A-League Season Predictions - 2020/21

Australian Football
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The classic SFCU pre-season predictions thread returns. Time to nail your thoughts to the mast. Eight months from now people will either marvel at your prescient understanding of Australian football or laugh at your ill-informed naivety.

For those who want to study the form guide…

https://www.ultimatealeague.com/clubs.php

End of season standings:

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2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:

Grand final winner:

Grand final runner-up:

FFA Cup winner:

Player of the season:

Player of the grand final:

Golden boot:

Best new signing:

Best young player (U23):

Biggest flop signing:

SFC player of the season:

SFC golden boot:

First coach sacked:

Random predictions for this season:

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End of season standings:

1: SFC
2: City
3: Perth
4: Macarthur
5: Adelaide
6: Western United
7: Brisbane
8: Newie
9: Wellington
10: CCM
11: Victory
12: Western Suburbs

Grand final winner: SFC

Grand final runner-up: Perth

FFA Cup winner: Adelaide

Player of the season: Beñat Etxebarria

Player of the grand final: Ninko

Golden boot: Maclaren

Best new signing: Beñat Etxebarria

Best young player (U23): Calem Nieuwenhof or Al Hassan Toure

Biggest flop signing: Rudy Gestede

SFC player of the season: Brattan

SFC golden boot: Buhagiar

First coach sacked: Brebner

Random predictions for this season: Western United to actually put a shovel in the ground for their stadium; Optus to take over broadcast rights

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1: Sydney
2: Nix
3: City
4: Macarthur
5: Adelaide
6: Wanderers
7: Perth
8: Victory
9: Western Union
10: Brisbane
11: Newcastle
12: Mariners

Grand final winner: Sydney

Grand final runner-up: Nix

FFA Cup winner: City

Player of the season: Benat

Player of the grand final: Grant

Golden boot: Maclaren

Best new signing: Benat (Honestly he’s either player of the year or biggest flop).

Best young player (U23): The Hof

Biggest flop signing: Someone from the Victory who inevitably trashes them in the media when he leaves.

SFC player of the season: Grant

SFC golden boot: Bobo :wink:

First coach sacked: Rudan

Random predictions for this season: Newcastle have an interim coach all season.

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1: Sydney
2: Macarthur
3: City
4: WU
5: Wellington
6: Perth
7: Adelaide
8: Brisbane
9: MVFC
10: Newcastle
11: WSW
12: Mariners

Grand final winner:
Sydney FC

Grand final runner-up:
Macarthur

FFA Cup winner:
WU

Player of the season:
Calem Nieuwenhof

Player of the grand final:
Calem Nieuwenhof

Golden boot:
Al Hassan Toure

Best new signing:
Beñat Etxebarria (but only if he can avoid injury) otherwise Calem Nieuwenhof

Best young player (U23):
Calem Nieuwenhof

Biggest flop signing:
Tomer Hemed

SFC player of the season:
Calem Nieuwenhof

SFC golden boot:
Trent Buhagiar

First coach sacked:
Whoever Newcastle eventually signs

Random predictions for this season:

Sydney FC will progress to the round of 16 in the ACL

Sydney Football Stadium will be finished on time and will be brilliant for derbies but less so for the regular rounds.

The mid-season arrival of a fleet of giant spacecraft will see a brief hiatus to the A-League… the season will resume after a plucky band of misfit resistance fighters overthrows our alien overlords and ushers in a new golden age of human prosperity under the benevolent dictatorship of Calem Nieuwenhof.

The beer options at Jubillee will improve.

Cow bells will prove to be annoying

Donald Trump will move to a country that has no extradition treaty with the US.

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End of season standings:

1: Sydney
2: Melbourne City
3: Macarthur
4: Adelaide
5: Western United
6: Wellington
7: Brisbane
8: Western Sydney
9: Central Coast
10: Melbourne Victory
11: Perth
12: Newcastle

Grand final winner: Sydney

Grand final runner-up: Melbourne City

FFA Cup winner: Adelaide

Player of the season: Benat Etxebarria

Player of the grand final: Luke Bratten

Golden boot: Jamie MacLaren

Best new signing: Benat Etxebarria

Best young player (U23): Trent Buhagiar or James Delianov

Biggest flop signing: Ryan Shotton

SFC player of the season: Luke Bratten

SFC golden boot: Trent Buhagiar

First coach sacked: Grant Brebner

Random predictions for this season:

Peter Cklamovski to take over from Grant Brebner at some stage.

