Shining stars ... Tom Rogic and Mat Ryan have been courted by European sides this January. Source: News Limited
Too much hard work has gone into the A-League - and too many sacrifices made in the old National Soccer League days - to let Australian football be treated like a small colony for the rest of the world to pillage.
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Coast | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 33 |
| 2 | Adelaide | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 32 |
| 3 | Victory | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 26 |
| 4 | Western Sydney | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 23 |
| 5 | Perth | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 19 |
| 6 | Heart | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | -2 | 18 |
| 7 | Brisbane | 15 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 17 |
| 8 | Newcastle | 15 | 5 | 2 | 8 | -9 | 17 |
| 9 | Wellington | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 16 |
| 10 | Sydney | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | -14 | 14 |
The opening of the transfer window has seen up to half a dozen players from the competition-leading Central Coast Mariners placed on the trading block. Tom Rogic's proposed move to Celtic would make sense as it would give him the opportunity to play Champions League football. And the same applies to Bernie Ibini's possible shift to Club Brugge, a top-tier Belgian club that helped develop Frank Farina and Paul Okon in the past.
But the talks around Mat Ryan's move to Rangers has troubled me. Just this week Rangers' chief executive Charles Green summed up the mood at the cash-strapped Scottish club by saying: "The quicker we can leave Scottish football the better. I can't see anything that is going to transform the finances, the status or the excitement."
Is this the kind of environment to send your country's best up-and-coming talents? Is it really in his long-term interests to be leaving a top-of-the-table club in an ever-improving A-League for a one-time giant of Scottish football now playing in the fourth tier and for the foreseeable future? I don't think so.
Australian football is on the rise. We have qualified for the past two World Cups, and hopefully a third is on the way. We have a domestic competition that has never been in better shape. We have more members, attendees, TV viewers than ever before.
It is time to view ourselves as something other than the little brothers of world football. We must band together to protect our best young players. Because if we won't, who will?
These blokes are the future of our game both domestically and internationally. As important as it is to balance the financial needs of our clubs, we must always be mindful of our duty of care to the long-term future of the game in this country.
The Mariners' financial woes have been well documented. They have always led a hand-to-mouth existence and now must repay $3 million on their Centre of Excellence in Tuggerah by the end of March.
But those facilities are worthless without a good squad to utilise them. Everyone experiences financial problems from time to time. It is nothing to be ashamed of. And it is certainly not the fault of the players. A rushed export of a team's best talent is never the answer.
The most confounding element of the Mariners' financial situation is the enthusiasm they showed to part with millions to lure David Beckham to these shores a few months back. How could they afford that, yet be quite willing to transfer good players into questionable environments?
What I will say in defence of the Mariners is that Graham Arnold and his coaching staff are incredible. They bounced back from the loss of Rostyn Griffiths and Matt Simon last year, and now it looks like the rug will be pulled from under them again.
It is not going unnoticed - home and abroad - what Arnold's coaching staff are achieving. I hope the club does the right thing by them.
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