Every A-League club has its positives and negatives as pre-season preparations swing into gear for the 2015-16 competition. Some have more plusses than minuses, while, unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good for others.
But that's football. Someone has to run first and someone has to run last, but there will be 27 rounds to sort much of that out before the finals, so no club can argue it won't at least have an opportunity to succeed.
Each club will face plenty of challenges along the way.
ADELAIDE UNITED
Will Eli Babalj provide the missing link?
Adelaide is going to have to cope with the sudden departure of coach Josep Gombau, but at least there is plenty of time to do that under new coach Guillermo Amor ahead of the new season.
The bigger question is can the club find a dominant goal-scorer.
Plenty of Adelaide players scored goals last season, but the Reds didn't have that one player who could be relied upon to come up with the big goals in the big games when it was absolutely necessary.
Pablo Sanchez was Adelaide's highest scorer, with eight goals - half of what the competition's leading scorer, Marc Janko, scored for Sydney FC.
Sanchez's total was only good for equal eighth on the goal-scoring table and three clubs - Melbourne Victory, Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory - each had two players ahead of Sanchez on the list.
Adelaide striker Bruce Djite is a fine player, but he is not a heavy scorer. Awer Mabil has now left the club, so he can't become that player.
Perhaps it will be Babalj, the 23 year-old former Melbourne Heart striker the club has signed on loan from Eredivisie club AZ.
He scored 11 goals in 35 games as an inexperienced young player in his first of two stints with Heart and also racked up multiple goals for Australian age-level teams and two in two games for the Socceroos against Guam.
Adelaide is bound to be very competitive, but there is the risk it will again come undone at the business end of the season unless it can find that one key man up front who can be relied upon to score when it is absolutely necessary.
BRISBANE ROAR
Does John Aloisi have what it takes to become a successful coach?
He's got the outstanding pedigree as a player, but he failed in his only stint as a coach so far - at the old Melbourne Heart.
He may have graduated too quickly to that job, though, after just one season in charge of Heart's youth team.
Heart's A-League side eventually went on a long losing run under Aloisi and he was sacked midway through his second season in charge, with a record of eight wins, seven draws and 24 losses from 39 games.
After he stepped back into football commentary for a while, Aloisi has returned to coaching with Roar giving him a chance.
He may turn out to be a very good coach, but at this stage we can only guess whether that will be the case. He still has to prove himself.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
How can it possibly win anything with its playing roster?
The Mariners were already struggling, having faded to finish eighth last season, and since then they have released a lot of players without putting any star players on.
There will be further additions, but it is well-known that the club doesn't travel well financially so it is unlikely it is going to make any earth-shattering announcements regarding signings.
That is, unless owner Mike Charlesworth uses the seven-figure amount the Mariners are understood to have earned from the transfer of their former player, Mat Ryan, from Club Brugge to Valencia, to spend on a marquee player or two. They could certainly do with that.
The squad now is light years away from the one with which Central Coast won the 2012-2013 championship. It's unfortunate, but a fact.
There looks to be a big struggle ahead for the team this season.
MELBOURNE CITY
Will Corey Gameiro and Harry Novillo give the team what it needs up front?
City has some other options in the forward line, but Gameiro and Novillo appeal as the two front-line attackers who really need to excel if the club is going to make a run at the title.
Novillo showed promise in his limited time at City last season and should kick on from there. Gameiro has joined the club from Sydney FC and is coming back from a knee reconstruction. He may need a bit of time to find his feet, but his commitment and enthusiasm are undoubted.
Aaron Mooy was City's leading goal-scorer last season, from midfield. It's great that Mooy can score goals, but his greatest benefit will be seen in the combinations he can work up with the players ahead of him.
City went for veteran former Socceroos striker Josh Kennedy midway through last season to try to fill the void up front and he has since retired because of injury.
It's a new age for the club now and there is reason to be optimistic about the contributions Gameiro and Novillo can make - particularly in partnership with Mooy's creativity.
MELBOURNE VICTORY
Any chance of a premiership hangover blunting its sharp edge?
Victory has done an outstanding job of keeping its championship-winning side together.
The one departure from the starting side for the grand final win over Sydney FC is captain Mark Milligan. Admittedly, that is a major loss, but it could have been worse.
Victory has managed to strengthen in the goalkeeping department by signing Danny Vukovic and has retained veteran forward Archie Thompson for another year after it appeared as if he may be squeezed out by salary cap restraints.
Sometimes, the stand-out team from one year can be guilty of resting on its laurels and miss out the following year because of that. The fact every other team will be judging itself mainly against you can make it harder, as well.