Wellington to go undefeated in Wollongong but fail to win at home when they return to playing out of NZ at the back end of the season.

Claims of match fixing in the FFA Cup are proven, some A League games are investigated but nothing proven.

Milos announces his retirement after slotting the winning penalty in the GF.

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After what this year has thrown up I’m giving Sportsbet a call and getting me some odds on this baby.

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Love reading my at the end of the season to see how wrong they are

1: Melbourne City
2: Macarthur FC
3: Sydney FC
4: Melbourne Victory
5: Western United
6: Western Sydney Wanderers
7: Wellington Phoenix
8: Perth Glory
9: Brisbane Roar
10: Adelaide United
11: Central Coast Mariners
12: Newcastle Jets

Grand final winner:
Melbourne City

Grand final runner-up:
Melbourne Victory

FFA Cup winner:
Sydney FC

Player of the season:
Jamie Maclaren

Player of the grand final:
Marco Tilio

Golden boot:
Jamie Maclaren

Best new signing:
Tomer Hemed

Best young player (U23):
Joel King

Biggest flop signing:
Benat

SFC player of the season:
Rhyan Grant

SFC golden boot:
Trent Buhagiar

First coach sacked:
Torn between one (because Mariners, Jets and Roar wont have the cash) or Carl Robinson

Random predictions for this season:

FFA Marketing dream with the 3 Sydney and Melbourne sides making the top 6 with a Melbourne derby final

We fail to win a derby again but still finish comfortably ahead of Wanderers.

Muscat replaced Robinson at Wanderers midseason and finishes strongly

Jets to narrowly avoid the Knights 6 points in a season record

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1: city
2: victory
3: nux
4: Sydney
5: western
6: bulls
7: Perth
8: Adelaide
9: roar
10: western suburbs
11: mariners
12: jets

Grand final winner: city

Grand final runner-up: victory

FFA Cup winner: Adelaide

Player of the season: benat

Player of the grand final: McLaren

Golden boot: McLaren

Best new signing: benat

Best young player (U23): hoff

Biggest flop signing: tillio

SFC player of the season: milos

SFC golden boot: trent

First coach sacked: none, not enough money to pay out

Random predictions for this season: tillio to start less than 5 games in the season. Sydney to struggle for goals

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End of season standings:

1: Victory
2: City
3: SFC
4: Macarthur
5: Phoenix
6: Roar
7: W.United
8: Adelaide
9: WSW
10: Perth
11: CCM
12: Jets

Grand final winner: Victory

Grand final runner-up: Pheonix

FFA Cup winner: Is this on…?

Player of the season: Rojas

Player of the grand final: Butterfield

Golden boot: Derbyshire

Best new signing: Hemed / Butterfield

Best young player (U23): Trent B / Jake Brimmer

Biggest flop signing: Juric,

SFC player of the season: Brattan

SFC golden boot: Trent B

First coach sacked: Can see Garcia get moved on after season.

Random predictions for this season:

  • Can see Nabbout get that peak Jets form back at City.
  • Carl pisses alot of people off at WSW
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End of season standings:

1:Phoenix
2:SFC
3:City
4:Adelaide
5:Macarthur
6:WU
7:Vivtory
8:WSW
9:Roar
10:Perth
11:CCM
12:Jets

Grand final winner: Phoenix

Grand final runner-up: SFC

FFA Cup winner: SFC

Player of the season: Buhagiar

Player of the grand final: Devlin

Golden boot: Buhagiar

Best new signing: Susaeta

Best young player (U23): Hof

Biggest flop signing: Juric

SFC player of the season: Brattan

SFC golden boot: Buhagiar

First coach sacked: Garcia

Random predictions for this season: There will be a player revolt at some club. Club refuses to sack manager of that club. They will use youth players a lot. The manager leaves at the end of the season.

