The difference between these two sides can be measured, perhaps, by the way a couple of the more experienced players - one from each team - spoke about the younger players after the match.
Aurelio Vidmar spoke of Adelaide's youngsters as though they had a future. A future in the finals and careers beyond. He was concerned about their tendency to ball watch and let the likes of Stuart Young find space behind them. But though their mettle would be tested, they had strong and experienced players around them. They would learn. And Adelaide United would take it to the supposed favourites.
Ben Blake said at least he had a day job (though he thought his game suffered because of it). He was concerned that the youngsters in the Wollongong squad had no other job and had months to wait to see what their footballing future might be.
If it wasn't a sense of destiny, then at least it was the more experienced heads in the Adelaide team that enabled them to withstand an early Wolves assault and then prevail despite a rash of embarrassing misses.
Wolves made a familiar kick off, playing to Jason van Blerk on the left. Michael Hawrysiuk, after a neat, quick build up, almost got Nick Sabljak away on the right, but the pass was cut out. Shane Lyons went down in the penalty area. No penalty was awarded but Lyons was adamant he was pulled back. Stuart Young headed on for Chimaobi Nwaogazi who didn't know what to do with the ball on the left of the box. Lyons was good covering David Terminello, Richie Alagich acrobatically cleared under pressure from van Blerk after good work by Sabljak down the right, and Sabljak was good back defending and nutmegging Fred Agius.
Wollongong obviously started the game as if they had something to play for Š if only pride. van Blerk was a bit slow to a ball and Ross Aloisi beat him, leading to an Adelaide cross across the face of goal. van Blerk then hit a brilliant ball for Young running into the right of the Adelaide penalty area. There was plenty of room to run into, but the ball was a bit too hard or, as the bloke behind me said, "Getting too slow, Stuart."
Adelaide won a corner at the other end. Terminello took it, Blake headed clear. Young was very eager tackling Aurelio Vidmar. van Blerk crossed too long for Sabljak (the standout Wolves player in the early stages), but Sabljak salvaged possession, only for Adam Hughes to give it away.
Sabljak was fouled outside the Adelaide penalty area. Young took the kick from the right to the far post and Wollongong won a corner. Two Wolves players just missed making contact with their heads. Wolves continued to play attractive football. But then Š Agius had a chance on a loose ball in the Wollongong penalty area but hit it over the bar.
Adelaide won a free kick that Danial Cummins, under pressure at the left post, headed away for a corner. Adelaide had a clean header back into the box from the right side. Cummins headed clear but Wollongong gave Adelaide too much space on the ball close to goal until, in the 16th minute, Terminello had a clear chance but shot left of goal.
Then, in contrast to their earlier calm on the ball, Wolves started panicking without it.
In the 20th minute Adelaide crossed from the right. Aaron Goulding and Agius were unmarked at the far post (I was getting furious at Cummins' failings in that position, but his coach, John Turner, later apportioned some of the blame to midfielders not dropping to help). Goulding tried to volley high with his left foot at a narrow angle to goal and shot high.
Hughes, who was tackling strongly but letting Wolves down with his poor touch, fouled Terminello. Aloisi took the kick and Cummins got up highest and headed back to Andrew Crews.
Adelaide's keeper, David Scarsella, and Vidmar combined to allow Nwaogazi a few harmless stabs toward goal. The Adelaide pair then remonstrated with each other about whose fault it was.
Goulding had a long throw but Wolves were better in the air. Then van Blerk hit a perfectly weighted early ball for Young but Carl Veart robbed him.
Kristian Rees won a header in the Wollongong penalty area but Wolves headed clear. Wollongong got a free kick decision in their favour and the fans were shocked. Sabljak couldn't swing the kick sufficiently. In the 29th minute Sabljak hit a perfect shot on goal, after the ball was headed down into his path. Scarsella made a great reflex save.
A minute later, with an Adelaide player making a good run to the left post, Agius struck the ball against the right post. Crews was beaten. Agius came in for the rebound and shot left of goal. Nwaogazi and Young made some inroads into the left of the Adelaide box until Young was surrounded and couldn't get a shot away.
Sabljak, after not making the most of two earlier free kicks, lined up another from 30 metres. The woman next to me said, "Don't shoot this time." But Sabljak did shoot. And it was a beauty. Scarsella tipped the ball over the crossbar and then couldn't hold the corner. Nwaogazi hit a gentle overhead kick and Scarsella regathered.
Adelaide broke down the right. Veart received a perfect ball and headed wide right. The worse miss of the match so far. But it was terrible, terrible defending by Wolves.
