Just a few more days to go...

In brief:

- Melbourne Victory sign Harry Kewell who tries to market himself as 'Australia's Beckham'.

- Sydney FC convince Blackburn to release Brett Emerton, who signed for Sydney today on a 3-year deal.

- Adelaide & Perth sign a bunch of very talented players to produce two of the most well-balanced squads in the league's short history

- Brisbane Roar are still the team to beat.

Emerton eh? If he wasn't convinced of his ability to score anywhere up to the halfway line, I'd say he was a good purchase.

Obviously Kewell will be magnificent until Muscat breaks him in half at training while demonstrating to the Victory defenders how best to paralyse someone from the waist down.

Brisbane are still the big shots but they've lost some big guys too, notably Matt McKay. I'm gonna go with Adelaide to win it.

No doubt Brisbane will be brought back to the pack a bit. Certainly can't dominate again....but as long as we don't keep leaking players throughout the season, could have a good ACL campaign.

Losing McKay is a massive blow. DeVere was a big blow last season, Susak his replacement, gone too. Losing Barba and Solo is dangerous considering they are our top two scorers from last season. But when you look at it, the squad is still quite good...and that's with no marquee players yet. There's been rumours of rich owners coming in, and they may fund a move for a quality marquee. Unfortunately clubs like Sydney seem to have much more financial clout, and so they can afford to make Carle and Emerton possibly the players with the highest salaries in the league.

Anyway, Brisbane at this stage may have a best team something like this:

-----------------------------------------------------------Theoklitos--------------------------------------------------------

--Franjic--------------------------------------Adnan------------------Smith--------------------------------Stefanutto-

----------------------------------------------------------Paartalu-----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------Broich-------------------------------------------------Nichols-----------------------------------

--Henrique-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Berisha--

---------------------------------------------------------Meyer---------------------------------------------------------------

Bench from: Redmayne, Hingert, Jurman, Mundy, Murdocca, Brattan, Danning

Now, there are some points which will be interesting to see

1. Jurman will start at CB with Smith, because at this stage Adnan is lacking fitness

2. I don't know much about Berisha at the moment. He may be used as the striker rather than on the wing, and probably not immediately anyway

3. Meyer may not even start, but deserves to. He may be preferred on the wing. One thing for certain, he seems to have a habbit of scoring goals...lots of them

4. Broich could continue his role out wide (and drift in) like last season, but I feel he's best suited to a role in the middle, pulling all the strings

5. If Broich does play wing, Murdocca would be the natural choice in CM. He can run all day like Matt, but would ultimately be less effective. However, if Ange is unhappy having two attack minded CM's in the team (Nichols and Broich), there's every chance he will use Mass to pick up some defensive slack too.

6. Hingert looked quality in pre-season, and Franjic may have genuine competition.

7. It's looking likely we're signing Fitzgerald who I think was a CCM youth player. He's had a good pre-season.

8. At least in the early rounds, I can see Danning starting. Whether as a winger or striker, I don't know.

9. Visconte should have more of an impact this season. Playing either centre mid or on the left wing, he should get game time.

10. This could be Brattan's breakout year.

All Brisbane needs in my opinion is a genuine striker. Probably not so much a target man, but one who has pace, and is good with the ball at his feet. We have a couple of players who could play wing or forward, and could be that player, but really, we don't have the sort of striker that seems specialist up there. Would love a striking marquee.

Also, call me crazy if you will, but if there's an international match where the European players can't/aren't called up, I'd love to see Paartalu play in DM. Think he could be very good if given a chance. Along with Broich and McKay, he was a standout last season. Held the midfield together, starting attacks, and breaking up the oppositions. Good header in the final too ;)

Yeah Brisbane & Adelaide.