Though they've yet to play a game and haven't even conducted their first training session the Melbourne Heart are going about their entrance into the A-League in exemplary fashion. Yesterday they stepped things up another notch by confirming the signing of John Aloisi, an event in itself with the former Socceroo showing off the Heart's impressive red and white strip to the scores of journalists who attended the announcement. The backdrop provided by the simply stunning Rectangular Stadium on Swan Street, itself almost complete and set to be the home of the A-League's eleventh club.
That the signing of a player who to be fair to Aloisi is past his prime and who's signed for just one season could be greeted by such fanfare and receive such media attention is something the A-League could have only dreamed of, particularly so amid the start of the AFL and months out from the commencement of its own season.
Of course there will be problems for the Heart and not everything will go as smoothly and appear so as exciting as it did yesterday. For instance they'll enter the A-League at a very delicate time for Australian domestic soccer where the bulk of its clubs aren't exactly making money and where attendances outside of Melbourne, and to an extent Sydney, have fallen slightly. They'll be equally concerned at the plight of the two most recent A-League expansion franchises with North Queensland Fury being for the moment financially propped up by the FFA, while the Gold Coast experienced dismal crowds all season with rumours persisting that their billionaire owner Clive Palmer is eager to sell.
For now however the Heart are doing precisely the right thing by assembling a squad capable of immediately competing with the likes of the Victory and Sydney FC and are doing so with an astute, systematic and balanced approach to player signings. Quite unlike the Gold Coast and North Queensland who built their squads either with a disproportionate emphasis on attack or by putting too many of their eggs in the one basket. It's for these reasons the Heart began assembling their squad from the back, adding Matt Thompson and Dean Heffernan, two players capable of fulfilling a number of roles but most home in defense. The trend continued when they recently captured the signatures of arguably the A-League's best and most experienced shot stopper in Clint Bolton and weeks later adding Socceroo central defender Simon Colosimo.
If nothing else, yesterday's parading of Aloisi reminded the football world that the Heart are both determined to be relevant in a sporting city never short of action and that they are indeed capable of attracting the big names. By adding a proven striker in Aloisi they've also demonstrated they haven't forgotten about the importance of scoring goals as the additions of Wayne Srhoj and Jason Hoffman have already proven but in which would never have generated the same interest as yesterday's event.
It really is testament to the Melbourne Heart that we're still talking about domestic soccer weeks after the Grand Final and months out from the new season. By signing Aloisi the Heart have ensured they remain in the headlines, particularly at a time when the Victory are reeling from a heartbreaking Grand Final loss along with the failure of their ACL campaign.
Just imagine what will happen if they do convince Mark Viduka to sign?
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