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Mile Sterjovski and his Macarthur Bulls deserve congratulations for their backs-to-the-wall Australia Cup win, but we should also ask whether the competition is still fit for purpose.
The Bulls continued a run of winning all five of their Australia Cup ties by a solitary goal, as new signing Marin Jakoliš rifled home a low cross from the outstanding Jed Drew to send the trophy back to Campbelltown with a gritty 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
Macarthur won the competition the hard way, with talismanic skipper Valère Germain watching the final from the stands through suspension, while the Bulls played every single round away from home – including three consecutive ties in Melbourne.
And the 13,289 fans in attendance on a chilly Sunday night at AAMI Park were treated to an enthralling spectacle, with Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto deservedly claiming the Mark Viduka medal for yet another man-of-the-match performance.
Marin Jakolis is congratulated by Jed Drew after scoring the winning goal of the 2024 Australia Cup final. (Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images)
There was just one problem.
The whole thing felt like it was set up for Melbourne Victory to claim the silverware.
Mile Sterjovski hinted as much when he pointed out during the week that bringing the game forward from its original October 5 date robbed Macarthur of the chance to feature three of their Australia Under-20 internationals currently on Young Socceroos duty.
Football Australia reserves the right to select the Australia Cup final venue “at their discretion” and a monster truck rally in Melbourne meant AAMI Park was unavailable next week.
So the FA rescheduled the game from next Saturday to the day after Melbourne hosted the AFL grand final.
And why wouldn’t they?
It’s easy to focus the cameras on the likes of Michael Zappone and Archie Thompson when you know Victory fans will turn out in decent numbers to provide the backdrop.
But is it fair?
It’s hard to escape the feeling that plenty of us – myself included – were hoping to see Victory host beaten NPL semi-finalists South Melbourne in an all-Melbourne final.
But therein lies one of the biggest problems with Australian football – and I’m hardly the only one to have noticed.
The game’s administrators are constantly trying to engineer fixture lists and matches based on what’s most likely to drive the biggest metrics.
There’s no reason the Australia Cup final couldn’t have been played in Campbelltown – other than the fact no one particularly wants to be greeted by the sight of empty seats.
And by giving clubs like Melbourne Victory a leg-up by hosting cup finals in their home stadium – and I thought the same thing when Sydney FC downed Brisbane Roar at Allianz Stadium last season – we’re expecting clubs still trying to build their own fan base to jump an extra hurdle.
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We already face the obvious problem of A-League clubs treating the Australia Cup as a pre-season competition.
Yes, the Bulls were clearly delighted to win it and sure, the lack of alignment between the A-League and National Premier Leagues seasons means it’s hard to imagine when else to play it – with Australia Day now seemingly out of the question.
But if the entire competition is given the air of a pre-season kickabout, then how in good conscience can Football Australia sell full-priced tickets to fans as though it means something?
The Australia Cup doesn’t look anything like the cup competitions we see overseas – from the FA Cup, to the Coppa Italia, to Japan’s historic Emperor’s Cup – for the self-evident reason that our knock-out football ends before the professional season even begins.
Which begs the question: 11 seasons after it first kicked off, is the Australia Cup in its current guise still fit for purpose?
There’s no doubt new Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo would probably like to forget the result as quickly as possible, following a night when his selection gambles failed to pay off.
New import striker Nikos Vergos never really looked like scoring, while the decision to leave Daniel Arzani out of the matchday squad entirely robbed Victory of an X-factor.
But the plaudits belong to Macarthur Bulls.
Now we just need to figure out if it’s worth retaining the same format again next season.