KEY POINTS:
A-League version 2, as the marketing men liked to call it, was a resounding success. More than 55,000 people filed into Melbourne's Telstra Dome to watch the home team tear apart Adelaide United 6-0 in the grand final, with Archie Thompson scoring five goals.
The challenge has been
set for Version 3 to be even better and clubs have pinned their hopes on this season's must-have accessory, a Brazilian. Michael Brown runs his eye over the eight clubs.
Melbourne Victory
Last Season: 1st (45 points)
The skinny: Melbourne finished seventh in the A-League's inaugural season but swept all before them in 2006-07 on the back of some entertaining football, big crowds, the goalscoring of Daniel Allsopp and Archie Thompson and the genius of Brazilian midfielder Fred. They will line up again as favourites, despite the fact they finished last in the Pre-Season Cup and that Fred has run away to join the MLS circus with DC United.
Major Gains: Ernie Merrick appears to have recruited well, signing Brazilian Leandro Love, Costa Rican World Cup striker Carlos Hernández and talented young Australians Kaz Patafta and Ljubo Milicevic.
Major losses: Fred is the biggest casualty. Kristian Sarkies has escaped the infamy of kissing Australian Prime Minister John Howard on his bald head by replacing Ross Aloisi at Adelaide, while Adrian Leijer and Simon Storey have headed to Europe.
Adelaide United
Last Season: 2nd (33 points)
The skinny: Many expected this season would be one of rebuilding after the bitter fallout from last season's grand final loss that saw coach John Kosmina and captain Ross Aloisi hung out to dry. But new boss Aurelio Vidmar has put together another strong squad and they again look strong contenders, having won the Pre-Season Cup.
Major gains: Striker Paul Agostino has returned to Adelaide after 15 seasons abroad (121 games in the German Bundesliga for 1860 Munich) as their marquee player. Jonas Salley (NZ Knights), Kristian Sarkies (Melbourne) and Brazilian defender Cássio have also joined.
Major losses: Carl Veart (retired), Ross Aloisi (Phoenix) and Shengqing Qu (released) are the biggest absentees.
Newcastle Jets
Last Season: 3rd (30 points)
The skinny: After a poor start last season that saw coach Nick Theodorakopoulos sacked, Newcastle achieved a dramatic turnaround in fortunes under Gary van Egmond. They finished third and narrowly missed a place in the grand final, losing to Adelaide on penalties. Newcastle have lost a number of good players from last season and looked like they could struggle until a host of South Americans flew into town.
Major gains: Former Brazilian international Mario Jardel is their marquee player and the Jets will hope he can find the sort of form that won him two European Golden Boot awards. Argentinian striker Jorge Drovandi and Brazilian midfielder Denni Rocha dos Santos have also signed.
Major losses: There are plenty. Milton Rodriguez (back to Colombia), Nicky Carle (Turkey), Vaughan Coveny and Tim Brown (both Phoenix) and retired skipper Paul Okon are the most significant.
Sydney FC
Last season: 4th (29 points)
The skinny: Sydney are the glamour side of the competition. They have the money, the influence (David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy will play an exhibition match against them in November) and the pedigree, having won the first A-League. And they now have a World Cup winner in Juninho (after unsuccessfully attempting to lure Philip Cocu, Robbie Fowler, Hakan Sukur, Christian Vieri, Jay-Jay Okocha and John Aloisi). Juninho might not boost the coffers of the King's Cross nightclubs in the way Dwight Yorke did before him but he could well prove to be just as influential on the field. Branko Culina has taken over from Terry Butcher to become Sydney's third manager in as many seasons.
Major Gains: Juninho, former Australian international defender Tony Popovic, who will captain the side, American Mike Enfield and Brazilian Patrick da Silva.
Major Losses: Yorke returned midway through last season to join former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane at Sunderland and they have also lost David Carney (Sheffield United).
Queensland Roar
Last Season: 5th (29 points)
The skinny: Frank Farina has taken the big broom to last year's squad and replaced them with a mixture of old and new. Queensland have traditionally played an exciting brand of football, to go with their exciting orange shirts but there was widespread disappointment at missing out on last year's playoffs, albeit on goal difference.
Major Gains: Uncompromising Australian defender Craig Moore (Newcastle, UK) fills the marquee spot and Danny Tiatto (Leicester) has also joined. Former Socceroos coach Farina has also refused to be outdone by the other clubs, signing Brazilian striker Marcinho.
Major losses: Swept away have been Chad Gibson (the first season's pin-up boy), Swiss import Remo Buess and Yuning Zhang (China's David Beckham). German import Marcus Wedau was released on compassionate grounds.
Central Coast Mariners
Last season: 6th (24 points)
The skinny: Advance Australia fair. Central Coast have bucked the trend and have only one overseas player in their squad of 22 - German midfielder André Gumprecht, who has played in Australia for several years. Manager Lawrie McKinna has cleaned out the squad that went from grand finalists to also-rans in one season. They showed good pre-season form but it's difficult to see them pushing for the title.
Major Gains: They will hope former Sydney striker Sasho Petrovski solves their goal-scoring woes, while goal-scoring defender Dean Heffernan has returned from a season in the German Bundesliga.
Major losses: Last season's skipper Noel Spencer was shown the door and has walked into Newcastle's.
Perth Glory
Last Season: 7th (20 points)
The skinny: Perth fans will hope after a couple of lean years that glory returns to the club that once dominated Australian football. They're now enjoying the stability of new ownership and also had a good run through to the Pre-Season Cup final but are still without marquee signing Stan Lazaridis, who is fighting a drugs ban.
Major Gains: Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Nick Rizzo, Mate Dragicevic and Nikita Rukavytsya have joined, along with former West Ham, Portsmouth and Leeds defender Hayden Foxe.
Major Losses: Perth have lost their strikers Bobby Despotovski (the 2005-06 Golden Boot and Johnny Warren Medallist for the league's best player) and Stuart Young to retirement.
Wellington Phoenix
Last Season (Knights): 8th (19 pts)
The skinny: New club, new city, new players, new coach... fans will hope it means new results.
Major gains: Brazilian quartet Daniel, Cleberson, Felipe and George, fiery midfielder Ross Aloisi and All Whites Tim Brown, Vaughan Coveny and Shane Smeltz.
Major losses: Jonas Salley has swapped clubs with Ross Aloisi.
