A-League tipping Round 15: Tightest finals race ever, Sydney Derby set to light up weekend

It was Stuart Thomas and the voice of the people who tipped best in Round 14. Both achieved four correct selections last weekend and enter Round 15 with some serious momentum.

The action begins in New Zealand on Friday night, before the second match of the evening features the Reds and Macarthur in what looms as a blockbuster.

Newcastle will be hunting top spot with a win against the Roar on Saturday, whilst the Sydney Derby has some added spice considering the recent form of the two teams. Saturday ends with a chance for Perth to knock Auckland off top spot and Sunday’s only match sees Central Coast at home to the hot Victory.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say in the roar of the crowd. Here is the way the panel sees the six matches playing out.

Stuart Thomas

Wellington, Adelaide. Newcastle, Sydney, Perth, Victory

Short and sweet from me this week. Wellington to topple a stumbling City in New Zealand and Adelaide to win again in front of another super crowd at Coopers. The Jets are humming and will score multiple times against the Roar and the Sydney Derby sees the Sky Blues bouncing back to form.

Perth should beat Auckland in front of their returning fans, whilst Victory’s form is hard to ignore and a win against the Mariners on the Central Coast seems likely.

Andrew Prentice

City, Adelaide, Newcastle, Sydney, Perth, Central Coast

The CFG were blown away by a rampant Macarthur last week. Therein lies a cautionary tale. Losses like that cost jobs in the petro-dollar football world and Aurelio Vidmar will be keen to hang on to his – I don’t see him ranting on Melbourne being a pissant town so he’ll find a way to get his side the win. The Phoenix were also thrashed last week and are as predictable as a cornered brown snake at the moment.

The Reds are on a roll. Nothing to stop their momentum like having me tip them to win, but that’s what I think will happen. Macarthur scored six last week with the second-worst attack in the league.

That Duke kid might be making a difference. Given the league produced a ton of goals last week, this one could keep the trend going.

The 2^nd placed Jets (yes, you read that right) entertain a fading Brisbane on Saturday. The Roar built their early season form on ruthless defending but are now leaking like a rusted tinnie in Moreton Bay.

The Jets have attacking options in all the right places and are a young team on the rise. Unless the Roar can get back to their defensive acumen of late 2025, they’ll be hard put keeping the home side out.

The Sydney derby should be a must-see, showpiece event. Unfortunately, both sides enter this one in form ranging from middling to awful. The Sky Blues were lucky not to cop 8 last week. Even the A League app couldn’t keep up (it’s still giving the wrong score and scorers who didn’t).

The Wanderers got the new coach boost but how many times can that cat bounce? I was tempted to pick a draw but will go with the home side based on the D:Ream theory that things can only get better.

Perth swap form like most people swap their underwear. Whether we get commando Glory or pants Glory this weekend might depend on the trippiness of Cantona Griffiths’ pre-game press conference. Auckland have been getting altitude sickness at the top with two dizzy performances in a row.

They might well be ripe for a Glory picking. Tom Lawrence is due, a sentiment shared by all of the Fantasy A league managers who have faith in him.

The Mariners will be counting on Juan Mata being a bit tired after the rings he ran around a hapless Sydney in the Big Blue. They themselves refuse to accept defeat, once again salvaging a draw across the ditch.

A Sunday home game might be just the tonic, with memories of that wonderful Grand Final win over the Victory in 2024 fuelling the passion (although they won’t have Ryan Edmondson coming off the bench to do the business). They do have the emerging Oliver Lavale and the awesome-off-the-bench explosiveness of Sabit Ngor to give the Victory problems.

Texi Smith

Wellington, Adelaide, Brisbane, Western Sydney, Auckland, Victory

Friday night football returns to the Cake Tin and we start the weekend with two teams who can’t make up their minds which way their season is heading. It’s time for Melbourne City to step up to the plate, but Aurelio Vidmar’s increasingly gaunt look and lack of excuses does not bode well for a team battered in Campbelltown last week.

Wellington Phoenix were punished in Newcastle last week too, but expect a recovery from the home team as they keep City quiet in a first half of few chances. Up steps new Norwegian sensation Sandar Kartum to terrorise the Melbourne defence on his home debut, and a goal from the bustling Eze Ifeanyi in the last five minutes seals an important win for the Phoenix.

Friday night at Coopers is always a big occasion, and with both Adelaide United and Macarthur FC on the back of fantastic victories last weekend, this promises to be something special.

The faith shown in Brazilian Anselmo will finally be repaid as he powers the home team ahead in front of a bumper crowd, only for the wily veterans Luke Brattan and Anthony Caceres to conjure up a chance for Mitch Duke to clip home an equaliser right on half time.

Macarthur FC continue to squeeze Adelaide in midfield, but a swift break catches out the visitors, Yaya Dukuly racing away to score a splendid winner.

An incredible run of wins has catapulted Newcastle Jets into second spot in the A-League ladder, and their expectant fans will be out in force as Brisbane Roar come to town. This is a bit of a bogey fixture for the home side over the years, and when Jay O’Shea smashes the visitors into an early lead, the squadron are stunned.

Eli Adams restores parity before the break, and Clayton Taylor taps home a classy second just after half-time. All is going well until a comedy own goal by the unfortunate James Delianov sets alarm bells ringing, and Chris Long completes an unlikely comeback in a thriller.

The Sydney derby is teed up to be a monster of a game. Sydney FC were simply no match for Melbourne Victory on Australia Day, while Western Sydney Wanderers unveiled their new match-winner in Ryan Fraser in a patient win against Perth Glory.

A new era for the West of the city, with Gary Van Egmond instilling some grit into his team, and they will endure a siege in the first half to survive at 0-0 at the break. Joe Lolley’s latest comeback ends again in injury, while Piero Quispe looks lost as Sydney FC go missing in the second half and it’s no surprise when Aydan Hammond wriggles past two players to curl in the winner in front of the travelling RBB.

Don’t worry, Auckland FC fans, this is only a temporary blip, and normal service resumes in Perth to send the home team tumbling back to familiar territory at the foot of the table.

A superb defensive performance from the reigning premiers gives twin terrors Tom Lawrence and Adam Taggart very little to work with, and it’s not until Stefan Colakovski appears from the bench that they look like threatening.

With the Shed rocking, Glory pouring forward and the fans baying for a goal, the wind is knocked out of the home team as Logan Rogerson completes a smash-and-grab with a far post slide to break Glory hearts.

Bottom of the table, in financial strife, losing their striking options, life is still good for the Mariners, and they’ve shown it with two gutsy points from their last two games to keep within touching distance of 11^th.

As teams above them look over their shoulder, the Mariners are somehow still putting up a fight, and today’s visitors Melbourne Victory will need to be wary after their comprehensive dismantling of Sydney FC on Monday.

Clarismario Santos wowed us in that game, but again it’s Juan Mata pulling the strings as Keegan Jelacic scores two second-half goals to give the visitors an important win and send them powering up the table, the Mariners left licking their wounds in last place.

Good luck with your tips this week. See if you can leave a comment where you see Leave A Reply below – hopefully normal service is resumed in the coming days and we can return to the site that we know and love.