Graham Arnold reckons whoever beats Brisbane Roar over the course of the season is going to win the league. He said it before Saturday night's grand final rematch, and emphasised it after Central Coast Mariners had been beaten by the only goal of the game. He's right.

The biggest game of the weekend might have been in Melbourne, but the best was in Brisbane. European-standard intensity allied with the sort of creativity that makes the purists purr with delight. Most of it from the defending champions, but while the Mariners were second-best they, too, can take heart. Travelling to Brisbane again looms as the league's most difficult fixture, and Central Coast put up a decent fight.

Another level ... Erik Paartalu of the Roar. Credit:Getty Images

What is clear is that the two best teams of last season have gone to another level. Brisbane have gone an extra level again. Losing talismanic skipper Matt McKay and two players, Kosta Barbarouses and Jean Carlos Solorzano, who contributed 23 goals between them, had pundits wondering whether the Roar could recover. They haven't skipped a beat.

Newcomers Matthew Jurman and Issey Najakima-Farran stepped seamlessly into the breach. Albanian striker Besart Berisha hinted he has goals to offer in the first half an hour before he tired. And Kofi Danning's late cameo made him an instant favourite in ''The Den'' - much like he was in ''The Cove'' before he, like Jurman, decided his time at Sydney FC had come to an end.