The new Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-25 season is fast approaching and clubs are busy ramping up their preparations ahead of the big kick off.
With that in mind, aleagues.com.au caught up with three-time Championship winner and Network 10 pundit Alex Brosque to discuss one big issue at each club heading into the new season.
In the first of our three-part series, Brosque looks at some of the major talking points surrounding Adelaide United, Auckland FC, Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners.
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Adelaide United: Who will be the players to fire in the final third?
It’s a new era at Adelaide United this season, with Brazilian Airton Andrioli taking the reins following the departure of storied head coach Carl Veart.
Following a 2024-25 campaign which saw the club reach the first stage of the Finals Series an off-season of squad changes then ensued with a whole load of attacking talent seeking pastures new.
Amongst those to have departed were last season’s Golden Boot winner Archie Goodwin who joined Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC and key playmaker Zach Clough who headed to Malaysia whilst experienced midfielder Stefan Mark moved to Vietnam.
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“His general lead-up play and quality in attack leads to a lot of their goals but also, it often goes unnoticed,” said Brosque when discussing the loss of Clough. “So they’ve lost goals in Archie Goodwin and creativity in Zach Clough.
“Then there’s Mauk. He’s definitely that sort of box-to-box midfielder with aggression and passion, plus goals and that leadership that Mauk provides. Who fills those boots?
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“Also it’s the coach. It’s how the players take to the new coach and his new way, you know. Carl Veart was there for a very long time and they knew what to expect.
“Sometimes it can be a good thing, sometimes not so we’ll see.”
Amongst the arrivals this off-season have been Reds legend Craig Goodwin who is back for his third stint at the club while Dutch talent Julian Kwaaitaal and experienced goalkeeper Joshua Smits have also joined the squad.
However the bulk of the creative load is likely to fall on new Spanish playmaker Juan Muñiz and Brazilian Anselmo de Moraes.
“I think they’ll be given enough time due to the fact that we’re all looking at Archie Goodwin being gone, Clough being gone, and they’ll be allowed time with a new coach in there as well so that means a new style of play.
“You want them to hit the ground running and the reality is there’s enough time in pre-season to get yourself going, but they’ll be given a bit of time.
“They will need to show enough in those early couple of weeks, otherwise it might get a little testing.”
Andrioli’s new-look side will be the first on show in the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 season as they welcome Sydney FC to Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
Auckland FC: Will Season Two be better than Season One?
Runaway Premiership winners in their debut season, Auckland FC then suffered Finals Series heartbreak when they were defeated 2-1 on aggregate by Melbourne Victory in the semi-finals.
When it comes to ins and outs, it’s been a relatively stable off-season for the Black Knights given a large percentage of their inaugural squad were signed up on longer term contracts, albeit star goalkeeper Alex Paulsen has departed following the end of his loan spell and Colombian attacker Neyder Moreno has also left.
“Outside of Paulsen, they haven’t lost a lot, right? They brought in Lachie Brook, who’s a good signing, Jake Girdwood-Reich as well who will add quality but they didn’t need much more.
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“So the only question there is how they evolve and how they use the disappointment of not winning the grand final to drive a club that has expectations to do what they did last year, this year.”
Finishing the season with the highest number of clean sheets (13) alongside Melbourne City last season, Auckland FC’s approach of foregoing possession and punishing teams on the counter attack saw them become a formidable opponent.
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In fact, only three of the league’s bottom four sides enjoyed less possession of the ball than the Black Knights throughout the season and Brosque isn’t expecting anything different this year.
“I don’t think Bimbi (Corica) will change too much,” said the Network 10 commentator. “While he’s changed as a manager in terms of his approach, I think he was smart, even in his time in Sydney, in understanding that if it’s not broken, you know, there’s nothing to fix.
“So I think it’s a couple of minor tweaks, but really it’ll be the same style of play. I think they’ll be hard to break down and clinical when they need to be.”
Speaking of revenge, the Black Knights face Melbourne Victory in Round 1 of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 season.
Brisbane Roar: Are finals a realistic aim for a new-look Roar?
It’s a new era at Brisbane Roar with the club parting ways with former head coach Ruben Zadkovich and appointing ex-Melbourne City boss Michael Valkanis ahead of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 campaign.
