Australia Cup 2024 Final Rounds Playoffs Preview
The Australia Cup preliminary finals will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Darwin, with two curtain-raiser A-Leagues clashes to get the 2024 competition started.
The bottom four teams from last season’s A-League Men’s competition are involved, with a better season in 2024/25 high on the agenda.
READ MORE: How to Watch the Australia Cup Playoffs
READ MORE: The Australia Cup Playoffs Explained
READ MORE: How Melbourne Victory went from Playoffs to Cup Winners
Brisbane Roar FC v Perth Glory FC
Date: Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Time: 7:00pm Local, 7:30pm AEST
Venue: Darwin Football Stadium
The 2023 Cup runners-up Brisbane Roar face Perth Glory on Tuesday night at Darwin Football Stadium in the first of a Darwin double header to decide the final two places in the Round of 32.
In ninth on the A-League Men 2023/24 ladder, Brisbane finished the highest out of the teams in the Playoffs, with eight wins across 27 rounds.
They had a tough run to finish the season with only one win out of their last six matches.
However, they picked up comprehensive victories over Sydney FC, Melbourne City and A-League Men double-winner Central Coast Mariners throughout the season - demonstrating glimpses of their quality.
In 2023, Roar went all the way to the Australia Cup Final, where they took the lead but fell to a late Sydney FC resurgence.
The Roar have made many moves in the off-season, including signing Adelaide United trio Ben Warland, Harry Van Der Saag and Ben Halloran.
They added LA Galaxy Academy product Marcus Ferkranus to their defense, and Lebanon international Walid Shour to their roster as they look to reshape their midfield, with 35-year-old Jay O’Shea staying another year.
Finally, young forward Thomas Waddingham—who introduced himself to Australian football in this competition last year—will target a similar impact this time around.
Perth also experienced a significant turnover in the winter months and made some sturdy signings ahead of the season including Belgian defender Anas Hamzaoui.
Established A-Leagues stalwarts Josh Risdon and Brandon O’Neill are among their new acquisitions, both rejoining the club, while Nikola Mileusnic and Taras Gomulka have swapped Brisbane for Perth.
Recently recalled Socceroo Adam Taggart will provide the Glory’s goal threat again this season after his 20-goal haul last campaign.
The Glory will hope that these new players will help them improve on their last-place finish in 2023/24.
A win over last season’s runners up would be a great way to start their improvement on their last-place finish in 2023/24, especially after they lost 4-0 to Macarthur in the 2023 Playoffs, ending their run after only one game.
There wasn’t much between these teams in the A-League Men in 2023/24, with each claiming a narrow win. Brisbane defeated Perth 2-1 at home while Glory won the reverse fixture 3-2 at HBF Park.
Ins and Outs
Brisbane Roar
Ins: Harry Van Der Saag, Ben Warland, Marcus Ferkranus (LA Galaxy), Hosine Bility (loan – Clube Desportivo de Mafra), Ben Halloran, Walid Shour (Al-Ahed)
Outs: Kai Trewin, Tom Aldred (Mohun Bagan), Carlo Armiento, Nikola Mileusnic, Jonas Markovski, James Nikolovski, Ayom Majok, Shae Cahill, Taras Gomulka, Marco Rojas
Re-signings: Macklin Freke (2026), Keegan Jelacic (loan renewal)
Perth Glory
Ins: Josh Risdon, Brandon O’Neill, Andriano Lebib (scholarship), Khoa Ngo (scholarship), Zach Lisolajski, Anas Hamzaoui, Nathanael Blair, Nicholas Pennington, Taras Gomulka, Will Freney (scholarship), Adam Bugarija, Abdelelah Faisal, Lachlan Barr, Hiroaki Aoyama, Nikola Mileusnic
Outs: Daniel Bennie (Queens Park Rangers), Darryl Lachman, Mark Beevers, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bruce Kamau, Antonis Martis, Jayden Gorman, Stefan Colakovski, Salim Khelifi, John Koutroumbis, Josh Rawlins, Adam Zimarino
Re-signings: David Williams, Trent Ostler, Kaelan Majekodunmi, Jarrod Carluccio, Riley Warland, Jaylan Pearman, Joel Anasmo
Newcastle Jets FC v Western United FC
Date: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Time: 7:00pm Local, 7:30pm AEST
Venue: Darwin Football Stadium
Newcastle Jets take on Western United on Wednesday night at Darwin Football Stadium, in a repeat of the 2021 Playoff between the two sides that saw Western United emerge victorious.
