The Isuzu UTE A-League’s 20th season is set to culminate in the first-ever Melbourne Derby Grand Final this weekend.
It’s the fitting end to the second decade of a competition that, for the last 20 years, has produced countless iconic Grand Final moments. Champions have been crowned, and defeat has stung the players, coaches and fans of those defeated, as the biggest moments have made club legends out of the players that rose to the occasion and seized their chance to make history.
As anticipation builds ahead of Saturday’s Melbourne Derby title decider at AAMI Park, aleagues.com.au looks back at the 10 biggest moments in Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final history.
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Archie Thompson’s five-goal haul
Archie Thompson made history in the 2007 Grand Final with a five-goal display against Adelaide United that is yet to be matched in the 18 years since.
The Melbourne Victory legend was unstoppable in Victory’s first Grand Final triumph; in front of more than 55,000 fans at Marvel Stadium, Thompson bagged a first-half hat-trick to all-but secure Championship glory for Victory, then added another two goals to his tally after the break to give Victory a five-goal lead.
Kristian Sarkies added a sixth goal to Victory’s tally to secure a 6-0 win over the Reds. Victory’s six-goal win remains the biggest winning margin in Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final history.
Clank! Victory’s ‘penalty professor’ hits the post as Sydney win a shootout
Chasing their third Grand Final win in three seasons, Melbourne Victory played host to Sydney FC in 2010 and after 120 minutes, there was nothing to separate the two sides as a 1-1 draw led to a penalty shootout at Marvel Stadium.
Up first in the shootout was Victory’s captain, Kevin Muscat.
Muscat had never missed a penalty during his five years in the Isuzu UTE A-League leading into the 2010 title decider but, having sent Sydney keeper Clint Bolton the wrong way, crashed his effort from the spot against the left-hand goalpost.
The “clank” off the woodwork pierced the stunned silence at Marvel Stadium, as the Sky Blues went on to win the shootout 4-2 and clinch their second Championship title.
“He’s missed, would you believe it?” Said Simon Hill on commentary.
“The professor of the penalty kick has missed in a Grand Final!”
Ange’s ‘Roarcelona’ survive major scare through stunning extra-time comeback
In 2011, Ange Postecoglou’s Brisbane Roar played host to Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium chasing a Grand Final victory that would have capped off one of the all-time great Isuzu UTE A-League campaigns from a single team.
But, after a goalless 90 minutes, the Roar were on the brink of a shock defeat after Adam Kwasnik and Oli Bozanic put the Mariners up 2-0 before half-time in extra time.
The majority of the 50,000-strong crowd in the house had turned up expecting the Roar – who had only lost one game all season – to romp to a Premiership/Championship double and secure the club their first-ever Championship title – but after 117 minutes, with the Mariners leading 2-0, all hope seemed lost for the Queenslanders.
But the Roar had other ideas.
Super-sub Henrique gave Brisbane life with a goal off the bench, to set up one of the most iconic moments in the club’s history.
Having ventured forward for a corner in the final minute of extra-time, centre-back Erik Paartalu thundered a header past Mariners keeper Maty Ryan to equalise at the death, and send the game to a penalty shootout which Brisbane won 4-2, thanks to Michael Theo’s goalkeeping heroics to deny Daniel McBreen and Pedj Bojic.
The penalty call that sparked a 13-year debate
Was it a penalty?
It’s the question that, depending on who you ask, you’re likely to get a very different response.
Ask a Brisbane Roar fan, and the answer will be an adamant yes. Ask a Perth Glory fan, and the answer will be resounding: “No chance!”
Besart Berisha earned the Roar a second-consecutive Championship when, under a challenge from the late Liam Miller of Perth Glory, the Roar talisman went to ground in the box at Suncorp Stadium.
Bracing for extra-time with scores level at 1-1, Perth were denied the chance to continue their push for a club-first Isuzu UTE A-League Championship when referee Jared Gillett pointed to the spot. Berisha duly converted, and the rest is history.
But the finality of the end result hasn’t stopped the enduring debate about the infamous penalty decision of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s first 20 years.
Si, señor, si!
Adelaide United legend Isaías wrote his name into Reds folklore in 2016 when his perfectly-placed free-kick whipped into the top-left corner at Adelaide Oval, to send the club soaring to its first-ever Championship triumph.
Calling the immortalised moment from the commentary box was Simon Hill, who delivered one of the iconic lines in A-Leagues history to match the significance of the Spaniard’s special Grand Final moment in a 3-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.