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End of season standings:

1: Melbourne City
2: Sydney FC
3: MacArthur
4: Wellington
5: Melbourne victory
6: Western United
7: Perth
8: western suburbs
9: Brisbane
10: Adelaide
11: Central Coast Mariners
12: Newcastle Jets

Grand final winner: City

Grand final runner-up: MacArthur

FFA Cup winner: victory

Player of the season: Luna

Player of the grand final: Glover

Golden boot: Tsubaki

Best new signing: Gestede

Best young player (U23): The hoff

Biggest flop signing: Juric

SFC player of the season: Brattan

SFC golden boot: Buhagiar

First coach sacked: Stajcic (although he won’t be sacked, he will just get a better offer elsewhere).

Random predictions for this season:

Maclaren to move overseas part way through the season.

Sydney to lose the semi to Wellington.

The Hoff becomes a mainstay in the centre of the park.

Kosta’s form continues to slide and he is benched for an extended period of games. He is linked later in the season to Thailand and Malaysia.

Wanderers attendance and form continues to be shit. There are crisis talks and a significant portion of the fan base defect to macarthur.

MacArthur play decent football and do well, however there are constant off field issues with the fans, stadium etc.

Another trophy will be raised at BankWest and it once again won’t be by the Wanderers.

We get another stupid hard group for acl.

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  1. What season?
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End of season standings:

1: Sydney FC
2: Western Utd
3: Macarthur
4: Nux
5: Melb City
6: WSW
7: MV
8: Adelaide
9: Perth
10: Brisbane
11: CCM
12: Newcastle Jets

Grand final winner: Macarthur

Grand final runner-up: Sydney

FFA Cup winner: Perth

Player of the season: Markel Susaeta

Player of the grand final: Danny Federici

Golden boot: Maclaren

Best new signing: Markel Susaeta

Best young player (U23): Hoff

Biggest flop signing: hard to pick

SFC player of the season: Grant

SFC golden boot: Trent B

First coach sacked: whoever is in the chair at the Jets

Random predictions for this season: Trent B gets a big money offer to move to Belgium; Ajax make a move for Hoff, CCM and Jets get new owners but too late to pump up their funds, squads and chances, new Spaniards (well really Basques and Catalans make a huge impression) and more follow.

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End of season standings:

1: Melbourne Victory
2: Melbourne City
3: Sydney FC
4: West Sydney
5: Macarthur
6: Western United
7: Adelaide
8: Wellington
9: Perth
10: Brisbane
11: Central Coast
12: Newcastle

Grand final winner: Melbourne Victory

Grand final runner-up: Melbourne City

FFA Cup winner: Sydney FC

Player of the season: Diamanti

Player of the grand final: McManaman

Golden boot: Mclaren

Best new signing: Gestede

Best young player (U23): Folami

Biggest flop signing: Champness

SFC player of the season: Rhyan Grant

SFC golden boot: Kosta Babarouses. But with a small tally. 6 goals.

First coach sacked: Stajic at CCM

Random predictions for this season:

The RBB to go a full season without a protest or embarrassing the rest of the league with some ridiculous banner or social media post.

Not sure this is random, but the season will finish up being broadcast on Optus.

Sydney and Macarthur to end up being a lot more feisty than people expect.

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End of season standings:

1: Sydney
2: City
3: WSW
4: Mac Bulls
5: Nux
6: Glory
7: Adelaide
8: Brisbane
9: Victory
10: WU
11: CCM
12: Jets

Grand final winner: Sydney

Grand final runner-up: City

FFA Cup winner: Nux

Player of the season: Trent

Player of the grand final: Hoff

Golden boot: Trent (more than a goal a game)

Best new signing: Ibini (ends up playing as a 9 and goes on a huge scoring run before being sold to Korea/Japan/China)

Best young player (U23): Hoff

Biggest flop signing: Shotton (COVID denier) or Gestede

SFC player of the season: Trent

SFC golden boot: Trent

First coach sacked: Rudes

Random predictions for this season:

  • WU to implode early due to time catching up with Diamanti. A serious injury to him leaves them uncompetitive and players revolt - it gets very messy and Rudes can’t manage it.
  • Mac Bulls start incredibly strong winning 8 on the bounce in emphatic fashion before injuries (Crea) cripple them,
  • Huge fan unrest in Adelaide after several players sold in Jan and ownership group refuse to adequately replace. Leaks emerge that they are spending to the cap floor only and paying dividends to their owners,
  • Hoff becomes a starter but Retre plays RB, LB, CB, CM and LW and bosses wherever he plays,
  • Trent shifts to a marquee deal for next year after scoring more than a goal a game.
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This is an enormous call.

