It's a shame that the whole exploiting the monopoly on NZ players thing is only a relatively recent strategy, for the bulk of our existence we've ignored NZ talent and relied on Australian journeymen. I remember a couple of games under Ricki when it seemed like we only had three or four kiwis on the park - and one of those was Durante.
Still, we should have won it in either 2009-2010, 2014-2015, or 2019-2020 but for various reasons imploded.
Heck, we had form coming into the finals this season that Western United didn't, so could have had a run this year too. Doesn't feel too far off, just need a couple more things to click into place.