Apparently, mid-table QPL

Categorically there is no commitment on the new kit before the FFA Cup tie, it will likely be September 

Ante Bakmaz has signed with Madura United, thus ending any speculation that Jacob Pepper would be going there. Ante is from Sydney, but has spent the entirety of his career abroad in Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Holland and Lebanon.

Good luck to him. Lousy coach they’ve got though. 

Lol poor old Waz diddnt have the oil 

“When Brisbane Roar were dominating the Hyundai A-League by winning three titles in four seasons, they did it playing a distinct brand of possession-based attacking football.”

(I can’t get the rest of the article to post due to this sites bizzare treatment of cut n paste content, but here’s the link):

https://www.a-league.com.au/news/around-grounds-mauk-reveals-fowlers-brisbane-roar-glory-days?fbclid=IwAR0FOgCgRsQvOy3qYfY_SSU3jJb6RxRc2jOl8t9Tkbqi67XGOfGUmjYcxWo

This aligns with the way Roar have been playing in preseason and diminishes any “hoofball” fears 

But League 1 and 2 players are terrible and can only play hoofball waz, this cant be right. ;)

Maybe it’s a trap?? come Round 1 they’ll surprise everyone with hoofball 😂

I suspect there are more people on here who will still be surprised when we don't play hoofball.

The test will be the first team that we can't unlock with our creative methods. Will the players lose their composure and discipline and go long ball or will Fowler be lured to the dark side with the promise of an easy way of getting behind the line. He is, after all, your father.

A big test coming up soon against SFC.
We will see a what happens to the defence under pressure for the first time this season.
Hopefully no JA type defending.

I remember JA saying that he had the team ready to adapt to different situations, which turned out to mean that he in fact had no plan.  To be fair, I have heard from a few reliable sources that they're looking pretty good so far and that Aldred might just be one of the league's signings of the seasons.

I would love our defence to be solid. Just that much would be success in my orange heart.

Agree. Based on preseason we might have s few problems against pace so Kosta might cause problems on Wednesday night. 

My biggest fear is the quality of our wing backs in a back three.
None are fast or have quality .
We all know  the space behind them is where  opponents are going to be concentrating their efforts.
If you cast your memory back,JA tried a three at the back and gave up.We didnt have the quality.
We will see if RF has a plan to deal with this soon enough,i guess.
If he doesnt then ,I wonder if the whole system gets binned .

McGing looks quality. O’Toole less so but that’s the rumoured big signing. 

Not sure why Antonic is a lousy coach to be honest? He had a blip when he was at Hong Kong Rangers, but for the large part: he's been quite successful. This season alone he's managed to take a team that was extremely poor last season [by their own standards] and help them return to challenge for a continental berth at the minimum.

In fairness JA and RA were clueless in coaching and organising a defence. Wed is going to an interesting night.

The “behind closed doors” game was against an unnamed NPL side. Roar won 10-0,

7-0 at HT with the Roar NPL squad pretty much sent on for the second half. 

Still no word on academy for next year, which is disappointing because the existing set-up is working well. 

Does anyone know who broadcasting our FFA cup game?

Fox. It's not the broadcast game, so won't be on the main channel. If you have Kayo, it'll be on there. 

Or get the My Football App and all games are on there, you can switch between games (it’s also got a free offer on at the moment - see the FFA Cup thread) 

Article/Interview with Fowler for anyone interested. 

IT’s a cold, bright morning on the outskirts of Brisbane, and Robbie Fowler is in expansive form. The dress rehearsals are over and opening night is close, as Fowler prepares for his first game as an official head coach.

In managerial terms, the man who would become the English Premier League’s sixth highest goalscorer is back to the night before making his Liverpool debut as a teenager back in 1993.

As he talks over his hopes for Brisbane Roar, the merits of Jose Mourinho and how Fowler the manager would get the best out of Fowler the player, you can see the anticipation of Wednesday’s FFA Cup tie with Sydney FC is bubbling just below the surface.

“It’s a big one for me, this game,” he says, minutes after walking off the training ground. “I’ve done all the required (coaching) badges, and everything I needed to do to get to this stage.

“I wanted to do that for people to take me that little bit seriously. I love the game, I feel like I’ve got a lot to offer.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll succeed but I’ve done everything I can and I feel in a good place.”

After 26 years at the top, he has some of the world’s best-known coaches to take inspiration from — or, in some cases, not. Two words pepper the interview, and it’s clear that “man management” will be central to the methods of Fowler the head coach.