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Why,they’ve recruited well and played well in the ACL.

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They did ok in the ACL but in a soft group. I think their recruitment has been very average. One of their weaker sides in a long time in my opinion. Not having a go at all - this thread is just a laugh - but interesting to see how different the views are.

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End of season standings:

1: City
2: Sydney
3: Melbourne
4: Macarthur
5: Western United
6: Brisbane
7: WSW
8: Perth
9: Wellington
10: Adelaide
11: Newcastle
12: Central Coast

Grand final winner: Sydney (beating Melbourne in the semi again)

Grand final runner-up: City

FFA Cup winner: Brisbane

Player of the season: Etxebarria

Player of the grand final: Buhagiar

Golden boot: Maclaren

Best new signing: Etxebarria

Best young player (U23): Buhagiar (He’s 22 now and 23 during the season so I’m not sure if he counts)

Biggest flop signing: Joey Champness has real potential to be a massive dud on his return.

SFC player of the season: Grant

SFC golden boot: Buhagiar, but it’s only around the 10 mark.

First coach sacked: Richard Garcia

Random predictions for this season:

  • Macarthur prove much more popular than WU and once COVID restrictions are lifted their crowds aren’t too bad. A really feisty derby with WSW this season cements them having a bitter rivalry going forward.
  • We get more certainty about the next broadcast partner, whether extending with Fox further or moving to Optus.
  • Western United finally break ground on their stadium but it’s delayed again into 2023/24.
  • Central Coast are sold. The new owner spends a little more than Charlesworth (basically, above the salary floor), but won’t spend big.
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Nailed this shit last year, so here goes:

1: Sydney FC
2: Jamie Maclaren / Melbourne City

3: Western United
4: Melbourne Victory
5: Macarthur Bulls
6: Wellingong Phoenix

7: Perth Glory
8: East Western Sydney
9: Adelaide United
10: Brisbane Roar

11: Central Coast Mariners
12: Newcastle Jets

(clear top two & clear bottom two imo, have then split the rest between those who will make finals and those who will miss out, could throw a blanket over each of those groups of four. Wanderers would have been bottom 3 but for their late tapping up efforts)

Grand final winner: Sydney FC, at Wankfest again

Grand final runner-up: City, again

FFA Cup winner: Who cares, is it even on?

Player of the season: Ulises Davila (I wrote him off after his first 10 mins off the bench last year and ate serious humble pie. He’s the right age and in the right environment under Uffy, having already had the mandatory year to settle in this league, to kick on as age catches up with Castro, Diamanti and even Milos)

Player of the grand final: Milos Ninkovic (the great man still turns it on for another Joe Marston medal)

Golden boot: Jamie Maclaren

Best new signing: Tomi Juric, who scores 80% of all Adelaide’s goals and is their only bright spot in an otherwise dismal campaign

Best young player (U23): The Hof

Biggest flop signing: James “still waiting by the phone” Troisi

SFC player of the season: Rhyan Grant

SFC golden boot: Trent from Punchy

First coach sacked: Richie Garcia. Love the guy but tbh they look the only team who I reckon may end up underperforming compared to paper, the shitter sides have no expectations / money / prospects to bother hiring anyone better than what they’ve got, and we all know Tony Sage is a fuckwit and likely to get trigger happy once they’re on track to miss finals

Random predictions for this season:

Alen Stajcic cracks the shits and leaves to take an overseas offer back in women’s football, with CCM installing Sthimmo as player / manager.

Robbie Kruse fully rehabs from injury but contracts Covid, then syphilis, and still doesn’t play a game.

Wanderers continue to fudge crowd numbers and are exposed by the media after they announce an official number well in excess of Covid restricted capacity.

Nigel Boogaard extends his lead atop the all-time A-League red card table, becoming the first player to hit double figures with his 10th early shower.

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