I went to the game so I'll share a bit of what I saw. Taylor wore the armband so looks like he's our captain. Rufer got it once he went off and Sail had it once the mass sub-on of all the young players happened. We played what looked like a 4-1-3-2 with Payne as a DM, Rufer as a box-to-box CM, Devlin and Davila out wide (these three were all quite fluid and moved around a lot) and Ball and Sotirio as strikers.
My thoughts:
* Ball is a lot better than people have assumed. I know the opposition was terrible, but his ball skills and poise were excellent. Bet a few men everytime he had the ball.
* Davila was impressive and should be a very very good player in the A-League.
* Sotirio was as advertised - big and fast but not the most skilled player in the world. Still a solid squady.
* Waine is already better than Sotirio, was unlucky not to score at least a couple, but did start forcing shots late in the game as he got frustrated. If he works a bit on his finishing, we could see him starting with Ball later this season.
* Walter Scott looked really good when he came on - right now looks like he should be our starting RB.
* Marinovic wasn't tested at all in the game so not much to say about him.
* Hudson-Wihongi was solid when he came on.
* Academy player Henry Hamilton was really impressive in the midfield when he came on.
* Payne solid but a bit slow on the ball.
* DeVere was a bit rusty, but that's to be expected.
* McCowatt played as a midfielder when he came on.
* Devlin incredibly disappointing. Seemed like he lost the ball everytime he got it and got bullied physically, at this point he's clearly not starting A-League level.. Looks like we need a visa midfielder if we want to be serious about contending this year.