“I probably veered more to the man managers, those who would drive me a bit more,” he says. “I loved playing for Roy Evans (at Liverpool) because of that. I’ve got so much time for Graeme Souness for giving me my chance in the game.

“I played under Rafa (Benitez) and Gerard (Houllier) and maybe football was changing then where you got ‘rested’ which for me was a fancy word for ‘dropped’.

“I was old school, and maybe I did fall out with managers. I wanted to play every week, and it hurt me not to play. If I have players here who are happy being ‘rested’, in all fairness I don’t want them.

“I want my players to be challenged and driven, so the man management is extra special. You need that extra level in your locker to be a great man manager than a tactically or technically great boss.”

THE MOURINHO FAN

Not surprisingly, for all that his first job in coaching is thousands of kilometres from European football, the contacts list in his phone can deliver some high-level support.

“I’ve spoken to ex-managers at Liverpool, ex-players, and everyone is supportive,” Fowler says. “I know that if I’m ever in a spot of bother, I can turn to many people. I’ve got a vast range of mates in the game, and it’s like anything, you’re there to help each other.”

You imagine there are few figures to whom he couldn’t pick up the phone, even some surprising names, such as those who come up in the context of coaches he would have liked to have played for.

“I’m a big fan of Mourinho,” he says. “I like his beliefs and what he does. Everyone thinks he moans now and he’s a chequebook manager but I always think back to what he did at Porto and when he first came to England.

“I thought he was an incredible manager. I’ve met him a few times and I like the man. Whatever you see on the outside is not necessarily what you see on the inside. I was lucky to play a long time in football and you see different sides to people.

“I’m also a big, big fan of Jurgen Klopp, he’s brilliant for Liverpool. With him, what you see is what you get. I talk about man managers, Mourinho was great at that. And Klopp ticks every box, certainly the manager I’d pick above anyone.

“That’s not me being a Liverpool fan, that’s me being a realistic player about the way he manages his players. People want to play for him.”

FOWLER COACHING FOWLER

For a player who occasionally skirted with controversy, he relishes the thought now of having to man manage his playing self.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I’d give him carte blanche, but…” he grins. “If I have players who love the game I want them to go with their flow. Sometimes you have let players off the leash; if they want to stay behind and do extra shooting, let them, within reason.

“Towards the end of my career, everything was changing, everything was timed. I just found that frustrating.

“But I think I’d be a good manager of Robbie Fowler. I’d let him do what he wants within reason on the training park because I know it would benefit his game. I’d let a young me go and spread his wings.”

It’s instructive that relatively few of his contemporaries for Liverpool or England have struck out to coach at the top, rather more preferring the warmth of the TV studio. Fowler’s path to this point has been slow-burn, taking every qualification possible and working at Liverpool’s academy, but always with one end in mind.

“I was lucky in that I played the game because I loved it,” he says. “You have a great lifestyle and whatever, but it was never all about the money. I played it because I loved the game and if I wasn’t getting paid I would have done it anyway.

“Not everyone is the same as me, not everyone loves it like I do. Not everyone stays behind after training and does extra… well, even calling it training, for me it was a hobby and I wanted to get better.

“Football differentiates certain people. Some people treat it as a job, they walk in and play footy and go home to do whatever. For me it was football, football, football.

“I want to be a football person, in and around it all my life. That’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”

Two more sleeps to go.  The constant theme that comes from his interviews is that he's driven and wants driven players around him.  It also sounds like he is not going to complicate things too much for his team.  I'm hoping for fast football in both possession and when pressing.  

Brisbane have confirmed the four scholarship players for the year.

Isaak Powel
Macklin Freke
Kai Trewin
Jordan Courtney-Perkins

Fun prediction game for the Roar fans, which of the four will the first to be claimed as a Victory product?

https://www.a-league.com.au/news/roar-promote-academy-trio-aleague-scholarship

Powel, they urgently need a replacement for Brown lol 😂 

That’s it. Right there. 

We need more of that across the board in our code. 

All defenders!

Interesting in itself as it tells me Fowler still has that as the key weakness we need to overcome as a club from last season and is not yet satisfied that we have it right.

Defenders tend to have more longevity in my opinion (happy to hear otherwise) so it makes sense from a business perspective to invest heavily in defenders for both future team building and as a commodity to on-sell if we can get them on contracts.

In answer though, I agree Victory will take Powell before the others.

Spiranovic is a free agent. Would love to see us try to get him. 

Memberships are going well. Between 6,000 and 7,000 already apparently