It seems the FFA is quite keen on opening the season with "big" matches. They did it for the A-League and also for the W-League. In this replay of the last 2 grand final matches you really don't get any bigger.
But I'm going to start with a rant about venues.
Last season the bulk of Sydney's home matches took place at Campbelltown Stadium. For those unaware Campbelltown is at the south western limits of Sydney over 50kms away from Sydney's centre. It's a bit of a hike (though not nearly so much that it qualifies for a regional centre.. subject for another rant) but it's a good facility. It's new, there's a large club adjacent, the pitch is well kept, there's a train station almost to the front gate and it is in reach of a large football loving public... basically it ticks many boxes.
But it's a sterile and cold place to watch a game.
I've thought long and hard about this and I'm not sure if this is a common perception but what I've come up with is that Leichhardt Oval has history and it has trees. Not in the playing area of course, but there's a forest off to one side and while the stands are a little worn somehow you don't really mind. There's a scoreboard that must be original equipment and you have to hike a little to get to the nearest bus or train (the light rail to Lilyfield). But that hike involves seeing children playing in their front yards, some chickens enjoying the sun in someone's front yard, old fashioned milk bars... not light industrial estates and drive throughs.
So well done to the FFA for picking Leichhardt... North Sydney Oval would be a fine place to watch a game if you recall the Northern Spirit and there are other grounds which might fit the bill. Campbelltown Stadium will probably grow to be a place with atmosphere as well but it's not there yet.
It was a beautiful day though... if you were in the shade.
The kick off for this match was delayed a little as it was the televised match and the referee had to wait for the OK from the TV crew for kick off. Once that was taken care of it seemed Brisbane were more ready for the start of the game than Sydney. I'm not suggesting Sydney were not prepared but there was a sense of rush and perhaps something akin to aimlessness.
Both sides were missing some players who would normally start but Brisbane were still fielding a robust side (and by robust I mean Jeff Hopkins likes his players tall and solid) and Sydney, while not so robust, had Thea Slatyer in defence and it was an enormous benefit to the team to have her there. She was strong, positionally sound and because Brisbane had the early running she got a pretty decent workout.
I can't help but mention though a moment after Emily Gielnik fouled a Sydney player and seemed to be asking her if she was OK as she stood over the fallen opponent. The Brisbane coach saw this and yelled out "Leave her alone". While you could interpret that in a positive or a negative way I did get the impression he wasn't concerned about EMily's lack of medical training.
Sydney suffered a little from not having a controlling player in midfield making sure that targets were identified before the pass is made and holding the ball when none presented themselves. Heather Garriock was in the stands. As a reult the incursions forward being made by Sarah Walsh on the left and Megan Rapinoe on the left were the kind where you put the ball through and see how good they are at chasing it.
They were good... but the other problem was that once the ball does get to them and they're not called offside and they lift their head and ... well there's nobody to aim the cross at. On a few occasions Sydney were in good position and there was 6 orange shirts and the nearest blue one was either on the other side of the box or still on their way in.
Then Teigan Allen got forward and when she got her cross in Sarah Walsh got in at the near post and forced a diving save from Casey Dumont. It was more like it but mere minutes later Renee Rollason found a better way. You see... lobbing the ball forward for others to chase works... but why not just lob it into goal. So about 30 metres out from goal you could see she first wanted to play the ball short for Rapinoe who was running into a gap.. but then she saw Dumont way out and nobody closing her down so she sent a mighty shot over the head of the keeper and into the far corner of the goal to the rapturous enjoyment of the majority of the crowd.
Halftime came and went and while Brisbane started playing a more controlled brand of football than Sydney the home side had worked intself into a routine and was looking good for their lead.
So it was a bit of a surprise when about 5 minutes after the restart Brisbane got the equaliser and through a damn fine piece of play too. The excellent Jo Burgess ran at the Sydney defence, played a neat little pass to one of her colleagues but kept running through and the ball was neatly clipped forward back into her path and she was in on the keeper in a flash. There was a bit of ground to cover and this is where Monique Jackson could have cut down on Burgess' thinking time. Rather than wait to have the ball put between her legs as she tried to make herself wide it may have been more fruitful to rush out and make Burgess decide more quickly. In any case... 1-1.
On the hour Kylie Ledbrook was injured by a bit of play that people around me said was a result of dirty play but just at that moment someone walked past so I couldn't see (Isn't that always the way). I swear I heard something snap though... so I was a bit surprised when she got up and recovered. The break was an opportunity to effect the first substitution where Brittany Whitfield came on for the hardworking Walsh.
Brisbane brought on Lana Harch for McDonald on 63 miutes. Then after initially Teigan Allen was going to get yanked Teresa Polias made way for Caitlin Foord on 69 minutes. Polias had just suffered an injury and presumably was taken off as a precaution. The result of these changes was that Sydney suddenly had a lot more pace available just as Brisbane's was faltering.
Sydney had several attempts at getting their second goal and were getting ever closer without actually quite making it. Now I've seen this before and what usually happens someone has a defensive lapse and Brisbane get a sucker punch goal. Thankfully that didn't happen. However Sydney were spending the bulk of the game in the Brisbane half and when Cannuli came on for Gielnik in the 76th minute it was helpful to the visitors but apart from Tameka Butt there wasn't a huge amount of threat coming. What Butt tried was valiant but in her desperation I get the feeling she tried to do too much by herself and ended up harming her sides chances.
Amusingly there was a moment when Sydney won a throw in, fouled it, the ref gave it to Brisbane who also fouled it and then Sydney got it right the third time. This isn't normal stuff, I am hoping the cobwebs are still hanging around.
Karla Reuter came on for Burgess on 85 minutes and as the game wound down Sydney's Caitlin Foord was almost through on goal for an eagerly anticiapted winner only to have the offside flag raised yet again and in the lead up to that play one feels Brisbane were a bit fortunate to finish with 11 players. The game itself had very few cards.. I recall only one to each side during the course of the match.
Roll on round 2.