The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 15 were...
Newcastle Jets - for claiming top spot on the table and making club history by winning five consecutive games for the first time in their 20 years of existence.
Mark Milligan is doing an incredible job at the Jets as a first-time head coach and has at his disposal a side that has already piled on at least ten more goals (34) than any other club in the competition, and whilst their defence in return is the second-worst only ahead of Wellington, their attractive and aggressive football has the city talking.
For the first time since 2018/19, the season after they were runners-up, at least 10,000 Novocastrians walked through the gates for an A-League match and they were treated to a four-goal spectacle that kept them at the summit and with a little more breathing space thanks to the likes of Auckland, Macarthur and Brisbane all dropping points.
Lachlan Bayliss registered his first career brace as teammates Lachie Rose jumped to the top of the Golden Boot race, whilst four other players - including potential Socceroos bolter Eli Adams - all have four goals to their name this season, further underlining the remarkable goalscoring depth that the Jets have put together.
Milligan truly has a side that works tirelessly and selflessly for one another on the pitch, and if they can conquer back-to-back away trips to Adelaide and Perth in the coming fortnight, they'll be very tough to stop thereafter.
The big losers of Round 15 were...
Melbourne Victory - for an abysmal final third performance against a ten-man Gosford on Sunday night.
Arthur Diles' side spent nearly 40 minutes on the pitch with a one-man advantage, and whilst the Mariners switched immediately to an ultra-defensive, dig in style strategy to preserve their one-goal lead, it's a scenario that every football manager needs to be prepared for.
As has been the story throughout much of their season so far, Victory were listless and even a bit clueless when in attack, creating just two clear-cut scoring chances from their 27 shot attempts.
If you need any further indication it is an issue they have been suffering from all season long, the Victory now lead the competition for total shots (251) but are seventh for goals scored (20), making them third-last for both goals per shot and goals per shot on target.
They desperately need some incisiveness in the front third, and there was nothing at all encouraging about the 20-minute debut of Charles Nduka, who recorded a Flashscore match rating of 5.4 out of 10.
Team of the Week
Read more about our Team of the Week here.
Goal of the Week
It was tough to choose between either of Jaiden Kucharski's two outstanding goals this week, but the control and composure shown to get onto the end of this long ball and chip it at the perfect weight.
What the managers said
Mark Milligan (Newcastle Jets): "We've got a team that gets better every single day and works extremely hard for each other. That is the minimum requirement that we have and now they're driving it on a daily basis. It starts again tomorrow and we won't allow anything other than that. I don't want them to ever be satisfied."
Michael Valkanis (Brisbane Roar): "I think we didn't turn up today. We were a shadow of what we have been in the past. If you look at the last game we lost against Adelaide, I think we were fantastic. You can lose games but not like this. To me, this is unacceptable. We're going through a bad patch and we need to turn things around quickly."
Giancarlo Italiano (Wellington Phoenix): "I don't know what to make of that game, honestly. I feel as though if we played that game over 20 times, we'd get the result every time. There was a brain fade for only five minutes. The second goal (conceded) was just comical to be fair. I'm not going to sit here and blame anyone for it. The penalty was not the reason we lost - it was just that five minutes where we should have done better."
Read about how all 12 managers reflected on their team's weekend performances here.
Next week's fixtures
