The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 17 were...
Adelaide United, for a victory that head coach Airton Andrioli said was so important for instilling confidence in his youthful side with players such as Panagiotis Kikianis, Ethan Alagich, Jonny Yull, Yaya Dukuly and Luka Jovanovic all aged 23 or younger and all getting regular minutes at Hindmarsh Stadium.
It was Jovanovic who delivered a surprise sucker punch for the Reds against former title favourites Sydney FC, the second time this season that Adelaide got one up over Ufuk Talay's side.
Despite now eight games without a clean sheet, they have scored heavily enough to grind out four wins in that period (D2, L2) and overtake an out-of-form Sydney to move into third position.
Veteran defender Bart Vriends said this week that he feels the side are "slowly growing into our best form" at "a very convenient time" with nine games left in the regular season.
They might not hold third place for long, defending on how Sydney fares against Auckland on Tuesday night, but they're arguably now the second-best form team of the competition behind the runaway Jets.
The big losers of Round 17 were...
Melbourne Victory, who technically didn't lose, but it was akin to a loss according to manager Arthur Diles (see more below).
They held a lead for more than 60 minutes at home to Brisbane Roar, who had not beaten them at AAMI Park since 2023, but again failed to be incisive in the final third.
It's a problem Diles has been struggling with for quite some time now, with the Victory still leading the league for total shots (12 per game) and equal-second for shots on target (3.8 per game), but coming up with only 24 goals - a tally lower than three other sides prior to Tuesday night's game.
Their four-game winning streak over the busy holiday period now looks a distant memory with the Victory winning just two of their last six matches.
The Victory are just fortunate that their nearest challengers are in even worse shape with Melbourne City winning only one of their last five A-League games, Brisbane of their last eight and Perth also one of their most recent five. It's nonetheless not the kind of attacking prowess befitting of a genuine playoffs contender.
Team of the Week
Read more about our Team of the Week here.
Goal of the Week
It was tough to split between Lachy Bayliss and Ryan Fraser for their similar strikes this weekend, but it's always enjoyable to see a training ground set piece pay off - even though Perth Glory made it a bit too easy.
What the managers said
Gary van Egmond (Western Sydney Wanderers): "Disappointing. It feels more of a loss than gaining a point, in particular after the first half. In saying that, it's a game of two halves, right? We spoke about that after last week in which we were good in the first half against (Melbourne) City and not so good in the second."
Arthur Diles (Melbourne Victory): "It feels like a loss to be honest with you. We'll take the point but it feels like a loss. We started the game ever so well and things were looking great. In the end, we weren't clinical enough to put the second one in. They were vulnerable and we just didn't have the killer punch today. I was very pleased with the football in the first half. The energy was great. But in the end you've gotta keep going."
Mark Milligan (Newcastle Jets): "It's been important that we stick to what we do and from day one I haven't been able to fault this group. They're willing to take onboard what we want from them - the football we want to play and the team we want to be. As the year has gone on it can be difficult to retain that focus but we continue to challenge them and they continue to rise to the challenge."
Read about how all eight managers reflected on their team's weekend performances here.
Next week's fixtures
We are back to a full six-game Round 18 starting in Adelaide on Friday night and concluding in Newcastle on Sunday evening.
