Robbie Slater: Why Melbourne Victory spoiling the Central Coast Mariners fairytale could help A-League

While a win for the Central Coast Mariners would rank among the greatest fairytales in modern Australian sport, glory for Melbourne Victory would be just as powerful for different reasons, writes ROBBIE SLATER.

Melbourne Victory are 90 minutes away from A-League glory. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The A-League is in desperate need of some good news after a season from hell.

And in this weekend’s men’s grand final, they’ve got it.

Should the low-budget Mariners defend their title and secure a historic treble, they would surely rank as one of the greatest fairytale stories in modern Australian sports.

A Victory win would be just as powerful, albeit for different reasons.

A healthy A-League needs a healthy Melbourne Victory. With the biggest membership base in the league and an established foothold in one of the country’s biggest cities, they are the competition’s most important team alongside Sydney FC.

It’s not a stretch to say that Melbourne held the league together in the first season of this flawed broadcast deal. And after a dreadful 2022-23 campaign, in which the infamous AAMI Park crowd invasion accompanied a dramatic dip in on-field form, the Victory have roared back to life this year and are now within sight of a record-equalling fifth championship.

This will come as a major relief to the A-League’s top brass.

Victory being back at the pointy end of the season is good news for the A-League. Picture: Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images

Battling fires on multiple fronts – the misspending of Silver Lake’s $140 million investment stake, the Ten-Paramount saga and a match-fixing controversy among them – the league could ill-afford to have its biggest club languishing for a second straight season.

Tony Popovic ensured that wouldn’t be the case.

He has the team firing and AAMI Park buzzing again.

There was, of course, a push to remove Popovic from his role after a forgettable 2022-23 campaign.

Big clubs carry with them big expectations and the Victory fell well short of those last season.

But the club stuck solid and are reaping the benefits of it. Popovic is the best coach in the country when it comes to organising a defence and it has proven a foundation stone for the Victory’s success this campaign.

Tony Popovic has once again proved himself one of the country’s best managers. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

In attack, Bruno Fornaroli has been excellent and Zinedine Machach has proven to be a very, very good signing in the midfield; quite possibly the league’s best player this season. They’ve been the standouts for me, along with the second coming of Daniel Arzani.

There were times when Arzani’s future in the game was anything but certain. After bursting onto the scene to great fanfare, Arzani did not make the impact many expected he would overseas and at international level.

This season with Victory has been a much needed confidence booster. He’s fast, very good technically and can beat a player. We don’t have many guys like that in Australia at the moment and it makes him unique.

He’s not a kid anymore, but neither is he old, and a championship win would be a tremendous base for him to build on.

All of this augers well for the A League as it attempts to climb out of an APL-created crater.

A strong Victory is vital for the league.

And while a win for the “miracle Mariners” would warm the hearts of the sentimentalists, a triumph for the Victory could have the most beneficial impact on the cash-strapped league.

Originally published as Robbie Slater: Why Melbourne Victory spoiling the Central Coast Mariners fairytale could help A-League