The competition grew for the first time, moving from eight teams to ten with Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury joining the Hyundai A-League.
Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC were neck-and-neck for much of the season and met in the first Big Blue Grand Final.
Here is the story of the season
STAR POWER
Robbie Fowler (North Queensland Fury)
Paul Ifill (Wellington Phoenix)
Marcos Flores (Adelaide United)
Mile Sterjovski (Perth Glory)
Michael Bridges (Newcastle Jets)
GAME OF THE SEASON
Melbourne Victory 3 Brisbane Roar 3: these two heavyweights shared six goals in round two at Etihad Stadium with Carlos Hernandez grabbing a brace in an entertaining contest.
MEMORABLE MOMENT
Wellington’s first ever appearance in the Finals Series was against Perth in Wellington and with the scores locked at 1-1 after 120 minutes, Phoenix goalkeeper Liam Reddy saved two Glory spot-kicks to send the Phoenix through.
BIGGEST UPSET
Gold Coast United were flying high and in third place when they visited Wellington in round 12 but the Phoenix – who had drawn their previous six games – turned the form book on its head, smashing home six unanswered goals for their biggest ever Hyundai A-League victory.
GOAL OF THE YEAR
With Melbourne Victory 1-0 down at Robina, Carlos Hernandez gathered the ball and broke at speed towards the Gold Coast penalty area before unleashing a right-footed piledriver from 30 yards past a despairing Jess Vanstratten and into the top left-hand corner.
GOLDEN BOOT WINNER
Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United): 19
PREMIERS
As fate would have it, the top two sides – Victory and Sydney FC – met on the final weekend of the season with Victory holding a two-point lead. But goals from Karol Kisel and John Aloisi gave the Sky Blues not only a 2-0 win but the Premier’s Plate to boot.
STORY OF THE FINALS
Victory and Sydney FC needed extra-time to separate them in the two-legged major semi-final and the decider itself also went the full 120 minutes before the competition’s first ever Grand Final penalty shoot-out. Korean Byun Sung-Hwan nailed the pivotal spot-kick to give the Sky Blues their second Championship.
