Super Saturday is back again! Last week we had a feast of football as Auckland FC and Sydney FC both squeezed into the semi-final stage, and we now have guaranteed excitement over two weekends as the A-League’s best team looks to wrap up their swashbuckling season in style. Do the Jets have what it takes up against a resilient, unbeaten Patrick Kisnorbo side who last lost in March in the corresponding fixture at Allianz Stadium on the eve of his appointment? Centre stage will first be taken by Auckland FC v Adelaide United, the Reds having forced their opponents to walk the tightrope of the elimination final that they only just survived. Two rocking stadiums for the second legs may prove the difference, but these first-leg ties could write a different script for next weekend.
Get amongst it! Saturday is football day.
We hope you’re enjoying The Roar’s A-League tips and predictions, here at its temporary home. Everyone is welcome here, and you can all comment and judge the tipsters’ selections as The Crowd increases its healthy margin of victory in the final few games of the 2025/26 season.
Stuart Thomas
Auckland, Newcastle
And so we reach the most competitive fortnight of the A-League finals. The two legged semi-finals that promise to bring plenty of action. At home, Auckland will take a one goal advantage away from the first leg and head to Adelaide, that will be a perfect set-up for the second match.
Sydney have gotten better throughout the course of the season and are currently proving very difficult to beat. The Jets have the weapons to do so and will take a lead back to Newcastle in the hope of sealing a spot in the decider next weekend.
Andrew Prentice
Auckland, Draw.
Sometimes the week off is a momentum-killer. Sometimes, it’s a godsend for a battered or tired squad. For Luka Jovanovic, it gave him an extra week to think about when it is appropriate to disrobe in ecstasy, which is not a couple of minutes after you receive a yellow card. Get a room, Luka! The striker’s absence in the first leg in Auckland swings the momentum ever so slightly towards the home side, who survived an epic against City last week at the same venue. The Black Knights will be keen to prove the point that THEY should have been the team coming second by getting the jump on Adelaide, though I think they’ll only be a one goal margin for them to take to Adelaide next weekend.
Saturday night’s game at the SFS pits the best attack in the league against the best defence. Sydney have looked resolute under Patrick Kisnorbo and were able to withstand the Victory attack last week and snatch a late winner through Patrick Wood. Whether they try the same smash-and-grab tactics at home against the Jets might well depend on Joe Lolley. An unused sub last week, you’d have to think that at some point in this first leg he’ll see game time. No lead is safe against Newcastle, who have made a habit of comebacks to go with their scoring prowess. I fancy Mark Milligan’s side will go for the win and settle for the draw, ensuring the second leg encounter will have everything to play for.
Texi Smith
Adelaide, Sydney
Auckland FC don’t look like the dominant force they once were. It’s as though the Corica effect is wearing off, much in the same way it did when he took over Graham Arnold’s super Sydney FC. They scraped through to the semi-finals after looking nailed-on for most of the season, surviving a penalty shoot-out against a valiant Melbourne City side here last weekend. They owe their semi-final opponents a dig in the ribs after the Reds sent them into that elimination final, and they set about dismantling their South Australian visitors from the opening whistle. Once again, the home team struggle to convert their possession into goals, Sam Cosgrove a non-playing character for most of the game, and as the contest enters the last fifteen minutes, there is genuine concern at the lack of goal action in Joshua Smits’ six-yard box. That anxiety creeps into the players and a crunching tackle by Ryan White catches the usually reliable Jake Girwood-Reich in possession and the ball rolls to substitute Craig Goodwin to sweep the ball home for a stunning upset in the first leg.
So, which idiot backed Sydney FC to get the win last week? PK will set his side up to grind out a result in the first leg of the semi-final at Allianz Stadium against the all-conquering Newcastle Jets. A meagre crowd at Moore Park will urge their team forward, but the brakes will definitely be on, possession valued more than penetration. It makes for an uneasy watch, Sydney thinking they know how to play out from the back, the Jets sniffing around for mistakes, and when Kosta Grozos fires home at the end of the first half, the tie looks to be going only one way. Sydney FC take off their civilian clothes and don their capes in an incredible second-half turnaround, a scintillating performance of attacking football bringing them level on the hour, and the Jets are completely helpless as Joe Lolley is thrown on for the final twenty minutes to play the ultimate decoy man, allowing Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to fire home a winner against his old club as the clock ticks towards the 90. An incredible save by Harrison Devenish-Meares preserves that slender lead, Eli Adams already wheeling away in celebration as the Sydney keeper tips a shot around the post in front of the visiting fans. It’s all set up for a thrilling second leg in Newy!
Look at that tipping ladder. The Crowd strides away to victory in first place, needing just one tip to secure the title, but the tipsters are locked together at this late stage of the season. Anything can happen, especially with those selections :
Again it’s only three clicks to register your tips for The Crowd. Make sure you help this year’s winners increase their lead over the hapless also-rans behind…
The Roar has been off air for months now. Is it safe to say it’s not coming back? What on earth could they be fighting over in court? Let’s finish the season with a flourish and fool ourselves into thinking we’re back on our favourite sports website with a comments bonanza. Unleash below…
Auckland, Newcastle
De Vries is back for Auckland that should make a big impact for us
Auckland, Newcastle
Adelaide, Sydney
like it!
