LFC said:

thats friggin expensive going down in that boat to D land.
Nice weekend away though will be a weeknight game.

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yeah but it was more to take the car and do a little adventure, driving down from Lonnie with the fam and another couple of cars.... if its a weeknight, might just fly down and back for the day.... depends.

I go to Hobart 2-3 times a year anyway.

Monoethnic Social Club said:

yeah but it was more to take the car and do a little adventure, driving down from Lonnie with the fam and another couple of cars.... if its a weeknight, might just fly down and back for the day.... depends.

I go to Hobart 2-3 times a year anyway.

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yer it is damn nice down there but farkin cold !
You know I was there last year watching cars go round and round and round @ Symmons haha

QLD well shafted (I know there could be a cupset but realistically not)
Gold Coast Knights v Auckland you gotta say Auckland
Power v WSW you gotta say WSW
Brisbane City v Olympic (either/or) but I will go with City
Means just 1 QLD team in the RD of 16

LFC said:

Beretta, look ahead for next round - get to the northside grab the win surely next one will be a road trip.
Least you got a known local opponent APIA got the big sand/oil money sydnyisskyblue City.
Won't mind getting to Leichardt for it but expect I'll be crossing to SU following round unless APIA does the unexpected like the MV win back in 18.

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grab the win and move on, fingers crossed.

when will the dates and times of the fixtures be announced?

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

Glenardo said:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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Personally I'd rather keep the number of pro clubs (currently 11), maybe drop to 10 or increase to 12. Then that 10-12 is divided among both A-League and Championship (assuming the Championship becomes a proper pro league). I would have 1st and 2nd from both comps auto qualifying. Then the rest need to play-off for spots. Bottom clubs on the table miss out.

It depends on how many clubs we end up with in the top two tiers. And if we still want seperation of those clubs from the local cups.

Let's say we have 14 A-League and 12 NST teams. I'd have the top 6 (finalists) from each automatically qualify for the cup. Then playoffs for the rest, which would lead to 4 more qualifying from A-League and 3 more from NST. 19 so far.

The remaining 13 slots come from the local cups. Remember, they don't need as many spots anymore as most of their good teams have left for the NST (mostly from NSW and VIC). So 9 member fed cup winners qualify, that leaves 4 slots to distribute as desired.

The other simpler solution is just having all clubs play in their local cups. This means, for example, Western United can play Dockerty Cup. A true open cup, and all 32 teams qualify from their local cup. This means more slots for all federations. Of course, NST and A-League clubs would have a bye for the earliest stages.

Glenardo said:

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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Well if the said "big clubs" took the earlier knockout rounds more seriously then they would be there, the problem is they put out weakened teams against so called weaker opposition and often get beat as the other teams take it more seriously thats the beauty of cup football at the end of the day, to me its simple respect the opposition and take it more seriously. Good on teams like Cooks Hill United and Nunawading they get the rd of 32 and if they get a big home draw they get a big payday and deservedly so

Kevin Keegan71 said:

Well if the said "big clubs" took the earlier knockout rounds more seriously then they would be there, the problem is they put out weakened teams against so called weaker opposition and often get beat as the other teams take it more seriously thats the beauty of cup football at the end of the day, to me its simple respect the opposition and take it more seriously. Good on teams like Cooks Hill United and Nunawading they get the rd of 32 and if they get a big home draw they get a big payday and deservedly so

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100% this.. I agree the Australia Cup should be for ALL clubs, even the two bottom Aleague clubs that get knocked out for some bizarre reason....

Glenardo said:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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how the cookie crubles though Glenardo.
Cup football.

I’m not suggesting all clubs shouldn’t be able to qualify, just that all the clubs playing at the national level should enter at the national rounds. And many of the clubs do take the early rounds seriously, it’s just that qualification is much more cut throat in nsw and vic than it is in other places. You’re playing other championship clubs in the preliminary rounds

LFC said:

how the cookie crubles though Glenardo.
Cup football.

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This is a fair perspective that I’m sympathetic too

But then let the a league clubs go through the preliminary rounds too

Glenardo said:

But then let the a league clubs go through the preliminary rounds too

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They do in a way, 2 have already been knocked out

In all seriousness I agree with you but NPL is NOT yet a national comp, maybe when/if the Champiohsip fleshes out they will come in at Round of 64 time ?

Glenardo said:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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That’s the beauty of a cup competition.

new mini episode reacting to the draw

Glenardo said:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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How NNSW gets allocated 2 spots is beyond me.

kinda agree with this, but then i'd open it up to a round of 64. But in doing that, it will only cost you more $$$ that the FA dont have.

Glenardo said:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this comp will drive a lot more interest if going forward both a league and championship clubs enter at the round of 32. Will throw up so many more interesting noteworthy ties

13 a league clubs, 10-12 championship clubs and 1-2 other qualifiers from each state would probably be a better mix of clubs.

