Now if Halloran had said he had the full support of the club, we would know he was leaving.

Heath Park is the home ground of Eastern Suburbs (NPL). An old club of mine. More than an empty park with some goals (clubhouse, etc), but no real grandstands. New tennis courts and tennis clubhouse adjacent to the pitch. Also Norman Creek curls around it which would limit building space around the pitch, and is accessed via small suburban streets.

It won't be happening there.

We might need to slow down a bit on Halloran, just read the article in the paper, it says there are 5 clubs after him, so I'm not really sure Roar are in with a shot but who knows.

Alright, the rumour was from someone on the board at Easts. Seems they are exploring a few options (Based on the other thread). As Waz has previously mentioned.

2 points off top 4 

Solid win. Maybe a bit lucky with calls, need to see the replays. 
The fact we are performing and get results from these key games is really good signs.

Two good games,  but next week is the crucial game.  Victory sees us safely in the 6. A loss and I will be nervous again. 

Only paulc and I really gave the Roar a chance of being in the 4 ;)

We are not there yet by any means, but with plenty of room for improvement still (surely some periods of our play are impressing the harder markers out there) there has to be a shift from 'no chance' to a 'possibility'...? Dare to hope!

Nervy bloody game tonight - I hate the last 10-20 minutes of defensive long ball when we are ahead. Surely we can pass to an orange shirt for a bit before going long. Use up time smartly instead of just saying 'come at us again'.

Great to have that win. Nothing makes a walk to the car in rain worth it more than a gutsy win.

F#%K YEAH!

Bowles and Pepper...

Do they try and get sent off or are they really just that stupid? Pepper shot himself early and that limited his impact defensively. Bowles waits till we are behind before he does his fristrated/angry stupid - making sure we have the least chance of recovering.

We need Longbottom back for Bowles. No brainer.

O'Neill added something when he came on. A bit more direction and another attacking outlet. With Pepper drifting around the centre we needed soem focus out of the back and O'Neil gave us that. Good to see.

Hingert was our main holding players going forward for so much of the first half. Did a fantastic job under very close pressure - and with few options for passing he really had to be strong. I don't care that he made some mistakes; a really good performance from him tonight.

I saw some of Waz's distrust of Corey tonight - seemed quite happy to jog back when there was a turnover and rarely seemed to burn the aft-thrusters to help out once he had run forward. It may have been Gillesphey's issue to deal with, but I expect a bit of a frantic retreat by Corey to help out on turnovers and I did not see that concern. He did another of those clumsy 'trip into' accidents outside the box tonight. Maybe he just runs too hard forward and his body loses co-ordination chasing back later in the game. Still happy to have him in the team though. The good outweighs the bad in my eyes.

One of the people I was with made a very good point with that clear and obvious handball right before our goal. Neville was gone because of a much harsher and unavoidable ball to hand last week. Because we scored, VAR did not seem to step in and as far as I know the handball went unpunished. That is a travesty. VAR should have gone back to that and suggested at least a yellow and maybe a red. I would always prefer a goal in open play over a penalty but where is the punishment for the handball? Did I miss a card being given?

Nix are in a slump, and Adelaide are a hit and miss - I reckon Roar will be top 4 before March.

Good test for Talay. I am sure he will get them back at it. Showed too much coaching ability getting them to this point to just fade away. Some coaches are lucky to have their test from the start of a season rather than a drop part way through ;)

We’re now in a phase where opposition teams/fans/media underestimate us 

I thought in the first half Roar played dire football, always dropping straight back to the defensive structure of 5 at the back as part of a deep defence as soon as they lost the ball, no desire to press to regain possession if the ball was lost in their attacking third, and no attempt to transition into attack quickly at any stage. However in the second half, even before the Adelaide goal, I thought they started becoming more aggressive in pressing higher up and transitioning into attack more quickly.

I think this has been the pattern in recent games, it seems to be that this may well be a deliberate tactic by Fowler to ensure we don’t concede in the first half, and maybe to keep some fuel in the tank for the second half.

If so it seems to be somewhat effective. I don’t particularly like the style of football that was played in the first half, but if it is effective then who can argue with it.

Kudos to Fowler for the improvements being made.

And I’ve been a big critic of Gillesphey this season, but I have to say that I thought he was very good tonight.

A big problem in the first half was DWH - he received the ball with his back to goal and could only play backwards from there. Admittedly under an aggressive press but he’s too one-dimensional

I agree that playing as a lone striker is not DWH’s strength. He is much more effective playing as part of a front pair, receiving the ball facing or at least half-facing goal. I thought he did ok in the first half though, considering how little support he had at most times, as Roar were slow to push players up to support him when they did have the ball in attack.

Boza picked Brisbane. Brosque picked Adelaide and Peacock (does he count?) picked Adelaide. 

Gillesphey has got better every game recently. 

Nomates - U feeling OK??

I know I sound like a broken record, but god damn, every time I see the starting lineup with Bowles and Pepper I die a little inside, if we could just get rid of them two I would be so much happier next season. 

Happy with the win. 

Its either we start DWH or Muratovic, both will struggle up front on their own and both are better coming from the bench in the 2nd half.

Fowler again proving the winner in the coach contest. 
Certainly now has thrown egg on the bashers faces.
Its nice to see the fans on this forum that have seen something in this team and RF, be vindicated with the past few weeks performances.
well done to all. 

Unfortunately that might be the case. Which creates a huge conundrum for next weekend with McDONALD ruled out - start one or both of this pair? 

Full credit to Fowler, but my word the football played by Brisbane in that first half was horrible.  Hopefully he is moving the team towards playing their second half football for 90 minutes.  He's certainly shown that he leads from the front in terms of players.  Jettisoning ROD showed he was prepared to recognise a mistake and act decisively.  I'm confident that we will have a much stronger team going into next season.  

Still think the table flatters this team as it is and wouldn't be surprised to see us slip back out of the 6.  Here's hoping I'm wrong.

Aldred and Gillesphey could be our cb pairing for the next few years. After last nights performance, I'm happy with that but there needs to be some consistency. Scott Mac already looks much better than ROD. But he's only got a year or two left in him. Really impressed with O'Shea  overall, reminds me of Corona. Focus for next year is bringing in a top 3 striker in league to score us more goals. DWH and Muratovic are still developing and it's clear they need more time to be considered regular starters.

Yea tough one as Holiday is pretty good coming on later in the game as well, think it has to be him starting with one of the young ones.

• Win
• Top 6
• Salt from Adelaide fans that have been giving Brisbane continual shit
• Shitposters noticeably absent from the thread

Good day

He was excellent when he came on. 

In the last two games he has shown a glimpse of the ability to bring the ball under control and get round or through players that we saw from him in pre-season.

Reminds me of the time quite early on when Dimi (just once) let himself play and cut inside between two close players with a move that saw two silky smooth quick touches at speed to change direction twice in the space of a metre. It was the moment when I thought Dimi really had the skills and just needed a push/authority to use them.

I am definitely not saying Holloway has those skills - but I am saying the great parts that we see so occasionally suggest he can be one of our greatest attacking threats if it comes together for him.

It is good to see the qualities that Robbie would have seen when he picked players, and explains a lot of his vision in putting this team together.

I just wondering what happened in the first third of rounds rounds this season. They where really off.   now p they are like they where in the preseason which was giving me confidence at the start that quickly went with our performances during the season.

It's interesting how lower teared players are now doing well for us while other better cv players are flat. This no the MV and wsw visa players.