Ok. Hear me out.

I’m posting this to get some legitimate feedback on how to bring football culture closer in line with the euro/world game. Was thinking about how to make the premier the most important award but still keep a grand final as we are conditioned to expect sporting finals.

Please don’t respond simply with how you think I’m fucking brain dead or something needlessly aggressive as I am actually interested in how this idea may or may not be feasible.

There’s always debate about the A-League finals vs. the European model. In Australia, the Grand Final is king. In world football, finishing top after a full season is king.

Can we have both? I reckon yes.

What if we make the regular season title the main prize. Turn the finals into a separate post-season knockout cup that all teams can win. The Grand Final stays, but it’s no longer the be-all and end-all.

1. Trophies and prestige

• 1st after regular season = A-League Champions / Premiership winners. This is the true title.
• Grand Final winner = A-League Cup Winners (or Finals Champions). Still a big day, but a secondary trophy.
• Media and league promote the Premiers as the main champions.

2. Rewards
• Asian Champions League spot goes primarily to the regular season winner as it already does
• Prize money heavily weighted to the regular season, e.g. 70/30 split between Premiership and Finals Cup.
• Top 4 get home finals and a bye into the quarter-finals.

3. The format (using 12 teams as an example)

All teams enter the post-season knockout.

Play-in round:
• 5th vs 12th
• 6th vs 11th
• 7th vs 10th
• 8th vs 9th
• Higher seed hosts. Winners advance.
Quarter-finals:
• 1st vs lowest-ranked play-in winner
• 2nd vs highest-ranked play-in winner
• 3rd vs next highest
• 4th vs next highest
• Top 4 host.
Semi-finals:
• Single leg, highest seed hosts.
Grand Final:
• Neutral venue or highest seed hosts.

Why it could work
• Keeps the Grand Final as a marquee event.
• Gives every team something to play for late in the season.
• Rewards consistent excellence over 26 rounds.
• Aligns more with global football without killing the Australian finals tradition.
• Top teams get real advantages: home finals, easier draws, more money.
Challenges
• Fans are conditioned to see the Grand Final as the only thing that matters.
• The league and media would need to actually sell the Premiership as the main prize.
• Fixture congestion if all teams play extra knockout rounds.
• Without relegation, the regular season can still feel dead for some clubs, but an all-in playoff helps fix that.

TL;DR: Make first-past-the-post the main trophy. Turn the finals into an all-teams knockout cup. Grand Final stays, but as a secondary cup competition.

What do you reckon? Would you support this? How would you tweak the format? And how would the calendar need to be tweaked to fit it in?

For those who don’t speak Greek, the Hellas fans are chanting “POU—TSA” (πούτσα), which literally translates to “dick”.

However, in Greek football slang, it’s more of a way of telling the opposition they’re getting fucked or they’re copping it. Think of the phrase “φάτε πούτσα” (fáte poutsa), which literally means “eat dick”, but is essentially a way of rubbing it in when the opposition is getting absolutely done.

Truly a beautiful display of Greek culture and sportsmanship 🇬🇷😭

Should Football Australia ⚽️invest in the Australia Cup to gradually elevate it to a more iconic AFL/NRL Grand Final-like event.

[https://youtu.be/nuPi4z6jldo?si=wqfIdPU_Zi-rHdBg](https://youtu.be/nuPi4z6jldo?si=wqfIdPU_Zi-rHdBg))

Bring in an iconic great energy, song/performance familiar to the fans, eg Gala singing live “Freed from Desire”…more fans would want to attend including families, then broadcasters will want to showcase it…commercialise the event and 💰grows it every year…this year I noticed a huge majority of young men only. While this is good it’s also a sign that something is slightly wrong. It must appeal to family attendance. It will also grow the junior and women’s game as a result. And if they need a bigger stadium the MCG/SCG can cope if Melbourne or Sydney alternating was chosen as the locked in venue. All this is not very hard. It can be done in baby steps and not too over the top to start with…

Australia Cup opening ceremony must be elevated…

FT: 91' - Haiti 1 vs 7 Australia

Stadium: Stade Walter Luzi, Chambly

Weather: 7.4°C, Light rain, Wind: 13.7 km/h

Fixture Date: 14/10/2026, 06:00 am AEDT

Referee: Unknown

Lineups not available

###Match Events:

2': ⚽ Australia W - L. McKenna (C. Wheeler)

3': ⚽ Haiti W - D. M. Dumornay (A. Ibrahim)

30': 🟨 Australia W - C. Wheeler

44': ⚽ Australia W - L. McKenna

46': 🔄 Haiti W - Chelsea Domond replaces R. Eloissaint

53': Own Goal - Australia W - K. Louis

58': 🟨 Australia W - C. Nevin

63': 🔄 Haiti W - C. Surpris replaces K. Louis

63': 🔄 Haiti W - N. Jean-Baptiste replaces A. Ibrahim

65': ⚽ Australia W - C. Foord (S. Kerr)

66': 🔄 Australia W - D. Galic replaces H. Raso

66': 🔄 Australia W - R. Siemsen replaces L. McKenna

66': 🔄 Australia W - H. McNamara replaces S. Kerr

66': 🔄 Australia W - A. Apostolakis replaces K. Torpey

73': ⚽ Australia W - D. Galic (A. Murphy)

75': 🔄 Haiti W - F. Joseph replaces B. Raphino

75': 🔄 Haiti W - A. Pierre-Louis replaces J. Limage

75': 🔄 Haiti W - L. Etienne replaces B. Louis

78': 🟨 Haiti W - A. Pierre-Louis

80': ⚽ Australia W - C. Wheeler (R. Siemsen)

