A-League tipping Round 25 : Please let the fun continue

For a league that has been so close all season, by the end of round 25 everything could be decided – Newcastle Jets the premiers, the top six all done and the Wanderers stirring their cauldron with the wooden spoon. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that; without the Australia Cup play-offs as a disincentive for the bottom four teams, there is very little to make the final round exciting for the also-rans.

Thankfully this is the A-League, the most unpredictable, unforgiving, daft football league in the world, and all manner of weird and unexpected results can happen. Macarthur FC for the championship? Perth Glory to finish last? Sydney FC to end up in sixth? It looks so unlikely, but any one of those is still mathematically possible.

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Stuart Thomas

Victory, Wellington, City, Sydney, Auckland, Adelaide

Things will tighten at the top when the Vuck beat the Jets on Friday and Auckland beat Central Coast on Sunday. It is going to be a cracking final week of action should Round 25 play out as many are predicting.

The Phoenix are good for all three points against a disgraceful Wanderers that have, like many of the so-called fans that started with the club all those years ago, given up the ghost. Melbourne City with a win on the road against an unconvincing Roar.

Sydney will put six on Perth in the harbour city and remain in third place. The final match of the round sees the Reds on a home deck against Macarthur, who seem to play and not play well, whenever the opposite is expected. The home crowd cheers after 90.

Andrew Prentice

Draw, Wellington, City, Sydney FC, Auckland, Adelaide

Newcastle hang on to top spot by their fingernails and face a daunting test on Friday night in Melbourne. Victory looked the most likely to disrupt the top a couple of weeks ago but this A League season doesn’t run on normal, linear lines. A lack of Juan Mata has dented the home side’s creativity but they still have danger men like Vellupillay and Jelacic to torment the Jets out wide. Of course, the leaders have plenty of firepower to respond with and I fancy a score draw to open the round.

Wellington will take advantage of a Wanderers side in next-season-prep mode. Western Sydney’s only motivation now is to avoid a wooden spoon and play for 2027 contracts. They were in the derby last week for the most part but their season-long Achilles heel of a lack of goals held them back again. Wellington have been hard to break down these last few rounds and a clean sheet win looks a good call for the hosts.

City have mustered a late-season defence of their title, and a third-placed finish is still not beyond them. They visit a Roar side who dragged a point out of the fire last week but still can’t seem to put together a cohesive 90 minutes – something they were doing so well in the early rounds. City are looking clinical and while the Roar have the ability to play spoilers, their season ambitions are done and I see City doing enough to win this.

Sydney will be hoping for another Central Coast miracle on Sunday in New Zealand to set up a mouth-watering last round match against Auckland. But first, they need to do the business on Saturday night against the unpredictable Glory. The Sky Blues defence has looked more resolute under interim coach Patrick Kisnorbo and that should be the platform that ensures they put the pressure on Auckland the next day, giving the Glory only the in-flight entertainment on the flight home to look forward to.

If the aforementioned result happens, Steve Corica’s Black Knights will feel the hot craft-beer-smelling breath of Corica’s old team on their necks as they face the Mariners. Conversely, if Sydney slip up, Corica still won’t have the luxury of resting players because Adelaide will also be Mariners fans for 2 hours and ready to pounce. The pressure is on Auckland from all sides but they may just have struck the Mariners at a good time. The little club that could (and has) are all but out of the finals race and the air might have gone out of a dogged last stand. Like many of us around the country, the Mariners tanks may be empty. Auckland to win and stay in the race for top spot.

An Auckland win will dash Adelaide’s hopes of a top two finish but they will have too much on board to fall to the Bulls, who have flattered to deceive. By the time this match happens, Macarthur will probably know they are out of the finals race. They might relax and play expansive, free-flowing football, and the Strait of Hormuz might also become a Club Med destination.

Texi Smith

Victory, Wanderers, Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Adelaide

The penultimate round of the A-League season gets underway with a proper blockbuster, a Friday night at AAMI Park, where Newcastle Jets can almost snatch the premiership. They will have to do so against a dogged Melbourne Victory, who dented Auckland FC’s chances last week and seem to have what it takes without Juan Mata to pull the strings. The Jets got out of jail at home to Adelaide last week, thanks to a farcical VAR decision, but they have a depth in their squad that can turn games when the ball is not running their way. Nishan Velupillay’s World Cup hopes are done no harm with a superb performance to lead his team into a half-time lead, but when Clayton Taylor equalises on the hour, it’s all to play for. The Jets pour forward but are caught on the break late in the game when Reno Piscopo pops up at the far post to tap in with the visiting defence all up the other end. It’s going down to the wire!

