As one A-League giant woke from its slumbers, another has been left wondering where to turn next.
Western Sydney Wanderers will play finals football for the first time in six years after Saturday's 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory, who barring a miraculous turn of events, will miss the top six for the second time in the last three seasons.
The Wanderers haven't featured in the finals since 2017, when current Victory coach Tony Popovic was at the helm of the club.
The turnaround under Marko Rudan has been impressive over the last year, with a slew of smart recruits from home and overseas turning the Wanderers into a team that is combative, entertaining and resilient.
Captain Marcelo, who returns from suspension next week, has been a rock in defence, Brandon Borrello has 11 goals in 24 games and a midfield trio of Morgan Schneiderlin, Calem Nieuwenhof and Milos Ninkovic is the envy of most in the competition.
"The bigger the challenge, the better," Rudan said.
"If we are to improve going forward we need to have a certain mentality every game.
"There's still a lot of improvement as far as I'm concerned.
"But at this time of the year, it's time to take my hat off to a lot of people, particularly my players and my staff for securing finals for this football club for the first time in a long time."
On the other side of the coin, Popovic cut a dejected figure as Victory's season from hell neared its end.
Goals on the counter from Borrello and Amor Layouni stung them and the euphoria of their strike - courtesy of Nishan Velupillay - was quickly undone by Roderick Miranda's second-half dismissal.
"That pretty much summed up our season," Popovic said, with his side sat bottom of the ladder.
Without mentioning it by name, Popovic alluded to the impact the derby pitch invasion had on the club this season.
Long-term injuries to Nani and Jake Brimmer haven't helped their cause and, with a large chunk of their squad off contract, a revamp looks likely after their final two games.
"We have to be a lot better," Popovic said.
"I think the first half of the year, for various reasons, cost us.
"We know what success looks like, we won a trophy last year and were one point off the premiership.
"Performances show we're not far off, but the results don't, so we've got a lot of work to do."
