The Scout was quite taken by Magic Mike this weekend, as he led Melbourne Victory on a merry dance.
GK Michael Theo: The Roar stopper had some good competition from Mark Birighitti at the other end on a very soggy Newcastle night, but Theo just edged him on some of those game-saving stops. Not enough to save Roar’s season, obviously, but you can-t have everything.
RB Jeremy Walker: The Heart left-back goes from strength to strength. He looked completely comfortable taking on the likes of Alessandro Del Piero and Joel Griffiths, and also put plenty into the attack, starting the move that led to Heart-s opening goal.
CB Nikolai Topor-Stanley: A rock! A goddamn rock! NTS didn-t have too much to do against Perth – but what he did, he did easily, snuffing out Shane Smeltz like a candle in the wind.
CB Jade North: A classy performance from the Qantas Socceroo showed why he could be very important to Brisbane next season. Not this year, of course, it-s all over. But he was good against the Jets.
LB Josh Rose: Admittedly, he wasn’t troubled by a confused Victory but the Mariners fullback caused plenty of damage on his own as he got forward in support of the attack.
M John Hutchinson: The veteran Mariner was everywhere against Melbourne Victory, picking up loose balls and sharing them with teammates. And look what happened.
M Shinji Ono: At the heart of everything the Wanderers do when they move forward with the ball, Ono was relatively quiet against Perth but still the centre of gravity for Tony Popovic-s side.
M Nick Kalmar: One hour was all the Heart man needed to tear Sydney a new one. It wasn-t a one-man performance by any means, but this was one of those weeks when Kalmar lived up to his potential.
M Michael McGlinchey: The diminutive Scottish-Kiwi inflicted the sort of pain that Melbourne Victory have rarely experienced. Confident on the ball, fine close control and well-taken goals in a man-of-the-match performance.
S Bernie Ibini: Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill called it on the night – Ibini has looked like a new player since coming home from his trial in Belgium. Whatever they put in his chocolate over there, it-s given him the confidence to deliver on his obvious potential. He won-t be around for long if he carries on like this.
S Mitchell Duke: By no means the finished product and lacking a little of the finer points on his first tough, but Duke was still powerful enough and clever enough to take advantage of some calamitous Melbourne defending.
