Robbie Slater’s midterm A-League report cards

WE’RE halfway through the A-League season and the premiership picture is getting a little clearer. ROBBIE SLATER casts his eye over the winners and losers so far.

Mark Bridge of the Wanderers (second right) celebrates after scoring a goal during the round 12 A-League match between the Western Sydney Wanderers and the Newcastle Jets at Pirtek Stadium, Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015. (AAP Image/Craig Golding) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

WE’RE halfway through the A-League season and the premiership picture is getting a little clearer. ROBBIE SLATER casts his eye over the winners and losers.

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS

It was announced than an entertaining style had arrived on the Central Coast, but unfortunately that hasn’t brought results along with it. Only one win in the opening round against Perth leaves the Mariners at the bottom of the table by some distance and now the entertainment is gone too. Troubles on and off the field don’t give fans much hope for the rest of the season.

BEST PLAYER: Anthony Caceres

ADELAIDE UNITED

The loss of Josep Gombau was always going to be huge, and a difficult personality for Adelaide to replace. The start of the season was a disaster for the Reds, who only picked up their first win 10 weeks into the season. The return of Marcelo Carrusca has coincided with things going a little bit better for them and they’ll need him and the team to continue their mini-revival, but they’ve still been disappointing.

BEST PLAYER: Sergio Cirio

BRISBANE ROAR

John Aloisi’s second coming as a coach has been much more successful than his first time around with Melbourne Heart. He has learnt a lot from his year out of the game and he has Brisbane playing good football and believing in themselves. Corona and Jamie Maclaren have been good signings for the club.

BEST PLAYER: Jamie Maclaren

MELBOURNE VICTORY

After adding to their silverware by winning the FFA Cup in November, the Victory now hold all three domestic trophies and were looking invincible at the start of the season. But having lost four in a row, they all of a sudden look vulnerable. In that run they had a difficult travel schedule and luck wasn’t on their side, so I expect them to bounce back — there’s too much quality for them not to.

BEST PLAYER: Matthieu Delpierre

The Wanderers have become the team to beat in the A-League.

WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS

A fantastic first half of the season, which is reflected by where they are on the table — clear at the top. Tony Popovic took a huge gamble again by clearing the decks at the start of the season because he wanted to change the team’s playing style. Now, not only are the Wanderers winning games, but they’re doing it in some style. They’re the team to beat at this point.

BEST PLAYER: Mitch Nichols

NEWCASTLE JETS

Still owned by the FFA, the Jets have done reasonably well with limited resources. Scott Miller has certainly brought back the Novocastrian spirit to the club with a strong work ethic and, apart from one performance against Melbourne City, have been more than competitive and well organised so far. They have three wins and four draws but have only scored nine goals so far this season.

BEST PLAYER: Mark Birighitti

WELLINGTON PHOENIX

The Jekyll and Hyde of the competition. Beset by some off-field issues with the Save The Nix campaign, but no doubting Ernie Merrick has assembled a quality squad. Despite losing Johnny Warren medallist Nathan Burns, Wellington seem to have coped well. They have some real quality in Roly Bonevacia and Roy Krishna, and are always a threat. They’re very difficult to beat at home.

BEST PLAYER: Roly Bonevacia

It has been a frustrating season for Sydney FC and coach Graham Arnold.

SYDNEY FC

The Sky Blues had a similar start to last season, then exploded into life in January. But they did have Marc Janko, who banged in 16 goals during the A-League season. Who is going to do it this season? That’s the key for Sydney going forward.

BEST PLAYER: Alex Brosque

MELBOURNE CITY

John van’t Schip’s job was on the line after five rounds, but what a transformation in the last six weeks. They’ve been on a fantastic run ever since losing at home to Newcastle in round five and are banging in goals for fun. They’re the league’s top scorers with 29 goals — the next best are the Wanderers with 20. Robert Koren is the marquee, but you would think Bruno Fornaroli is by how well he’s been playing.

BEST PLAYER: Aaron Mooy

PERTH GLORY

This report would read very differently were it not for the last week, when Perth showed character and Kenny Lowe has bounced back with some great results against Melbourne Victory and the Wanderers. Losing finalists for the second time in the FFA Cup and still aggrieved they didn’t host it, Perth seemed to be down in the dumps until 10 days ago, but now they’ve given themselves a platform to work from.

BEST PLAYER: Michael Thwaite

Originally published as Robbie Slater’s midterm A-League report cards