A King-sized blunder, but Roar still rule
You’d imagine Joel King will be feeling a major sense of relief right now.
After all, the Brisbane Roar defender inexplicably gave Perth a way back into tonight’s A-League fixture — when Glory had hardly earned that right.
Not to get all Fabian Delph in that Manchester City documentary, but you’ve just got to do the basics of football sometimes.
King plays the ball back with his less preferred right foot instead of poking at it with his stronger left, and honestly Roar probably win 3-0.
The Roar were that comfortable up until the Matthew Ellis goal.
But this is certainly not about taking aim at King or any particular individual. In fact, several Roar individuals caught the eye (we’ll get to that later).
There’s no doubt baffling errors were present on both sides this evening.
It’s what also allowed Brisbane to take a lead to begin with.
You try not to use such terms for young players, but it’s difficult to describe Andriano Lebib’s solitary half as anything but nightmarish.
He was passive in not meeting a Matt Sutton overarm throw in the 28th minute; Tate Russell flying through to take the ball and set up Justin Vidic.
Those paying attention might remember an almost identical situation moments earlier.
A weak back pass from Lebib was pounced upon, with an eventual cutback from Vidic repelled for a corner.
It was no surprise then to see the defender hooked at half-time, but perhaps Adam Griffiths was also making an admission he made a mistake with his starters.
After all, Lebib is a centre-back by trade and was playing on his unnatural side.
But really, most of the Glory contingent were nowhere near it in the first half.
Roar dominated the early stages, though it wasn’t all their making.
The Perth players seemed unsure of their defensive responsibilities, the pressure on the ball was poor, and it felt like the midfield pairing of Seb Despotovski and Lucas Scicluna barely had a kick.
Retreating was also the first reaction every time Brisbane roared into attack — this clearly addressed as Glory’s fullbacks seemed a bit more aggressive after the break, none more so than Tadiwanashe Kuzamba.
And although there was a minor improvement to start the second half, it was not significant enough for Glory to warrant being in the game until the end.
At one point anyone watching could’ve easily questioned what Glory’s plan was in possession.
So therefore, King’s error became the first turning point.
The second would surely be Stefan Colakovski not equalising in the 74th minute with the goal at his mercy.
An effort taken far too early, and frankly very poorly, by a player who wasn’t on his game tonight.
Perth huffed and puffed a bit after the big chance, with Jay O’Shea’s introduction adding extra intrigue to a contest which became a touch more engrossing the longer it went.
But ultimately they fell short, and it was probably just as Roar deserved all three points.
Many tuning in who watched this team last season may have joked to themselves about the pleasure of seeing Brisbane be a bit more focused on…playing some football.
The whole physicality narrative in 2025-26 was probably a touch escalated, but even when Roar were winning games early, it wasn’t with this quality.
It feels a little ridiculous it has taken this long into the article to mention Nam Tae-hee.
For starters, what a goal that was to put Roar 2-0 up.
There was a sense of inevitably as the ball popped out to the South Korea international.
The touch to tee up the volley was absolutely perfect, allowing Tae-hee to simply have a whack and find the top left corner.
Welcome to the A-League.
You look like an elite footballer, and it would be safe to say in the Visa department, Roar have long lacked those.
Elsewhere, Vidic and Virgiliu Postolachi seem to already have a decent understanding — love the “two bulldozers” analogy Erik Paartalu used in commentary.
Sprinkle in the excitement of Sabit Ngor, a solid outlet in Tate Russell, and the combativeness of Tyrese Francois, and this team might be alright.
But Roar fans were here last season, bouncing off the walls after an early win.
The bounces being heightened when they only lost one of their first eight.
Only for the campaign to torpedo drastically with one win from the last 16.
So let’s wait and see.
READ MORE!
MORE A-LEAGUE: Five pieces form Adelaide United's picture
SYDNEY DERBY REVIEW: All noise, no cutting edge
Comments