The chances of Wellington Phoenix making the top six are next to nought, thanks to their disappointing loss in the six-pointer against Melbourne City last weekend. They have as much chance of making the finals as Western Sydney Wanderers have of avoiding the wooden spoon, the derby defeat last week a bitter pill to swallow after creating a host of chances. This the sort of game where the Wanderers pull a crazy result out of the bag; they did it earlier in the season in Campbelltown, and their talented bunch of individuals will finally gel and give the Phoenix a hammering. Hiroshi Ibusuki is back to his best, and Brandon Borrello looks like a fresh-faced newcomer as he torments the Wellington defence with his skill and pace. Three goals is barely enough reward for the battering they hand out; the Talay turnaround has started, next season is when it all comes together.

Brisbane Roar’s horrible run in 2026 has taken them to within one place of the basement, but a couple of draws will see them safe. Melbourne City just need to win one more and they’re in the finals; what an opportunity this is to make next week’s visit of Adelaide United immaterial. City are just purring in the first half here, expecting to score every time they venture forward, but this is the final home game of the season and the home team will be fired up. What a game for the neutral, as City lead 2-1 at the break, but Brisbane do love a draw and they level things up with Henry Hore’s equaliser. Just as the inevitable share of the points looks nailed on, hard-man German Ferreyra swipes away Hore’s legs and Jay O’Shea finishes the job from the spot for a surprise winner. All to play for in the final round!

Somehow sneaking into the glamour Saturday night spot, it’s Perth Glory’s visit to Allianz Stadium to face Sydney FC. The new era is upon us after the Sky Blues weathered the storm to snatch the win in Parramatta last Saturday night, and Patrick Kisnorbo will remind us all that his Sydney team are unbeaten with two clean sheets in his tenure. Two workmanlike performances have steered the ship away from danger when the season looked rocky, and this will be no different, the grit of Wataru Kamijo continuing in midfield in front of a changed back four; the prospect of Jaiden Kucharski scoring against the club that treated him so poorly is not lost on the home fans, so when it comes true with a bullet from the edge of the area, there is applause all round. But Sydney dig deep, and have the scores level at half time through an Apostolos Stamatelopoulos header, and when the terrible twins Paddy Wood and Akol Akon are sent on with ten minutes to go, they cause mayhem, Tiago Quintal and Piero Quispe finishing the job to briefly close the gap on second spot.

Auckland FC have everything to play for; Central Coast Mariners have proven themselves reliable wreckers over the years, and they will be looking to avoid slipping any further down the table following a terrible run of results. The Port will be tearing their hair out watching the first half here, it’s more of the same from last week where they looked sluggish, and the Mariners toy with their insecurity, pressing for the ball constantly and drawing mistakes from the home defence. The half-time team talk from the manager-less home side changes everything and a rejuvenated Auckland go on to score three times in ten minutes midway through the second period, Jesse Randall back amongst the goals to keep the dream alive.

Such a poor performance from Macarthur FC last week in Perth, but having beaten both of the top two teams on the road this season, there’s no reason why they can’t beat Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Sunday afternoon. This Adelaide United team is still reeling from seeing a goal chalked off in Newcastle last week and denied a wonder goal by Anselmo by the tightest of margins; they were the better team then and they will be this afternoon as the Dads Army of the Bulls is caught in possession by the fizzing Adelaide midfield and made to pay for their static and uninteresting football. Mitch Duke is a constant threat but he has no support, and when Brody Burkitt is thrown on with twenty minutes remaining, his verve wins the game for the home side, scoring one and setting up the other for Luka Jovanovic as finals football becomes a reality in South Australia.

Look at the tipping scoreboard – what on earth is Smith thinking tipping Wanderers and Brisbane? The Crowd’s lead is surely unassailable, and with your help they should get across the line in first place :

Tip now, you crazy young fools. Click, click, click, click, click click and click and you’re done. What are you waiting for?

Please keep the comments coming. We can see how many people are visiting this article on a weekly basis and it is heart-warming that a lot of you are from The Roar. See you for the final round!