were. ROD was indeed hopeless. Couldn't keep up when team attacking with speed and struggles throughout. Pepper when came on didn't do a bad job. Other subs - O'Neil and O'Toole whilst not terrible are below first XI standard.

You can see what a skilful player does with CCM's No17 Silvera. We need an X factor player in midfield and a decent striker.

All in all it was what was expected. Enjoyed the night.

Ran hard. Worked hard. Little to show. Felt like a youth team trying to do everything really fast. Don't need to go at 100km/h all the time especially when the opposition is already back in defense. Looks like the Roar need someone who can slow it down a bit and not try to play a killer ball every time you cross the halfway line. Someome with a bit more class.

By the end of the second half it just became super open and end to end. 

Would prefer holding possession longer in the opposition half and to cycle more. 

Won the ball back really well but gave it up easily a fair amount. Didn't feel anyone played badly though.

That's my take from Dolphin Stadium last night. 

Yes I guess that's the inherent problem with a back three, that third goal exposed our right defensive side. A big area of space that CCM exploited if you don't get your positioning right. 
Tho tbh our midfield looks far better than last year. That's a plus. 
I was impressed how often we were able to win the ball back, esp in midfield. 
Overall play was good but up front not good enough. ROD didn't pressure the ball frequently enough for me. 
I think the 2nd keeper needs s look in too. 

Yeah I think we really need them. I was looking at the bench today saying non of those players could really change the game. Dwh to come on in that game it's a different story.

There is a lot to like in the way we play. Just the final third tonight was poor. Against Sydney we seem to have more patients to play through the middle and break them up. We just kept it wide with CCM.

Rod has really been unaffective in the last two games. There was no one getting into those key striker position when the ball gets into the danger areas.

2nd CCM goal would really piss me off as the wb and midfield where just jogging back to defend. CCM got the overlap where the roar players should have been.

Yeah ROD was terrible ....only scored two goals........seriously ?
We do need more up front but that will come with better combinations ...and possibly Amadi Holloway and DWH.
We were 100 times more structured than last season and I was impressed with our general play and defence .

We also need to shoot more..love to see the stats but I reckon we only had about 5 or 6 shots in the game  .
Just need to sharpen up our sharp end .
That will come .

Nope thats ROD.
If he is in form he can score.But not your technical type of striker.
Roar dont look anything special in the front third.
Lets hope Holloway and DWH  make a difference.

A lot of really great moments in our play.

Misguided at the front and a bit brittle at the back, but such a nice change to see so much of the game being played in a fluid, dangerous, skilful style.

We got a bit too clever with a particular flick on play on the right wing (tried it too often) and Mariners intercepted twice to create dangerous situations - but otherwise there was plenty of variety in us bringing the ball forward through heavy traffic. Composure on the ball was a stand out feature of our play.

Loving our ability across the park to win the 50/50 balls with feet and good body.

Disappointing not to walk out with the win - especially with the skyed ball on an open net in the first half that could so easily have gone better. But I am strangely just disappointed and not shattered. Possibly coming back twice from a goal down, and expecting a goal against us in the last minute of play again - then fighting to the end for a draw. Possibly also recognising that we are playing with skill and quality and sometimes things just don't go your way.

Our play still needs more practice to improve in our final third and I miss what Baron Samadei-Holloway brought to our game when I saw him in pre-season matches.

Looking forward to the season now that the Cup is off the menu.

Reality check for sure!!!

How the $&@? Did we lose that ??

ive never been convinced with O'donovan, so I was hoping that he mite prove me wrong,.....but he didn't. Is there something I'm not seeing????

Well that game dragged me back to reality.
Back to our 2 goals conceded from a team that was quite poor.

Pretty underwhelming aye.

Well.... yuck

Any stream? My Football app has region locking and ESPN is only showing the WSW game.

Feeling the same, after last years efforts on and off the field with the club 'de registering' the den I didn't think I would have been renewing my membership. However with great surprise I have and am looking forward to the season ahead. 

Was hoping Amadi-Holloway would feature tonight but I can't see him in any of the videos the club is posting. 

Yes, definitely looking forward to the new season.  It's early days yet, but everything seems positive, let's hope it continues.

I have very much the same sort of vibe. I don't care how we end up on the ladder - as long as we are competitive. I have given RF a big tick on pre-season success already based on positive football with obvious direction, and am excited for a season where we should challenge in every game again.

As long as it isn't a selfie it has to be better than nothing...

I can try, but can't promise much from a phone camera! 

Me too. Wouldn’t mind it being similar. For those going, any chance anyone could get a photo of the kits? Hard for the interstate fans to get a glimpse

Also liking Wazs' post - informative and sensibly critical. Well done man!

Changing topic from kit colours. Having been butchered by recent events resulting from the Roar's management actions, I had lost interest in the Roar and did not attend one home game last season - the first since the inauguration of the Aleague. Happily, I am back on board, even though hardly a ball has yet to be kicked. Cannot pinpoint why, but very excited for once. Maybe its the more positive posts on here, the new coach and his statements (talking the talk IMO), and of course the preseason build up. Anyone else here getting the same vibe?

I predict the home kit will be basically orange ..with a bit of black ...

Yeah I wouldn't expect the home to change all that much, which I don't mind, as I liked last seasons kit.

I assumed front of the new one but you might be right ... hard to see the new one being much different though; which is the problem when you get a fans backlash over major changes