Brisbane Strikers: Champions of Queensland

Sunday 9th Aug, 2009

Sunday, 9 August has become “Super Sunday” for the Brisbane Strikers, with the day seeing them confirmed as Hyundai QSL champions for 2009 without having to kick a ball.

Olympic FC’s second loss in succession – this time to the Sunshine Coast Fire at Kawana by a 3-1 scoreline – has ensured that Friday night’s 2-0 win by the Strikers over the NQ Razorbacks, which put them a point ahead of Olympic, was enough to win the Strikers the championship.

Olympic have the bye next week for the last round of regular season fixtures, while the Strikers will travel to Mareeba to play the North Queensland Bulls in a game that now has only ‘academic’ interest for the rest of the competition. The champions’ trophy will reside at Perry Park regardless of the result in Mareeba, and Stuart McLaren and his team have delivered ahead of schedule on their 2009 mission to ‘go one better’.

That is an outcome that seemed scarcely achievable four weekends ago after the Strikers slipped eight points behind Olympic when, with only eight players left on Perry Park at the end of a highly controversial night’s football, they held on for a 0-0 draw against the Redlands City Devils.

But their 3-1 win away to Olympic with a depleted squad in the following game seemed to signal a seismic shift in the balance of power at the top of the table and, whilst the Strikers continued coming home strongly, Olympic faltered.

“I’m absolutely delighted and pleased as punch for everyone associated with the Brisbane Strikers, from the Chairman and the Board of Directors to the players and the supporters’, said McLaren shortly after the result at Kawana was confirmed.

“It’s a good day to be involved with the Brisbane Strikers”.

McLaren said that he would not have a great deal to say to his players tonight, preferring to leave the pleasure of informing and discussing it with them to his captain, Matt Smith.

“I have had a few communications already – a few text messages and phone calls – but I’ve put in a call to Matt to pass on my congratulations to all of the players on a job well done”, McLaren said. “Any team that gets to call themselves champions has worked really hard because it’s about being consistent throughout the season - and that’s why the championship is more important to most of them than winning the grand final.

“But we’ll meet up tomorrow night for training and give ourselves a quiet pat on the back then”.

With the drama and tension associated with his team’s late charge for the championship now out of the way, McLaren promised there would be no let-up in their efforts when they travel to Mareeba. There are still challenges to be met.

“We still want to go and win the game”, McLaren said. “We are a proud club and we want to be winners in every game we play. There is extra motivation in wanting to take good form into the finals and there are also one or two motivations of an unusual kind. We have won every single game against the regional teams outside the south-east corner – the only game outside of Brisbane we haven’t won was a 2-2 draw against the Sunshine Coast - and we will want to maintain that”.

Adding even further lustre to the Strikers’ “Super Sunday” was the result in the Under-21s fixture between Logan United and the Redlands City Devils today. The 2-2 draw in that fixture, following the Strikers’ 7-1 win over South West Queensland yesterday, has left the Strikers’ Under-21s within one win of securing the championship “double” for the club. If the Strikers can beat Olympic FC at Yeronga next Sunday night they will also be crowned champions and McLaren urged Strikers supporters to get along to the match to help the Under-21s along.

“The young lads would really appreciate some friendly support in a hostile environment out there”, he said.