We are one third of the way through the Hyundai A-League season and already there is a clear delineation between the contenders and the pretenders in the competition.
Perth Glory, Adelaide United, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC have established themselves in the top four with surprise packets Wellington Phoenix nipping at their heels in fifth spot.
It should come as no surprise that nine out of the top ten Fantasy A-League scoring players for the season come from the top five teams with Wellington’s Nathan Burns leading the way on 73 points.
Besart Berisha has hauled an impressive 55 points for the Victory while Irish import Andy Keogh has accumulated 51 points so far in his debut season in the Hyundai A-League.
Accordingly, Burns, Berisha and Keogh lead the way in the race for the golden boot which illustrates the importance of having a deadly marksman in your side.
Midfielders have also proved their worth so far this season with Wellington’s Michael McGlinchey leading all comers with 50 points after netting four goals and providing two assists so far this season.
Remarkably, at the start of the season McGlinchey cost managers a poultry $120,000 for his services – now he’ll set you back a cool $411,000.
Marcelo Carrusca has shown his class for Adelaide United with 48 points while Tunisian international Fahid Ben Khallfalah has been excellent for the Victory with 38 points.
Often the unsung heroes of football teams, defenders have shown they can chip in with some handy points for Fantasy A-League managers as well.
Craig Goodwin has been excellent down the left flank for Adelaide United netting a staggering 49 points for Josep Gombau’s side to lead the tally for defenders this term.
Veteran Sasa Ognenovski has been instrumental for the Sky Blues with 41 points from just six starts, while no non-sense Glory stopper Dino Djulbic has hauled 35 points for Kenny Lowe’s league-leaders.
There have been plenty of strong performances between the posts, with Ante Covic’s ACL exploits a real highlight, but it’s hard to go past the blue half of Sydney to find the form keeper of the competition. Vedran Janjetovic leads the custodians with 37 points on the back of the joint best defensive record in the league as well as a penalty save.
As expected the majority of these players featured in our star XI for the season to date. Â
There were also 16 Aussie players who had their domestic form recognised by being named in the Socceroos provisional 46-man squad for the AFC Asian Cup .
Round 9 of the season saw ill-discipline prove costly, with second half penalties deciding the result in two of the five matches. Meanwhile the Wanderers left themselves little chance having to play the majority of their match with 10-men.
There were some familiar faces on the scoresheet with The Scout’s front three of Burns, Berisha and Keogh all finding the back the net. Marcelo Carrusca continues to be arguably the form player of the competition, while Daniel Georgievski and Roy Krishna both fired in contenders for goal of the season.
As all good Fantasy A-League managers will know, you can’t rest on your laurels if you want to be among the silverware at season’s end.
This weekend will see just the four matches played with the Wanderers’ re-scheduled match against Melbourne City not contributing to Fantasy points. As such look to your bench or the transfer market to ensure you field a full side.
The Scout’s trades:
OUT> Aaron Mooy ($250,000) IN
Despite Mooy’s strong form this season, which has been recognised with back-to-back Socceroo call ups, the fact that City have no game this weekend and some tough upcoming fixtures has seen him traded. Glory’s Nebojsa Marinkovic is the man to come in, with his delivery from set-piece duties sublime in recent weeks.
OUT> Jamie Young ($165,000) IN
With the Roar struggling to keep a clean sheet this term and the need to raise some funds, we’ve done away with some depth in our goalkeeping stocks. Jamie Young is the man to make way, with his cause not helped by this week’s departure of central defender Matt Smith and the impending return of Michael Theo. The likeable Matt Nash from the Mariners comes into the squad but we’re keeping faith with Danny Vukovic in our starting side.
You can still pick your fanatsy squad with the official Hyundai A-League Fantasy game. Click here to sign up!
With weekly prizes and new leagues starting every week it’s never too late to start playing!
