WPM R1 vs Western United | Sun 20th Oct | 4:00pm | RoF / Sky Sport 3 | March 3pm

One for trivia buffs:
Would it be an ALM record for the number of Japanese imports on the field at one time, assuming all take the field?  
And, could we get Kirin, Orion, Yebisu or Asahi to sponsor the Rising Sun Derby?

RR

Mainland FC

I look forward to seeing our freshly minted new (kinda new) squad turn out on the 20th. There might be some wobbles as it always takes a while for a blended team to gel and develop understanding, but it is the same problem for the opposition.
How stable is Western United squad since the end of their last season?  Did they gain or lost any key players in the off-season?

Noah Botic
Rhys Bozinovski
Riku Danzaki (V)
James Donachie
Benjamin Garuccio
Matthew Grimaldi
Thomas Heward-Belle
Hiroshi Ibusuki (from Adelaide) (V)
Tomoki Imai (V)
Jake Najdovski
Ramy Najjarine
Sebastian Pasquali
Michael Ruhs
Tate Russell (from WSW)
Matthew Sutton
Angus Thurgate
Kane Vidmar
Luka Coveny (from Youth)
Khoder Kaddour (from Youth)
Besian Kutleshi (from City)
Jordan Lauton (from Youth)
Oliver Lavale
Dylan Leonard (from Youth)
Charbel Shamoon (from Youth)
Luke Vickery (from Youth)
Michael Vonja
Abel Walatee (from Youth)
James York (from Youth)

Good grief, that squad looks shocking

It'll only be shocking if they come over and beat us with it!

Walk up fans were $42 in the cheapest areas. Online was $32 before the "handling" fee etc.

LG

Walk up fans were $42 in the cheapest areas. Online was $32 before the "handling" fee etc.

Guess that's the price paid for deciding on the day whether to go to the game or not? I imagine the $32 online price goes up by $4/$5 handling fee.

I just paid AUD$32 for the away bay at Perth for the round two game. That probably converts to about NZD$35 but I have no idea what the walk up price might be.
Doesn't really bother me. I'm just happy to be attending the Distance Derby in Perth.

theprof

LG

Walk up fans were $42 in the cheapest areas. Online was $32 before the "handling" fee etc.

Guess that's the price paid for deciding on the day whether to go to the game or not? I imagine the $32 online price goes up by $4/$5 handling fee.

A Silver ticket  online costs $30 + $0.66 transaction fee.

My $32 ticket at Mt Smart cost me $40.62 cuz of fees. 

RR

theprof

LG

Walk up fans were $42 in the cheapest areas. Online was $32 before the "handling" fee etc.

Guess that's the price paid for deciding on the day whether to go to the game or not? I imagine the $32 online price goes up by $4/$5 handling fee.

A Silver ticket  online costs $30 + $0.66 transaction fee.

My $32 ticket at Mt Smart cost me $40.62 cuz of fees. 

Clearly buying online is the way to go.
I've always said buying a ticket at the stadium makes zero sense, even if you decide to go on the morning of game day its still cheaper to buy online and have the ticket emailed to you.

Pic courtesy of @NZPhotomac

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Sorry to be that guy but do we know how many tickets have been sold a week out?

Mainland FC

One for trivia buffs:
Would it be an ALM record for the number of Japanese imports on the field at one time, assuming all take the field?  
And, could we get Kirin, Orion, Yebisu or Asahi to sponsor the Rising Sun Derby?

I asked Ultimate A-League about any non Aussie/NZ players in general.

Best we can tell (and take it with a grain of salt as nationalities are fickle), but 6 players from a single nationality (non-AU/NZ) in a single game's squads *seems* to be the most: pic.twitter.com/R30lpbwFH2

— Ultimate A-League (@ultimatealeague) October 10, 2024

With subs, three of those games had 6 players with the same nationality at the same time (17/18 R1, 15/16 R3 & 05/06 R4).

I would say its a record for Japanese players tho

https://www.facebook.com/share/brLfDXUVZ4ugszfp/

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It's game week ... let's be having our first speculative starting XI/formation from someone ...

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Central Watch gave his prediction yesterday

Rojas is hurt, so scratch him. Dunno how fit Cola will be, so we might see OVH instead. I expect Sutts over LKH at LB.

Gosh I hope Sutts dominates and gets a good move this season. 

I remember when he was the best player on the park for Uffie for a while and ended up playing CM to cover us there for injuries. 

I hope he gets fit and shows his class. Some very good moments for NZ, and he didn’t look out of place in Libby’s shoes, admittedly not under a huge amount of pressure. 

That said Kelly-Heald did plenty of things we enjoyed last season, including a headed assist. He was a surprise starter, but a popular one.

Noah4thenix

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Central Watch gave his prediction yesterday

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Think this will be the line up for this weeks game. 
Could see Ball instead of OVH or even Al-Taay instead of Retre. Maybe Supyk instead of Cola on the bench too if he's not fit enough.

