A-Leagues news 2024: Marko Rudan was right to explode at A-League over officiating says Robbie Slater

Marko Rudan is in hot water over his explosive rants against the A-Leagues and their officials – but he was spot on, says Socceroos great Robbie Slater in this week’s On The Attack column.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 12: Western Sydney Wanderers coach Marko Rudan give instructions to his team during the A-League men's football match between Melbourne City FC and Western Sydney Wanderers FC at CommBank Stadium on January 12, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Damian Briggs/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Socceroos great Robbie Slater and News Corp’s football doyen Marco Monteverde are back to dissect the biggest issues in Australian football in their weekly Q&A, On The Attack.

On the agenda this week? Well, there’s the Matildas squad for their all-important Olympic qualifiers – and a major comeback story. The return of a few more stars to the A-League.

And, of course, there’s Marko Rudan and his atomic explosion at the A-Leagues and their officials.

RUDAN RIGHT TO RANT

MM: Marko Rudan didn’t miss again with his latest rant against referees and the A-League. Do you think it’s a ploy from him to deflect attention away from the Wanderers’ inconsistent form and their weekend loss to Macarthur FC?

RS: Of course it’s not. He’s saying what everyone else in the A-League is thinking but too scared to say. How could you be a player, a coach or an owner and be happy with what’s happened? All that money that the APL wasted on KeepUp could have been used by the clubs on things that they really needed. That money was supposed to be for infrastructure for the game, not for some App that nobody cared about.

Western Sydney Wanderers coach Marko Rudan has found himself in hot water with the A-League. Picture: Getty

MM: He was already in hot water, and there could be more sanctions coming his way.

RS: He shouldn’t get any punishment. He should be given the keys to the house in Manly that he mentioned. You should never get in trouble for speaking the truth.

MM: One area where he probably overstepped the mark was his questioning of referee Adam Kersey’s integrity. I’m expecting he will at least be sanctioned for that.

RS: But it’s Rudan’s strong belief that it’s true, and in my opinion, Kersey should not referee any more Wanderers games. That will fix the problem. Why run the risk of aggravating things even more?

MM: I don’t think that’s the right solution. What happens if the Wanderers make the grand final, and Kersey, by then, is considered the best referee in the competition? Does he miss out on a grand final appointment because Rudan doesn’t like him?

Referee Adam Kersey has found himself in the spotlight this week as well. Picture: Getty

RS: From what Rudan is saying, Kersey isn’t the A-League’s best referee, and still won’t be at the time of the grand final. From what I’ve seen, and this isn’t a personal attack on Kersey, he’s definitely not the top ref in the competition. In my opinion, Rudan has made some very valid points in terms of clear errors and inconsistencies. Whether that’s just his ability and mistakes, or something else, it’s just not good enough.

MM: Yeah, but I don’t think you can blame Kersey for the blow up over whether the ball crossed the line for Macarthur’s matchwinning goal. His assistant would have been the judge of that, and there wasn’t enough camera evidence to suggest that a mistake had been made.

RS: Where’s the camera that’s supposed to be on the goal-line? They don’t have enough cameras at each game because they cost money, and the APL has to pay for production costs as part of this disastrous broadcast deal they signed with Network and Paramount +. There’s no goal-line technology either because it’s too expensive for the APL, but if they’re not going to have goal-line technology, they at least should have a camera on the goal-line. You have to give referees some tools to work with, otherwise the game and the integrity of the competition is damaged.

MM: The APL definitely spent money in the wrong areas, and it’s come back to haunt them.

Rudan pointed to bigger issues that the A-Leagues are facing. Picture: Getty

TOO SOON TO COME HOME

RS: Another concern is that yet another player, Yaya Dukuly, has returned to the A-League less than two years after he left.

MM: It’s good for Adelaide United, whose squad needed strengthening, but I agree it’s a worry that another top young Australian talent is returning to the A-League so soon after leaving it.

RS: It’s another example of an Australian player going overseas when he isn’t ready. You should at least have a couple of years as a regular first-team footballer in the A-League before you make the move abroad. Is it almost two years of his career that he’s wasted? We’ll have to wait and see.

Bruno Fornaroli is returning after a stint with the Socceroos at the Asian Cup. Picture: Getty

BRUNO’S BACK

MM: Another player coming back to the A-League this weekend, but under completely different circumstances, is Melbourne Victory striker Bruno Fornaroli after his Asian Cup commitments with the Socceroos. And you can bet the Victory are happy about it. They have definitely missed his potency in attack despite still being the competition’s only unbeaten team this season.

RS: Bruno’s going to be ready to rumble, and the Victory need him to be firing after four successive 1-1 draws. Macarthur won’t be easy to beat, but Victory coach Tony Popovic will be expecting a win at home.

HOORAY FOR HEYMAN

MM: And we also can’t forget about arguably the biggest comeback story of the week ­– 35-year-old Canberra United striker Michelle Heyman’s recall to the Matildas squad six years after most recent appearance for the national team and five years after she quit football for a year.

RS: It shows that age should never be a barrier to selection if a player is in form, which Heyman is judging by her performances in the A-League women’s competition. While someone like Remy Siemsen would be disappointed to have been overlooked, it’s a great reward for Heyman’s perseverance and dedication. These aren’t friendly matches, these are Olympic Games qualifiers against Uzbekistan, and coach Tony Gustavsson has rightly picked, on form, his best possible squad, and there should be no complaints about that.

Originally published as A-Leagues news 2024: Marko Rudan was right to explode at A-League over officiating says Robbie Slater