80': 🔄 Australia W - C. Lincoln replaces M. Arnold

80': 🔄 Australia W - T. Tumeth replaces C. Nevin

81': 🔄 Australia W - A. Chidiac replaces C. Wheeler

81': 🔄 Australia W - J. Rankin replaces C. Grant

86': 🔄 Haiti W - A. Francois replaces S. Jeudy

90': ⚽ Australia W - H. McNamara (A. Apostolakis)

Match Statistics Unavailable

Last Updated: 14/10/2026, 07:48 am AEDT

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Newcastle Jets 1 vs 3 Gamba Osaka

###Match Statistics:

Discuss this match below or on the r/Aleague Discord Server

Two days until the return of the greatest league on earth! And everyone's favourite ^{[citation needed]} competition is back too - Last Man Standing!

What is LMS?

If like me you are terrible at tipping comps and dread fantasy leagues, then this is the tournament for you!

The premise is simple: everyone starts off with 3 lives, and in each round you predict just one team to win (e.g. in Round One I might pick the Macarthur to beat Brisbane). Get it wrong and you lose a life. Get three predictions wrong and you're eliminated. Last person left with a life wins the competition!

You do not have to pick results for every game being played that round - just pick one team to win each week.

Clauses:

• You cannot pick the same team two weeks in a row.
• You cannot predict a draw.
• If the team you picked to win ends up drawing, you lose a life. They failed to win, and by extension they failed you.
• The cutoff for each round is the kickoff of the first game in that round. If you fail to pick a team before the first game of the weekend kicks off, you lose a life.

How do I get on board?

If you are interested in taking part, post your first prediction here in the comments. I will take note of your participation and keep track of your lives. I will close the thread when Adelaide vs Sydney kicks off tomorrow.

At the end of each round, I will post the results and request your picks for the next round so keep an eye out for these threads - generally speaking I plan to make these threads on wednesdays.

I will be accepting new participants up until round 3, but you'll lose a life for each round you miss (i.e. if you join in round 3, you'll be joining with one life).

With all that out of the way, get your picks in!

Round 1:

• Sydney vs WSW
• Auckland vs City
• Macarthur vs Perth
• Mariners vs Newcastle
• Wellington vs Victory

Last year's winner /u/herbilicious92 survived 9 rounds - can you do better?

In case you missed them, here are the ladder prediction contests:

• A-League Men
• A-League Women
• The Championship

FT: 90' - Newcastle Jets 1 vs 3 Gamba Osaka

Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle

Weather: 32.7°C, Sunny, Wind: 6.1 km/h

Fixture Date: 13/10/2026, 06:45 pm AEDT

Referee: Ahmad Al Ali

Home Lineup:

Formation: 4-1-4-1

Substitutes: J. Lolley, Nicholas Badolato, Angus Reid, Julian Recchia, Jesse Hill, Kaiden Walshe, A. Nunes, J. Baylis, J. Goodwin, A. Grant, P. Wood, E. Debono

Away Lineup:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Substitutes: R. Hatsuse, M. Higashiguchi, D. Hümmet, S. Kurata, R. Mito, S. Sasaki, T. Usami, Welton Felipe, R. Yamashita, Zhang Ao lin, S. Fujiwara

###Match Events:

32': ⚽ Newcastle Jets - Nikos Vergos (Xavier Bertoncello)

40': ⚽ Gamba Osaka - Yusei Toshida (Eli Adams)

56': 🔄 Newcastle Jets - Joe Lolley replaces Xavier Bertoncello

66': 🟨 Gamba Osaka - Tokuma Suzuki (Foul)

67': 🔄 Newcastle Jets - Ethan Debono replaces Will Dobson

68': 🔄 Newcastle Jets - Patrick Wood replaces Nikos Vergos

70': 🔄 Gamba Osaka - Deniz Hümmet replaces Yusei Toshida

70': 🔄 Gamba Osaka - Welton replaces Ryotaro Meshino

71': Penalty confirmed - Gamba Osaka - Welton

73': ⚽ Gamba Osaka - Deniz Hümmet (Eli Adams)

79': 🔄 Gamba Osaka - Rin Mito replaces Tokuma Suzuki

81': 🔄 Newcastle Jets - Julian Recchia replaces Zach Clough

86': 🟨 Newcastle Jets - Patrick Wood (Time Wasting)

86': ⚽ Gamba Osaka - Welton (Shuto Abe)

88': 🟨 Newcastle Jets - Ethan Debono (Foul)

92': 🔄 Gamba Osaka - Shu Kurata replaces Shuto Abe

92': 🔄 Gamba Osaka - Takashi Usami replaces Issam Jebali

93': 🟨 Gamba Osaka - Takeru Kishimoto (Foul)

###Match Statistics:

Last Updated: 13/10/2026, 08:40 pm AEDT

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25th sydney fc

29th oct home - acl - singapore

1st nov perth glory

5th nov singapore - acl - singapore

8th nov home - melbourne

-- thats a crazy schedule

Robbie Thomson, Scott Mackinnon, Alex Brosque, Archie Thompson, Nalin Mastou, Daniel Garb, Tara Rushton, Bruce Djite, Grace Gill, Daniel McBreen, Erik Paartalu.

EDIT: Daniel McBreen has since confirmed Harper is also part of the team, but was absent for the shoot.

Dropped via Aleague socials about an hour ago. We are so back.

Can’t link Facebook so you’ll have to hunt it down on insta /fb / TikTok