Why A-League basket case Brisbane Roar would welcome another team in Queensland despite struggles
Brisbane Roar’s season is a write-off, they have no training ground and a shoestring budget – but here’s why they think having another A-League team in Queensland is a GOOD thing
- Roar open to second A-League team in Queensland
- Follows expansion announcement this week
- Came from Australian Professional Leagues
- Roar have suffered a fall from grace in recent years
- Looking to avoid wooden spoon, need a rebuild
A-League battlers Brisbane Roar have welcomed the likely addition of a second south-east Queensland team to the competition, believing it will help lift their own poor performances on and off the field.
The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced A-League expansion plans earlier this week, with clubs from Canberra and Auckland to join the men’s competition for the 2024-25 season.
Fourteen teams will then become 16 the following season with the addition of a further two clubs.
One is almost certain to be based at Brisbane or on the Gold Coast, while contenders for the other vacant spot include Tasmania, Wollongong, Perth and Adelaide.
Previous A-League expansions led to the formation of Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury – but both were subsequently axed from the competition due to financial woes.
Brisbane Roar’s Noah Smith is only 22 – but is a journeyman after stints at the Adelaide United, Central Coast and Melbourne Victory
Jez Lofthouse (pictured right) is another Roar player who doesn’t boast an impressive playing pedigree
The Roar has been part of the A-League since its inception in 2005 and was once the competition’s most feared and celebrated club, winning three titles in the space of four seasons from 2010-11 to 2013-14.
However, the Roar is now a shadow of its former self.
The club is currently in an unwanted battle for the wooden spoon with Melbourne Victory, plays in front of tiny crowds at a Redcliffe venue, are nomads in the terms of a training venue and operates on a shoestring budget.
The club recently sacked coach Warren Moon and replaced him – on the advice of legal adviser Dale Cliff – with little-known interim coach Nick Green, whose previous job was coaching a schoolboy team at St Joseph’s Nudgee College.
Roar general manager Ante Kovacevic has all but written this season off and is planning for the 2023-24 campaign as he looks for a new coach and some new players.
‘We definitely need to improve in a lot of areas,’ said Kovacevic, who added that the arrival of another Brisbane team or a Gold Coast side in the 2025-26 season would aid the Roar.
‘We see it as a good thing for us. It will make sure that we are on the ball.’
Roar general manager Ante Kovacevic (pictured) acknowledges the club has a mountain of work to do – but believes having more competition for crowds and sponsorship dollars in south-east Queensland can only be a good thing for the team
James O’Shea has been a mainstay for the Roar since 2019, but at 34 he is past his peak
A-League officials are also hopeful another team from south-east Queensland would force the Roar to improve its operations, just as Sydney FC bettered themselves when fierce rivals Western Sydney Wanderers joined the competition in 2012.
Kovacevic admitted the Roar needed a ‘minor miracle’ to play finals football this season, but was still hopeful Brisbane could bypass a bottom-four spot to avoid needing to win a playoff to contest this year’s Australia Cup competition.
Kovacevic was reluctant to comment on a video circulating in social media which called into question the amount of power lawyer Cliff has at the club.
However, Kovacevic said Green, who has a ‘UEFA A’ coaching badge, had the necessary qualifications to coach the club in an interim capacity.
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