But Victory is obviously in great shape to press for honours again if the players are sufficiently motivated.
NEWCASTLE JETS
Where are the goals going to come from?
The Jets have struggled to score goals since Adam Taggart left the club after winning the competition's Golden Boot award in the 2013-2014 season.
Last season, the club produced the worst overall return in the A-League, with just 23 goals in 27 games.
The Jets were appalling in attack.
Edson Montano looked likely at times, and he managed to score a few goals, but he wasn't good enough to make a lasting impression without the service to him being of quality and most of the time it was awful. Montano has since left the club.
The Jets have got to get better out of midfield, for a start, but it is hard to see that happening with some of their more creative players - most notably Andrew Hoole and Zenon Caravella - having departed.
It is understood the club intends spending the money it still has left under the salary cap on a striker and an attacking midfielder. A couple of really good choices need to be made there.
Radovan Pavicevic shows potential up front, but he is still an inexperienced young player at this stage.
Labinot Haliti has joined Newcastle from Western Sydney Wanderers, but while he is a hard-working forward who can adjust to different roles across the front line he has never been a heavy goal-scorer.
It looks like being another very difficult season for the Jets.
PERTH GLORY
Where is it going to find the right striker?
Last season, before the team's campaign blew up in its face due to the club having been caught cheating the salary cap, Perth had Andy Keogh on fire as the starting striker and Jamie Maclaren was dangerous off the bench.
Now, all of a sudden, it has neither player.
Maclaren fought hard for a release from the final year of his contract, which was eventually granted, and Irish striker Keogh has this week left to take up a bigger offer in Thailand.
There had already been a large turnover of players at the club as a result of the salary cap drama and Glory really could have done without losing their leading goal-scorer.
The club will get someone in eventually, but will he be as good a get as Keogh was for the club? Remember, Glory was spending more than other clubs last season in the hunt for the right players. It can't be doing that again.
SYDNEY FC
Will the defence improve?
There were times last season when Sydney's defence was very good - but occasionally it was shabby. Part of the reason was that it had to be revamped after the season-ending injury to Sasa Ognenovski, but that could only be used as an excuse for so long.
A couple of times, sloppy defending when the team was well in front meant Sydney was pushed to the limit in games it should have won easily. Sydney couldn't get through Melbourne Victory's defence on grand final day, but Victory put three goals past Sydney.
Sydney coach Graham Arnold may have to do some tinkering with his defence during the pre-season, to find the right combination. Key defender Nikola Petkovic has left the club and several defenders have been added to the squad.
One of those is Zac Anderson, a central defender who played under Arnold at Central Coast. He appeared unsettled at the Mariners last season and linking up with Arnold again could potentially be very good for both the player and Sydney.
WELLINGTON PHOENIX
How do you replace Nathan Burns?
The answer is with great difficulty. Burns was the A-League's player of the year last season and the equal second-highest goal-scorer in the competition, with 13. He tormented defenders with his dynamic runs and excellent close control of the ball. But now he has gone to Japan.
Wellington tried hard to keep him, but it had been likely for a long time that the club would lose him to the right overseas offer.
Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick is as shrewd as they come and will be searching high and low for the right type of player to replace Burns as an attacking threat, but the reality is that the club got lucky in acquiring Burns in the first place.
He needed an opportunity after a disappointing few years overseas and Wellington provided it, but when another chance popped up overseas he took it. Phoenix probably did too well a job with him for the club's own good.
Someone will be found to replace Burns, but the odds of that player - whoever he may be - having a similar impact don't look good.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS
Will the reboot work?
The Wanderers had a massive cleanout of players at the end of its third season. They will be fielding a new-look side - still with some old stagers, but with many additions in key positions. Further signings are anticipated in coming weeks.
But what Wanderers fans will be eagerly waiting to see is what sort of playing style coach Tony Popovic will employ and how much it will be influenced by the fact the club now has a Spanish assistant coach, Andres Carrasco, and has also signed Spanish midfielder Andreu Guerao Mayoral.
A more possession-based style in the Spanish mould would be a considerable change for the Wanderers, but something has to happen after the team was disappointing last season - even taking into account the horror playing schedule due to AFC Asian Champions League commitments.
Wanderers do need to become more inventive out of midfield and will be hoping Mayoral and another new signing - Mitch Nichols - can contribute heavily to that happening.
The club is still trying to fill the void in the playmaking department left by the departure of Shinji Ono at the end of the 2013-14 season. It didn't work out with Brazilian midfielder Vitor Saba and he and the club split midway through last season.