Gonna be interesting to see how the deck holds up after Saturday evenings NPC semi-final. Rain predicted for Friday and Saturday, so it'll be played on a damp pitch.

theprof

Gonna be interesting to see how the deck holds up after Saturday evenings NPC semi-final. Rain predicted for Friday and Saturday, so it'll be played on a damp pitch.

Ground staff there are pretty awesome dont see it being an issue. Had similar situations over the years and cant recall any where the surface has been bad after rugby or league.

ballane

theprof

Gonna be interesting to see how the deck holds up after Saturday evenings NPC semi-final. Rain predicted for Friday and Saturday, so it'll be played on a damp pitch.

Ground staff there are pretty awesome dont see it being an issue. Had similar situations over the years and cant recall any where the surface has been bad after rugby or league.

True, I do recall at least one game played after a super rugby match where one of the opposition ended up with an ankle injury - made some comment about playing so soon after rugby. Thid was years ago and my memory is vague - but it is worth being aware of.

theprof

Gonna be interesting to see how the deck holds up after Saturday evenings NPC semi-final. Rain predicted for Friday and Saturday, so it'll be played on a damp pitch.

I think they've played plenty of times the day after a rugby match at the Tin over the years. Don't think it'll be much of an issue

SamCoughlan

theprof

Gonna be interesting to see how the deck holds up after Saturday evenings NPC semi-final. Rain predicted for Friday and Saturday, so it'll be played on a damp pitch.

I think they've played plenty of times the day after a rugby match at the Tin over the years. Don't think it'll be much of an issue

That is true, we do not have the same number of problems here as some of the Australian pitches had in the past.

The top rated pitch in last year's ALM.
5 out of 5

https://aleagues.com.au/news/best-stadiums-pfa-aleague-men-player-vote-professional-footballers-australia/

For Yesterday:

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For Today:

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"Colakovski can play anywhere across the forward line and he will give the Phoenix an extra option up in attack, with returning star Marco Rojas set to miss the start of the season through injury."

I know this is just a journalist talking, but it dont make a lot of sense if Cola isnt ready to go.

Got my kick off bundle yesterday, can’t wait to see what this chief side can do. Which makes me nervous as I’m excited 😂

Geez it's this Sunday.  That crept up fast.

How's everyone feeling about Sunday? Both team wise and matchday wise?

nixnation

How's everyone feeling about Sunday? Both team wise and matchday wise?

I’m picking it to be:

Ishige - Barbarouses - OVH
Nagasawa - Rufer - Retre
Sutton - Wootton - Hughes - Payne
Oluwayemi

Western look pretty bad so I think we’ll roll them 2-0.

Apparently the crowd is tracking nicely, maybe 8.5k or so. Would be nice if we can continue last season’s momentum and built that up to a consistent 10k or so. Club loses minimum $10k at an 8.5k attendance level.

I’d also like to see Colakovski, GSR, Al-Taay and Sheridan get some mins.

I'd pick Ball ahead of OVH personally... think he would suit a shorter passing game better.

Not sure I'll be able to attend. I work at the stadium so my attendance is dictated by whether or not the managers allow me to work that shift :/ Never wanted to get rejected for a shift before now lmao

nixnation

How's everyone feeling about Sunday? Both team wise and matchday wise?

Cant wait as usual the wait has been to long. 
Not expecting things to be firing from the start because due to a number of factors Chief really hasnt been able to have the whole squad working together for very long at all.
Excited to see which of the young guys takes the opportunity they are given and runs with it.

COYN

nixnation

How's everyone feeling about Sunday? Both team wise and matchday wise?

Think we will have a decent game and win. I hope for a 10k crowd, but have heard nothing yet on how much we have sold. Seems to be a buzz for this season which is awesome! 

Most excited for a new season I've been in a long time, very hopeful of three points agaisnt one of the weaker sides on paper.

nixnation

How's everyone feeling about Sunday? Both team wise and matchday wise?

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MetalLegNZ

I'd pick Ball ahead of OVH personally... think he would suit a shorter passing game better.

Unfortunately Ball has played almost zero preseason minutes. OVH has been much more involved, but I tend to agree that Ball probably suits the small ball game better.

Pax so far has been quite low compared to other first matches of the season, but there's still time... Domey always says that the day before and matchday are the best ticket sellers by far.

Domey reckons we’re on track for 8k or so, maybe 8.5 if all goes well.

nixnation

Pax so far has been quite low compared to other first matches of the season, but there's still time... Domey always says that the day before and matchday are the best ticket sellers by far.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what our crowd numbers are in the first home game. I looked at the last 10 seasons and ignoring the two covid years, we average 8,008. Where we finished the season before doesn't seem to help numbers, as the highest crowds (10,034 and 9,174) was after coming 9th the season before.

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