No disrespect, and fair play for qualifying, but too many park soccer teams and too few of the bigger clubs represented. No Preston, no Marconi, no Sydney Olympic..but we’ve got cooks hill united

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someguyjc said:

Personally I'd rather keep the number of pro clubs (currently 11), maybe drop to 10 or increase to 12. Then that 10-12 is divided among both A-League and Championship (assuming the Championship becomes a proper pro league). I would have 1st and 2nd from both comps auto qualifying. Then the rest need to play-off for spots. Bottom clubs on the table miss out.

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HappyGuus said:

It depends on how many clubs we end up with in the top two tiers. And if we still want seperation of those clubs from the local cups.

Let's say we have 14 A-League and 12 NST teams. I'd have the top 6 (finalists) from each automatically qualify for the cup. Then playoffs for the rest, which would lead to 4 more qualifying from A-League and 3 more from NST. 19 so far.

The remaining 13 slots come from the local cups. Remember, they don't need as many spots anymore as most of their good teams have left for the NST (mostly from NSW and VIC). So 9 member fed cup winners qualify, that leaves 4 slots to distribute as desired.

The other simpler solution is just having all clubs play in their local cups. This means, for example, Western United can play Dockerty Cup. A true open cup, and all 32 teams qualify from their local cup. This means more slots for all federations. Of course, NST and A-League clubs would have a bye for the earliest stages.

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Monoethnic Social Club said:

100% this.. I agree the Australia Cup should be for ALL clubs, even the two bottom Aleague clubs that get knocked out for some bizarre reason....

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Beretta said:

How NNSW gets allocated 2 spots is beyond me.

kinda agree with this, but then i'd open it up to a round of 64. But in doing that, it will only cost you more $$$ that the FA dont have.

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Personally, once the Championship is launched fully (and based off the whole 'Group Stage' numbers, I'm expecting that to get to 16 - it should go to a 64 national stage:

14 A-League clubs (assuming Canberra comes in eventually)
16 Championship clubs
Then, that would have 34 Member Fed clubs - based off the current breakdown, would probably be something like:

• Capital Football - 2
• NSW - 6
• Northern NSW - 4
• Northern Territory 1
• Queensland - 6
• South Australia - 3
• Tasmania - 2
• Victoria - 6
• West Australia - 4

Alternate option is to have the A-League all enter at the Round of 32, but having a national stage for the previous round including the Championship (again, will use 16 as the template), which would instead mean a 'Round of 50'.
This essentially would mean the First Round Proper (with the 16 Championship clubs, plus 20 Member Fed clubs (1 less than there is currently), and then the 18 winners advancing to the Second Round Proper (which would now have 32 clubs remaining).

If there's 14 clubs in both the A-League and Championship, this 20 Member Fed clubs would instead be 22 (meaning we'd need to allocate one extra to the current slots - and a First Round Proper (which would still be a "Round of 50")

NicCarBel said:

Personally, once the Championship is launched fully (and based off the whole 'Group Stage' numbers, I'm expecting that to get to 16 - it should go to a 64 national stage:

14 A-League clubs (assuming Canberra comes in eventually)
16 Championship clubs
Then, that would have 34 Member Fed clubs - based off the current breakdown, would probably be something like:

• Capital Football - 2
• NSW - 6
• Northern NSW - 4
• Northern Territory 1
• Queensland - 6
• South Australia - 3
• Tasmania - 2
• Victoria - 6
• West Australia - 4

Alternate option is to have the A-League all enter at the Round of 32, but having a national stage for the previous round including the Championship (again, will use 16 as the template), which would instead mean a 'Round of 50'.
This essentially would mean the First Round Proper (with the 16 Championship clubs, plus 20 Member Fed clubs (1 less than there is currently), and then the 18 winners advancing to the Second Round Proper (which would now have 32 clubs remaining).

If there's 14 clubs in both the A-League and Championship, this 20 Member Fed clubs would instead be 22 (meaning we'd need to allocate one extra to the current slots - and a First Round Proper (which would still be a "Round of 50")

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That's a cool idea. The biggest factor for expanding the Cup is cost, and I'm not sure FA will be expanding any time soon. They haven't even mentioned the Women's Australia Cup again after they previously promised it. I think that would be next before the men's comp is expanded.

One thing with your slot distribution is South Australia being harshly underrated! They are actually the 2nd best performing federation over the history of the cup. My own scientifcally proven coefficient table shows that they deserve more spots



This doesn't mean that SA is stronger overall than NSW. It just means that SA teams at the cup perform better than the NSW teams at the cup, but NSW have more teams present.

In summary, Queenland, WA and Northern NSW have too many spots, SA too few, and Victoria is absolutely dominant even with four or five teams present and easily deserve more spots than NSW, or NSW could lose a spot.

I know the spots are given based on number of clubs in the federation. But I think it should be based on quality rather than quantity. Why NNSW and WA get multiple spots when they've never performed over a decade is poor for the competition and a bad look.

This might be how the number of spots based on merit and current coefficients would look with the current 21 spots, then it will even itself out over the years and the number of spots perpetually updated:

VIC - 6
SA - 3
NSW - 3
QLD - 3
TAS - 2
ACT - 1
NNSW - 1
WA - 1
NT - 1