Six memorable moments from your club's 2018/19 season: Brisbane Roar

With Robbie Fowler's off-season renovation plans in place, Brisbane Roar supporters are starting to look forward to life under the former Liverpool great.

But despite the Queensland club enduring a miserable 2018/19 campaign - in which the club recorded their lowest ever points total (18) and conceded a league-record 71 goals - there was still plenty of excitement for the Roar faithful.

There was never really a dull moment at the three-time Hyundai A-League Champions last season - so let's take a look back at six of the club's most memorable.

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Bare bones Brisbane stun Sydney

Brisbane’s shock 2-1 win over Sydney FC in February was a triumph against all odds.

Already plagued by injury and suspension for high-flying Sydney's visit, Roar had defenders Luke DeVere and Jack Hingert withdraw to first-half injuries and went behind early in the second when Daniel De Silva struck.

But the depleted Queenslanders – who cobbled together makeshift defensive solutions in Matt McKay and 16-year-old debutant Izaack Powell – somehow survived wave after wave from Steve Corica’s men, and then mustered the strength to rally.

Tobias Mikkelsen lashed home an equaliser and Dylan Wenzel-Halls hammered in a memorable comeback winner, with the latter hurling himself into the frenzied Suncorp Stadium crowd. It was Roar's first win in 13 games, interim boss Darren Davies’ first victory at the helm, and it dealt Sydney’s Premiership bid a significant blow.

Wenzel-Halls scored late as Roar landed one of the upsets of the season over Sydney in February

Bautheac and Lopez goals in Mariners rout

As full-time scores like 5-3 (twice), 4-2 (twice) and 4-3 suggest, entertainment was always on demand when Brisbane were involved in 2018/19.

And although this was a night that highlighted the club's huge defensive shortcomings, Roar's 5-3 punishing of Central Coast Mariners in February was one of the most entertaining watches of the season.

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There were two clear highlights of the eight-goal thriller in Gosford, and they both involved Brisbane’s high-profile marquee recruits Eric Bautheac and Alex Lopez.

Bautheac and Lopez perhaps did not reach their potential over the course of their two-season and one-season stays with Roar, but the Frenchman's bicycle kick and Spaniard's thumping volley won't be forgotten in a hurry.

Brisbane put on a five-star attacking performance to sink the Mariners in February

Bautheac’s outrageous penalty

Bautheac left Brisbane at the season's end – one of 14 players let go by new boss Robbie Fowler in April – but not before delivering Roar fans a memorable parting gift.

That was, of course, the former Ligue 1 star’s outrageous ‘faux Panenka’ against Adelaide United in Round 27’s 5-3 defeat, an act of audacity which left football fans around the world rubbing their eyes in disbelief.

Did he mean it? No doubt fans will still be debating that - and whether the 31-year-old attacker should have been kept around by Fowler - for the duration of the post-season. 

Did he mean it? Bautheac's penalty will be debated all off-season

The emergence of Dylan Wenzel-Halls

Brisbane's leaky defence, top-gun Adam Taggart's departure for the K-League, an ongoing injury crisis and speculation over the club's head coaching role all gnawed away at the patience of Roar fans in 2018/19.

Dylan Wenzel-Halls was one of few silver linings.

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The former NPL Queensland sensation – who once scored eight goals in one match for Western Pride – was handed difficult circumstances upon which to make a name for himself in the Hyundai A-League, but Wenzel-Halls still turned out to be one of the season's breakout stars.

He scored five goals in total and the forward’s blend of tenacity and technique indicate he’s got what it takes to fire Brisbane back up the ladder.

Wenzel-Halls was one of the 2018/19 season's breakout stars

Club legends farewell

Championship winning Roar legends Matt McKay and Henrique both deserved to bow out in more glorious fashion.

But not even the extreme low points of Brisbane's campaign will dampen the legacy left by their now-retired skipper and ex-striker.

McKay – a two-time Championship winner - entered the Brisbane Roar Hall of Fame at the club’s end-of-season awards night, joining legendary goalkeeper Michael Theo and German play maker Thomas Broich.

Henrique won three Grand Finals for the Queenslanders, scoring in two, and has since re-joined the club to coach the club’s U16 NPL Queensland team.

McKay Henrique
Henrique (left) and Matt McKay (right) will go down as true Brisbane legends

Robbie Fowler appointed boss

If divine intervention was required to lift Roar out of their 2018/19 mire, they received it in the form of Fowler, who was appointed head coach in April on a two-year contract, ending the uncertainty that had hung over the club following John Aloisi’s resignation the previous December.

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Former Liverpool forward Fowler earned the nickname ‘God’ during his time as a prolific Premier League goalscorer, and was greeted in the same messianic terms when he first arrived in Australia as a player for North Queensland Fury in 2009.

But the tables have turned for Fowler, who faces a mountain to climb to turn the struggling Queenslanders around.

Brisbane Roar coach Robbie Fowler
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This article was originally published on the Hyundai A-League website.
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