Following the successful introductions of Lachlan Bayliss and Clayton Taylor in 2023/24, the Jets have announced the signing of several more new young players who will try to take the step up.
And they’ll need to, as the side lost experienced regulars Jason Hoffman, Brandon O’Neill, Trent Buhagiar, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Reno Piscopo over the break.
NPL Men’s NSW Sydney FC stars Oscar Fryer and Matthew Scarcella have signed on for this season, while 22-year-old Eli Adams joins from Melbourne Victory.
Newcastle made two signings over the age of 23. Aleksandar Susnjar, the 28-year-old centre-back, will likely slot in for the departed ex-Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson.
And recently, Lachlan Rose signed on for the Jets, arriving from Macarthur FC to add some more fire power.
The Jets were an entertaining watch in the Cup last year, prevailing on penalties in the Playoffs against Victory before losing with 10 men against eventual finalists Brisbane Roar.
Their league form provided some similarly entertaining football, with the team failing to score on only six occasions in the 2023/24 ALM season despite finishing 10th.
Taylor’s breakout season was critical to this, contributing seven goals and three assists in the A-League Men last campaign.
Western United’s goalscoring issues were no secret last season, but they may have gone some way to fixing that with the acquisition of Hiroshi Ibusuki up front.
The 33-year-old bagged 15 goals for Adelaide United last season - which was the fourth-highest in the A-League Men Golden Boot race.
United also brought in Western Sydney Wanderers fullback Tate Russell to replace former Socceroo Joshua Risdon, while Steven Lustica and Lachlan Wales are other outgoings.
The squad is currently in a state of renewal as the Green and Black look to youth to reinvigorate the ranks, with several exciting youngsters vying for inclusion such as recent ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship winner Anthony Didulica and OFC U-19 Boys’ Championship winner Luka Coveny.
They will however be without young guns Luke Vickery, Jake Najdovski and Dylan Leonard, all representing the Subway Young Socceroos at the ASEAN U-19 Boys Championship in Indonesia.
There was only two points between the teams in the A-League Men last season with Newcastle prevailing twice, 1-0 on the road, and 2-0 at home, before Western United took the third and final meeting at AAMI Park 2-0.
Western has progressed further each year they have taken part in the Australia Cup exiting to Wellington Phoenix at the Round of 32 in 2021, Round of 16 at the hands of Sydney United 58 in a cupset shootout thriller in 2022, and reaching the Quarter Finals for the very first time in 2023 where they were defeated by eventual winners Sydney FC.
Ins and Outs
Newcastle Jets
Ins: Ben van Dorssen (scholarship), Eli Adams, Alex Nunes (scholarship), Zac Bowling (scholarship), Oscar Fryer, Aleksandar Šušnjar, Matthew Scarcella (on loan from Sydney FC), Lachlan Rose
Outs: Jason Hoffman (retired), Lucas Mauragis, Brandon O’Neill , Trent Buhagiar, Reno Piscopo, Jason Berthomier, Daniel Stynes, Archie Goodwin, Michael Weier, Carl Jenkinson, Lucas Mauragis, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos
Re-signings: Noah James (2025-26), Callum Timmins (2024-25), Phillip Cancar (2025-26), Lachlan Bayliss (2025-26), Kosta Grozos (2025-26)
Western United
Ins: Abel Walatee (first professional contract), Hiroshi Ibusuki, Khoder Kaddour (first professional contract), Luke Vickery (first professional contract), Luka Coveny, Dylan Leonard, Tate Russell
Outs: Steven Lustica, Josh Risdon, Nikita Rukavytsya, Jacob Tratt, Connor O’Toole, Lachlan Wales, Daniel Penha
Re-signings: Sebastian Pasquali (2025-26)