With a new head coach comes new ideas and plenty of new players to boot and the Roar have certainly reshaped their squad to the requirements of their new boss, even if it meant farewelling a large chunk of several of last season’s first-team squad.
That said, the Roar come into the new campaign with their sights set firmly on the sides above them given they finished the previous campaign in second-last on the ladder.
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But whilst the Roar fans have become accustomed to not challenging at the very top in recent years, Brosque says they certainly shouldn’t be pessimistic heading into the new campaign.
“What the Mariners proved a couple years ago is that you don’t need the biggest budget to assemble a good squad capable of winning the league, right?
“But if we’re talking reality, then this year is one of rebuilding. They got rid of a lot of players, a few foreigners that didn’t work last year and they’ve brought in a heap of players.
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“We keep talking about Brisbane year-on-year and their desire but what’s the expectation from the owners? Do they even care? We’re not seeing a lot.
“Every year there’s a new coach, there’s turmoil on and off the field. So the need the club needs stability and hopefully Valkanis can bring that.
“He’s definitely hungry as a manager and you can see in all the signings he’s made, you know, he’s turned over a lot of players.
“But I don’t think he’s going to accept anything less than being in the finals. Whether they can do it or not, I guess we’ll see.”
In total 11 new players have arrived at Suncorp Stadium this season while central defender Hosine Bility has also joined the club on a permanent basis following his loan spell last season.
Key to the Roar’s chances this season though will be how their new-look attack gels, with English forward Chris Long, Greek attacker Georgios Vrakas and Aussie duo Justin Vidic and Michael Ruhs set to form the basis of their frontline.
“A lot of it will be about how the foreign players, the signings that they’ve made, how they all come together.
“This is essentially a new squad, so it’s how quickly in this pre-season, or how much of this pre-season Valkanis has been able to have an effect and then how these players respond from the beginning.”
First up for Brisbane Roar is a home clash with Macarthur Bulls on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Central Coast Mariners: How will the Mariners cope with big name exits?
After winning and incredible Premiership/Championship/AFC Cup treble in 2023-24, the Central Coast Mariners then suffered a big drop-off last season, owing largely to the fact that so many of that successful side were sold or opted to move on.
Losing the likes of Josh Nisbet, Max Ballard, Jacob Farrell, Dan Hall was never going to be easy for head coach Mark Jackson and his side to cope with and as such season 2024-25 culminated in a 10th placed finish.
Sadly for Mariners fans it’s been another off-season headlined by departures with influential defender and fan favourite Brian Kaltak among those to have left the club and Brosque thinks they could be in for a challenging season.
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“I’m seeing the exact same as last season. They’ve lost Kaltak at the back who is huge and to be honest, I’m just seeing trouble for the Mariners.
“Look (Alou) Kuol, whilst he’s gone to the Wanderers, I don’t think he did much last year but he’s a player who played a lot of minutes. Year on year since their championship-winning side, they’ve just been losing players and then last year just proved that little bit too much.
“I think they lost some real quality heading into last season, and, looking at what they’ve brought in this season there’s nothing there that I guess would be exciting fans.”
Among those to have arrived at the club are seasoned-winner and Socceroos goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne who joined from Sydney FC whilst central defender James Donachie has also landed in Gosford.
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“Donachie comes in to replace Kaltak so yes, you’re bringing in some experience defending. But that wasn’t really the issue last season. I just see the Mariners being on the back foot for most games, especially without the creativity of (Mikael) Doka and someone to find the back of the net.”
Furthermore the club will have to cope in the absence of Socceroo and club captain Trent Sainsbury as he continues to recover from an achilles injury while the supremely talented Doka has left the club, moving to Japan on a season-long loan deal.
However the real positive for the Mariners is that a number of their seriously talented young players will now be accustomed to regular first-team football following a campaign which saw them feature regularly in both the Isuzu UTE A-League and the AFC Champions League Elite.
Chief among those is 17-year-old midfielder Haine Eames, who featured 20 times last season and contributed two goals and two assists, while Miguel Di Pizio will also play a bigger role this campaign having had a disrupted pre-season last year due to injury,
Throw in the likes of midfielder Bailey Brandtman (13 league apps), Arthur De Lima (nine league apps) and fit-again striker Nicholas Duarte (10 league apps), who will no doubt contribute plenty this season after recovering from a freak ankle break which occurred early on in the season.
