It has been ten glorious years of the A-League, but as Melbourne Victory marched its way to the title, was this the most exciting season of the past ten?

What defies a “great season”? It is rather simplistic, but it has to be exciting from the start of the season to the finale:an intense spectacle filled with twists, turns and controversial moments where you are glued to your seat and you are emotionally wreaked by the end of it, but you want more.

Therefore, we begin ranking the A-League seasons…

10: 2007/08
A season in which two of the lesser lights from the M3 freeway contested the Premiership and the Championship. Maybe because it was between the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners, that no one really remembers the season as a whole. Barring the final when Danny Vukovic went on a one-man war against the officials.

9: 2005/06
Perhaps it took us a little time to get used to the A-League, but season one was not with its moments despite the average standards. This was all Adelaide United marching to the Premiers’ Plate in front of heavy favourites and the Dwlight Yorke-led Sky Blues. Of course, John Kosmina contrived to blow up his team’s chances, by insisting to hosting the first leg at home, instead of playing in Sydney. It shot itself in the foot as the Mariners surprised everyone to make it to the Grand Final, but like so many predicted, Sydney took the inaugural crown.

8: 2007/08
Version Two of the A-League saw the emergence of the Victory in a dominant seasonal performance. It won seven straight and cruised to the premiership with games to spare thanks to a 12-point buffer. Yet, in the rest of the league it was quite exciting. The Knights were dumped, Sydney became embroiled in a salary-cap dispute, and pipped the rather aggrieved Brisbane Roar to make the finals. The finals were a pulsating affair thanks largely to James Robinson’s 93rd minute winner and Archie Thompson’s five-goal heroics in the Grand final.

7: 2013/14
Brisbane have a habit of winning Grand Finals by the edge of its teeth, and while it again pulled the rabbit out of the hat when it took down the Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in extra time, this season was all about the Roar. Completely dominant from start to finish, it took the Plate by 10 points. There was little less to chat about, except how far behind the pack was.

6: 2008/09
Talk about the fine margins. The Victory took the premiership by “Goals Scored” after tying first with Adelaide on the same points and goal difference. The same it could be said about a rather exciting Grand Final, in which the Victory took out the double thanks to Tom Pontejak strike after United were down to 10 men. The Jets crashed and burned becoming the first team to win the Championship and backing it up with the wooden spoon the following season.

5: 2011/12
The Melbourne Heart made its first finals appearance. Big boys, Adelaide and the Victory were going through changes and managers like crazy. But this season was all about the Roar and the Mariners. A repeat of Grand final between the two best teams of the season before was expected. Yet, the Mariners, before getting that title tasting feeling, went down in straight sets in the finals. The best was to come with the Besart Berisha’s 91st minute penalty seeing the Roar claim back-to-back titles for the first time and condemning the Glory to a heartbreaking and controversial defeat. The question still remains: did he dive or did he trip?

4: 2014/15
The Victory might have cantered to the championship in an effective and spellbinding finals run, but come the final weeks of the season, up to the five teams had the chance to take the Premiers’ Plate. Broken up in between thanks to the Asian Cup, this season was absorbing. The Glory were the pack leaders, until we found out it broke the rules and were dumped out of the finals. Melbourne City was born, but still did not achieve what its owners wanted. And the FFA had the final it dreamed off with the Victory hosting Sydney (in a smaller stadium though).

3: 2012/13
A season defied by the Western Sydney Wanderers. Talk about the surprise package. In its first year, under the leadership of Tony Popovic, the Wanderers stunned everyone by finishing first with ten straight wins (an A-League record), breaking crowd records and firmly planting its first in the A-League. We also welcomed the first Sydney derby, which is a headline act in the A-League. The Mariners finally got its hands on the Championship in a rather subdued final. There was plenty of other action, as Postecoglou rejuvenated the Victory, the Glory pushed Sydney out of the finals thanks to a better goal difference on the final day and we welcomed legend Alessandro Del Piero to the league. Oh and Emile Heskey.

1: 2010/11
This was the season in which the standards of the A-League truly lifted, thanks to Postecoglou’s Brisbane Roar. It’s slick, passing game took the game by the balls (literally) and finally made the sporting world notice that Australians can play great football. Sydney suffered a post-championship collapse, the Victory no longer maintained its high standards and we welcomed the Melbourne Heart.

We also had the classic “Pragmatic vs Purist” games with Graham Arnold’s more defensive Central Coast Mariners challenging the Roar for top honours. It all accumulated in an epic mind-blowing Grand Final, which puts Manchester City’s “AGUEROOOOOOO” moment second on the pedestal.

1: 2009/10
Everything you want in the season of the A-League. Two new boys on the block with Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury arriving from high up north. We had United, under the tutelage of the Mirion “Mourinho” Bleiberg surprising everyone and making it to the finals. It joined the Wellington Phoenix, who thanks to Shane Smeltz banging in the goals, went all the way to the Premlimary Final in its first apperance.

Down near the bottom, Adelaide crashed completely, while a man by the name of Ange Postecoglou took over the ageing Brisbane Roar and began a rebuilding process.

There was the title battle. Come the final day, Sydney invited Melbourne to the Allianz Arena. The winner would take the Premiers’ Plate and host a home game in its second leg. Sydney duly won 2-0, but it did not help come finals time, as the Victory put the Sky Blues to the sword winning 4-3 over two legs. Advantage Melbourne in the final? No chance. In an exhilarating Grand Final, the boys from Sydney took the title 4-2 in a penalty shootout, the first ever in A-League history.