When the Brisbane Roar faced Melbourne City at AAMI Park in mid-January, it was marketed as a potential preview of the Finals Series.
The Roar boasted the highest number of wins in the Ninja A-League after 11 rounds, trailing league leaders City by just a point. They headed to AAMI Park aiming to claim the top spot and gather momentum as the second half of the season approached.
However, the outcome was unforeseen.
City secured a 2-0 victory over Brisbane, widening their lead to four points atop the table. While City continued to flourish, Brisbane’s season took a downward spiral.
With only one match remaining in the season, the Roar are now sitting outside the top six, their hopes of reaching the Finals Series dashed.
The trajectory of Brisbane’s 2024-25 campaign can be described as a rollercoaster, and as the season edges towards its close with six consecutive losses, two pressing questions arise: what went wrong and what might have been?
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Brisbane’s Jekyll and Hyde Season
After an initial round loss, Brisbane Roar bounced back impressively, climbing the Premiership ladder by Round 11.
With seven victories from their first ten matches, the Roar led the league in wins. It wasn’t just their ability to win that grabbed attention, but the fashion in which they did so.
Under coach Alex Smith, the Roar were an attacking force, scoring a remarkable 30 goals over their first ten outings, averaging three per game. This impressive run included a dominating 6-1 victory over Newcastle Jets and an 8-2 thrashing of Western United within a week.
Boasting the league’s highest tally of goals (30) and wins (seven), Brisbane also had a solid defensive record, conceding only 11 goals, with Wellington Phoenix being the only team bettering them with 10. Additionally, Smith’s side had managed four clean sheets, just shy of Adelaide’s five.
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The 2-0 defeat to City on January 11 triggered Brisbane’s decline.
After winning seven of their initial ten matches, they have managed to secure only one victory in their subsequent twelve games, sharing the league’s worst record of nine defeats during this stretch with Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Jets, who sit at the bottom of the table.
From Round 11 to 22, Brisbane plummeted from second to seventh in the Ninja A-League standings, suffering through nine losses, two draws, with a mere one win over a dozen outings.
A stark contrast is observed in the statistics for the Roar.
In Rounds 1-10, Brisbane netted 30 goals, enjoying a goals-per-game average of three. From Rounds 11 to 22, their scoring dropped to just 16 goals, at an average of 1.33 per match.
Defensively, Brisbane let in 29 goals over the last twelve games, with only Newcastle Jets conceding more (31). The Roar managed only two additional clean sheets, bringing their season total to six.
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| Brisbane Roar 2024-25 Season | ||
| Season Split | Rounds 1-10 | Rounds 11-22 |
| Games Played | 10 | 12 |
| Wins | 7 | 1 |
| Losses | 3 | 9 |
| Draws | 0 | 2 |
| League Form | 2nd | 12th |
| Points | 21 | 5 |
| Points Per Game | 2.1 | 0.41 |
| Goals Scored | 30 | 16 |
| Goals Per Game | 3 | 1.33 |
| Goals Conceded | 11 | 29 |
| Clean Sheets | 4 | 2 |
What Went Wrong?
A combination of significant injuries and a lack of alternative strategies were highlighted by A-Leagues commentator Teo Pellizzeri and Sydney FC legend Teresa Polias as factors behind Brisbane’s mid-season downfall during this week’s Dub Zone.
Brisbane’s squad suffered when Matildas star Sharn Freier sustained an ankle injury against Perth Glory in late January and has missed the nine subsequent matches. Before her injury, Freier contributed two goals and four assists across her eleven games, and her absence is evident in the Roar’s diminished output in the final third.
Additionally, midfielder Momo Hayashi picked up an ankle injury in January, sidelining her for five rounds. Hayashi had scored five goals during her breakout Ninja A-League season and has been keenly missed when unavailable.
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Pellizzeri noted the crucial absence of both Hayashi and Freier in the latter half of the season as pivotal moments in Brisbane’s downturn.
“Before Sharn Freier’s injury, they were averaging 1.9 points per game, which aligns with what Adelaide has achieved this season,” Pellizzeri stated.
“So they were on par with a third-place team, a title contender. Without Freier, however, they’ve dropped to an alarming 0.45 points per game, indicating a wooden spoon path.”
“Momo has featured in a significantly greater number of games (than Freier) since her injury forced Sharn out of action. When Momo is active, they tend to outscore their opponents by a significant margin, but they often falter late in games when she’s substituted.”
“They struggled to cope with the loss of Sharn Freier, and it crushed their season,” Polias contributed.
“This may go down as one of the most dramatic collapses we’ve seen from a team in a single season. Their confidence eroded, and each loss intensified the pressure. Despite their fighting spirit against the Wanderers, it was simply too little, too late.”
In March, American signing Olivia Sekany returned to her parent club, Racing Louisville, after participating in 17 matches for the Roar. Brisbane achieved six of their seven clean sheets this season with Sekany as goalkeeper.
Her last appearance for the team was on March 2, when an injury to her left leg led to an early substitution in a 3-2 defeat against Sydney FC.
Keeley Richards stepped in to replace Sekany that match, subsequently solidifying her place as the team’s primary goalkeeper after Sekany’s exit.
In addition, Sekany’s fellow foreign recruits Danelle Tan and Evi Popadinova have struggled to make a significant impact in attack during the 2024-25 season.
Bulgarian forward Popadinova has managed only one goal in 1069 minutes of play this season, while Tan, an international from Singapore, has appeared for just 45 minutes across three matches without finding the net.
“Did they stick to Plan A for too long?” Pellizzeri wondered.
“Evi Popadinova has played 1068 minutes and hasn’t scored since the 50th minute of the season. She’s gone over 1000 minutes without a goal in the A-League Women.”
“When you compare that to Danelle Tan, who’s played less than half a game and Tanaye Morris, who’s seen less than the equivalent of two full games but had a few cameo appearances, you begin to wonder if they adjusted their tactics enough to discover a winning combination.”
“It’s likely they haven’t,” Polias acknowledged. “When you have a foreign player, there’s a certain level of stubbornness, having invested heavily in them, and you want them to succeed. Unfortunately, in this case, it just didn’t pan out as hoped. This is a lesson for Alex Smith this season.”
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Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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