You might have missed it, but the A-League’s semi-final weekend was spectacular
Related Story: 'Greatest A-League goal ever': McGree lights up finals with stupendous scorpion kickRelated Story: Victory hands Sydney FC extra-time heartbreak to reach grand final
We had hoped at the end of this desultory season that the A-League would rise from the intensive care unit and prove there was life in the competition yet.
We did not expect it to kick off the sheets, somersault from the mattress, stick the landing and go cartwheeling down the corridor while juggling flaming torches and singing Blondie's Atomic.
If you were among the vast majority of viewers not privileged to attend or watch the A-League's tumultuous and hugely entertaining preliminary finals weekend, all you missed was:
Riley McGree scoring the goal of this and every other A-League season to put Newcastle on its way to the grand final.
His scorpion kick a feat of such mind-bending audacity you had to rewind the video four or five times to work out which of McGree's eight feet knocked the ball over the stunned Melbourne City goalkeeper.
Although, unless you happen to live in a cave or your NBN is undergoing its hourly maintenance, you will be one of the millions of viewers who has since seen McGree's genuine contender for world goal of the year on the many platforms that instantly spewed it across cyberspace.
You also missed the hilarious reaction of Newcastle's stoic coach Ernie Merrick, who did nothing to dispel the stereotype of the dour, thrifty Scot by remaining so steadfastly unemotional after McGree's magic moment you would have thought there was a tax on smiles.
You failed to witness the emotional scenes in the Newcastle crowd on the final whistle as a wonderful sporting town that had been deceived by the promises of a new money owner rose from the bottom of the pile to reach the grand final through canny management, wise recruiting and hard graft.
You didn't see another Scot, Jets' chief executive Lawrie McKinna, demonstrating that not everyone born north of Hadrian's Walls has a baked-on scowl by playing Billy Connolly to Merrick's Andy Murray and dancing joyously in the grandstand.
On Saturday night you missed a final that proved there really is a genuine Sydney-Melbourne rivalry.
Not the phoney war about which city has the best bars or scenic locations or celebrities (Melbourne, Sydney, neither), but which has the best football team in a very competitive league.
To your actual sports viewing shame, you missed one of the great stories of the year — Melbourne Victory's Terry Antonis becoming Terry Atone-us by scoring twice against his former club.
First the heartbreaking own goal with 10 seconds to play that handed Sydney FC a lifeline and left Antonis in tears of shame and remorse.
Then the ripping run down the right-hand side and slashing strike that was, in its own way, as impressive as McGree's "worldy".
You missed the glaring, growling sideline showdown between Sydney FC's Graham Arnold and Melbourne Victory's Kevin Muscat, whose demonstrative coaching and pantomime rivalry was itself a highlight; just as the stupidity of Victory assistants Jean-Paul de Marigny and Dean Anastasiadis took some of the gloss from their team's gritty win.
De Marigny and Anastasiadis will almost certainly not be allowed to sit on the sidelines for the Victory during Saturday night's grand final after running onto the field and tangling with Sydney FC's David Carney during what should have been a moment of jubilation.
Fitting punishment for a pair of knuckleheads who breached the code preached to every junior parent and official — the field is for the players and the referees only.
You missed a spine-tingling game that, depending on your perspective, underlined the wonderful uncertainty of play-off system in which the fourth placed Victory deprived a team that had dominated the season a place in the grand final.
Or — and you might get more sympathy for this opinion in Sydney — proved that the A-League champion should be the team that finishes on the top of the table, as it is in most football competitions worldwide.
There are, of course, some very good reasons why you might have missed viewing or attending an A-League season during which TV ratings, crowds and general exposure have plummeted like pork belly futures on the vegan stock exchange.
The disappointing lack of free to air exposure, the battle for control between the FFA and clubs, the disillusionment of fans who feel they are being unfairly restrained and the subsequent diminished atmosphere, consternation with the new VAR system and the ever more fearsome competition for media oxygen with rival codes were just some of the issues that sucked the life out of the home and away season.
And yet, as we have suggested all season, the one thing the A-League has going for it is … the A-League. A competition in which the standard has steadily risen, the stories like the Sydney FC-Melbourne Victory rivalry are evolving and which, at its very best, provides compelling and dramatic moments.
Now on the back of one of the most engrossing finals weekends in the A-League's short history we have a wonderful grand final — battling Newcastle playing for glory at its packed, pulsating home ground against the biggest club in the land.
Or, if you like your sport served with a bit of spice, the canny Merrick with a chance to gain revenge seven years after he was sacked by the club he took to two A-League championships.
So an A-League season that seemed destined for the mausoleum will instead end with a skip in its step and a song in its heart.
Surely, you wouldn't miss it.
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