The big day is coming Mrl.
Annoyingly, my daughter (who lives with us and has a dog) is nursing for 6 weeks in WA (Albany) and my wife and I are looking after the dog.
SA may not be possible unless we leave the gate open!
Road trip with the back window down? Anyway, may not be an issue the way Adelaide are playing in Auckland during the first half!
Hang on, 1 – 1. It’s on Grem….4 – 1 next week. Come on you Reds!!!
mrl
It’ll be 3-0 next week, 4-1 on aggregate.
We’re dealing with new money now
Spot on Waz, I overlooked the aggregate. 3-0 Friday night at a sold out Coopers!!! Surprisingly, Adelaide finished second with fewest clean sheets in the competition.
for Waz..? “Roar allegedly releasing up to 11 players”
Ben Warland – going to mariners
Austin Ludwik – back to Gold Coast
Antonee Burke-Gilroy – Jets
Michael Ruhs – Nix
Ben Halloran – Mariners
Chris Long – Mariners
Quinn MacNicol – City
Jacob Brazete – Adelaide or Jets
(Only Chris Ling going was a surprise)
Who’s staying is quite revealing:
Bouzanis/Freke as keepers
Valkanis jnr as CB (which means dad is coach next year)
O’Shea going one more year (38)
And Noah Bility stays on
Multiple sources saying there’s two additional departures to come – O’Shea & Freke. That’s a complete butcher of the squad if true, it’s already a savage cut
This gives me the shites!
Brazette and MacNicol need to be kept.
Long is OK, but a new striker is needed. We can give you Campuzano.
O’Shea is a legend and should be kept.
Freke can also be replaced, but would have been useful.
Hopefully your new football director? can get some good and new blood in.
Why can’t Brisbane be a new Adelaide, in terms of developing and blooding young players with a nice backbone around them.
Adelaide seem to do it without breaking the bank.
Grem,
This IS like Adelaide – only with L Plates on!
Look at what went right first of all. In the space of 12 months Roar have sold 3 young Aussie players, all of them regular starters, all of them to good clubs, and pocketed over $2m in the process. Plus a club record transfer fee for a women’s player.
Then there’s clearly what happened in the season:
Pre-Season: GREAT
First season half: Good
Second half: #%*$@ 😡wtf 👀
The squad wasn’t deep enough, not enough quality in key places, and an inability to cover injuries/suspensions/transfers out etc.
Then there were question marks over a lack of evolution in the playing style. The season stuttered through and dimmed to a dull going-through-the-motions style.
Apart from Brazete & MacNichol we’ve either kept the other youth or sold it. We still have the best young Aussie CB on our books (Valkanis). And There’s at least 5 more youngsters yet to make their first team debut that look as promising as any player we’ve seen so far.
I think they’ve over cut this squad but a lot now depends on who they sign – players of Eze’s and Dan Norths quality are what we need
Now to the Adelaide question – the Reds understand that the first team is a framework, a stage or shop window if you like, to develop transfer sales revenue … Roar now need to build that framework .. it clearly didn’t involve Ruhs, Vrakas and several others, so who will they sign?
We started copying Adelaide s development system 2 years back, so we’ve another 2-3 years to get to where they are now
Auckland 2, Radelaide 2
(Dan Hall signing for Brisbane)
Syderney 2, Jets 1
(Joe Lolly signing for Roar)
——/////——
Nix 1, Roar 3 Yeeeeeeahh Baby 😁
more likely Lolley to Perth
Yeah, I don’t think Roar will be splashing out this dude if the next millennium – just wishful thinking
Or Macarthur? That is a possibility too.
When I watch Macarthur’s next season, I may get to see Brattan, Caceras, Talbot, Lolley, etc.
Sydney FC 2!
And MacArthur may have already signed another former Sydney FC player – Clayton Taylor.
De Vries is back for Auckland
Doesn’t Grem support at least 3 out of these 4 sides ???
dont underestimate him..Im sure its all 4 😂
I mentioned the three, I’d like to win, but Auckland (apart from recent form) would not be unworthy winners. It would also be a good reward for Foley, who had pumped some decent money into this venture.
Grem
I think we need (really need) an Adelaide Oval GF. I’ll be happy if Jets win it, but man – we’d like a 51,000 crowd to finish off the season wouldn’t we?
Hey Wax
I wouldn’t mind 3 of the remaining 4 winning. Adelaide, Newcastle and Sydney.
My tips:
Whenever I tip that Sydney are coming good, they lose, so…
Newcastle to beat Sydney 3-1.
Auckland to beat Adelaide 1-0, but…
Adelaide, at home and with Jovanovic back will win the second leg 4-1 and progress to the grand final against … we’ll see.
Wax on
Waz off
🙄