IN rugby league, the premiership is said to prosper when Souths are successful. Ditto the AFL and Collingwood. Really, both sayings are like plain black boots and pre-game routines that don't involve pig's brain extraction or cow's colostrum – now looking rather dated. Both competitions have moved beyond the point of needing one team to fire to thrive.

Football? Is this the sport whose health is, more than any other, dictated by the success of one team? You could mount strong arguments for cricket and rugby union, but both are more established codes at home, while lean periods for their national teams still mean top-10 rankings, not 46th and falling, positioned between Zambia and Costa Rica with Burkina Faso lurking. The strength of football internationally might again prove a weakness domestically.

Illustration: Edd Aragon

Here's hoping it won't. Football is reaching its domestic finale, a much-anticipated finals series in a breakout season, one in which the expansion team, Western Sydney Wanderers, has had remarkable success on the pitch and the terraces. The A-League has attracted marquee players and marquee sponsors. The improvement in on-field standards has been striking, while coaches are sought after and so are some homegrown players. Interest in the sport is probably as high as it has ever been. Yet if the Socceroos fail to go to Rio, what then?

It's been said the future of Australian football lies in Asia, but what might not have been stressed is how quickly the future has arrived. Australia needs success in Asia now. With the domestic scene booming, the code cannot afford the Socceroos busting in Asia group B.