“Si, seńor, si!”
Hill’s iconic phrase is now plastered on a banner at Coopers Stadium, the home of the Reds, next to the image of Isaías wheeling away in celebration of his spectacular Grand Final strike. It’s proudly displayed at every Adelaide home game in a homage to a moment that will never be forgotten.
A Grand Final goal to remember in an unrivalled atmosphere
There was something special about the atmosphere in AAMI Park for the Grand Final in 2015, as Melbourne Victory hosted Sydney FC in the second Big Blue title decider in the competition’s 10-year history.
That atmosphere ratcheted up to a different level when Besart Berisha put Victory ahead with a thunderous left-footed half volley, becoming the first player in Isuzu UTE A-League history to score in three separate Grand Finals.
The goal itself was of top quality – but the scenes of celebration in the crowd at AAMI Park, and the wall of sound that thundered through the venue, made the moment all the more memorable.
Super sub does it AGAIN for Brisbane
Brisbane Roar have never lost an Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final – and Brazilian cult hero Henrique has played a significant role in ensuring the club’s perfect record in title deciders with two extra-time goals off the bench.
The first came in that iconic 2011 comeback against Central Coast and while that goal set the platform for a penalty shootout win, his strike against Western Sydney in the 2014 decider was the decisive moment of a 2-1 triumph.
Henrique came off the bench for Brisbane in the second half of regular time and after a 1-1 draw sent the game to an additional 30 minutes, the man known affectionately as “The Slippery Fish” fired Brisbane to their third Championship title in the third minute of the second half of extra-time.
“Henrique, he’s done it again!” Exclaimed commentator Simon Hill.
“The substitute who scored in the Grand Final against the Mariners in 2011, does it in 2014!”
The unforgettable image of a battered and bruised Lawrence Thomas
In 2018, Melbourne Victory travelled to the Hunter Valley to take on Newcastle Jets in a Grand Final defined by a moment of controversy, and the sight of Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, mummified by bandages wrapped around all angles of his head, receiving the Joe Marston Medal as the best player afield.
Victory took a first-half lead through Kosta Barbarouses on the night; it was a goal that would have been ruled out for offside by VAR if not for a temporary breakdown in technology that prevented a check on the goal that won Victory the 2018 title.
Just moments from the final whistle, with the Jets pushing to find an equaliser, Newcastle striker Roy O’Donovan collected Thomas with a high boot in the box – an offence he would later receive a 10-game ban for.
With his head already heavily bandaged after an earlier collision, the gruesome incident resulted in further medical treatment for Thomas, who ended the game battered and bruised, but never beaten with the Joe Marston Medal draped around his neck.
Redmayne becomes a Wiggle
Andrew Redmayne earned national recognition for the dancing routine that made him a Socceroos hero, and helped Australia defeat Peru to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Nicknamed “The Grey Wiggle”, Redmayne came off the bench in Australia’s playoff against Peru to deputies for the shootout, and saved Alex Valera’s effort from the spot to send the Socceroos to the World Cup.
But it wasn’t the first time Redmayne gained notoriety for his dancing antics in a shootout. That came in Sydney FC’s 2019 Grand Final triumph over Perth Glory at Optus Stadium.
Dancing and weaving his way along the goal line, Redmayne saved attempts from Andy Keogh and Brendan Santalab to deny Glory their first Championship as the Sky Blues won 0-0 (1-4) in front of more than 56,000 fans in Perth.
Mariners go back-to-back in Gosford
Chasing their second consecutive Isuzu UTE A-League Championship, Central Coast Mariners earned hosting rights for the 2024 Grand Final, and the decision was made to play the game at Industree Group Stadium, the home of the Mariners, instead of moving the fixture to Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, with a larger capacity.
The decision led to one of the most special and unique Grand Finals in Isuzu UTE A-League history.
More than 21,000 fans packed into the Gosford venue to watch the Mariners come from one goal down to clinch a 3-1 extra-time win over Melbourne Victory; it took a 91st-minute equaliser from Ryan Edmondson to cancel out Jason Geria’s stunning opener for Victory and send the game to extra-time, and from there, the Mariners stormed home to claim the crown.
Edmondson scored the sealing goal in the 121st minute after Miguel Di Pizio put the Mariners in front in the first half of extra-time, becoming the youngest goalscorer in Grand Final history.