Another Adelaide cross came in from the right. Again the left post was undefended. An Adelaide player just got his head to the ball and popped it up. It looked harmless at first but beat Crews and bounced off the crossbar.
Michael Valkanis almost let Nwaogazi get away down the right but tackled back. Hawrysiuk got a break into the Adelaide box from the right but crossed rubbish. Adelaide had another long throw from the left. Valkanis had a free shot but it was deflected left of goal. Crews punched the corner high over the bar. Crews got up just over Veart and Wollongong cleared but the ball came back out to the left where Vidmar was unmarked but couldn't quite get up high enough to bring the ball down. Hawrysiuk crossed from the right and Young headed over.
Alagich got his yellow for a foul on Hughes. It was a two-footed effort, said the Wolves fans, so where was the red? Alagich rolled van Blerk who had been kept very quiet in the first half. Veart was again set up for a shot which again was deflected left of goal. On the basis of good chances missed, the first half should have ended 4-2 in favour of Adelaide. Or perhaps 5-2.
It was quite an exciting first half. If there had been a few thousand Adelaide fans there howling at the misses it would have been pumping.
The second half began with Veart having a crack over the Wollongong goal. Goulding ruined Young's plans in the right corner. When Wolves broke, Adelaide had a two to one advantage. When Adelaide broke it was one on one. And Adelaide broke away again and won a corner. Crews couldn't hold but Wolves scrambled it away. Moments later there was a real goal-mouth scramble. And when it seemed an Adelaide player had a chance to strike he fell over.
In the 54th minute Stewart van Bentum replaced an injured Lyons and looked like he meant business. Aloisi, running onto a pass from the left, had a dig over the Wolves crossbar. Nick Budin got a yellow undeservedly when van Blerk fell over the ball trying to get away down the left. Hawrysiuk beat the offside trap and was free in the right side of the Adelaide penalty area. He let loose a typically strong shot and Scarsella again did a good job.
Young was looking for work but his touch had deserted him. Jacob Timpano, who was doing well at centre back, did a good job with a cross from Alagich. Hawrysiuk hit a long ball over for van Bentum who didn't seem to trust his left foot and doubled back only to right foot the ball to Scarsella.
In the 62nd minute Veart was in space on the left but Crews left his line and shut Veart down. Terminello was free on the right. Cummins was closest but just watched. Terminello could have shot, passed to two players or kept running at goal. He hit a poor shot high over the goal. The fighting spirit of Timpano got Sabljak a shooting chance from 25 metres Š left of goal. Budin beat Cummins to a cross from Michael Brooks on the right. The header went left of goal. Alagich dummied with his right foot and shot with his left. It was blocked. van Bentum hit a fine cross from the left and Wollongong won a corner. Scarsella took the ball high and well. Tanju Balabanel replaced Sabljak and Young dropped to midfield. van Bentum pushing forward was exposing Wolves on the left.
In the 75th minute Agius found space on Adelaide's left and shot past the right post. van Blerk hit a great left foot cross from the right corner. Nwaogazi couldn't quite get to it and van Blerk fell to his haunches with his head in his hands. It was a lovely cross. Rees was good defending a long ball heading for Balabanel. Then Nwaogazi did make contact with his head on a van Blerk cross from the left. Scarsella made another great save at the post.
But in the 81st minute Crews missed a corner from the left and, after two attempts, from one metre Brooks scored. Sealing the end of Wolves' season. Aloisi was awarded his yellow for pulling down Balabanel on another break to goal. Young got his for being too determined to get Aloisi out of the way so he could take a quick free kick.
Budin beat Blake and Blake was yellow carded for the way he went after him. Aloisi shot right of goal. Young lined up a shot after a scrambled delivery from the right. Aloisi hand balled on the ground and van Blerk hit the free kick into the wall. The ball came back across from the left and Timpano half-volleyed over the goal. End of game.
Turner said if all chances had been scored the fans would have seen 15 goals. He thought Wolves were very fortunate at half time to come away at nil all. "I thought they were better than us Š not in the first ten minutes. There was a point in the first five minutes when Shane Lyons got through and was grabbed by the arm. And I think we should have got more out of that."
He said, "I think we started off very positive but we lost our way after about 20 minutes. They missed sitter after sitter. When we came off at half time I thought we would fix things up. And we did fix things up in the second half. They were attacking the back stick all the time and we were outnumbered there all the time so we fixed that up."
Turner said, "That's the way they play. Right to left. Left to right. Always to the back stick. But in the second half I thought we created more chances than they did. At the end Crews missed the corner Š Hawrysiuk cleared off the line, it bobbled up in the air and Brooksy got a toe to it."
He recounted how Nwaogazi missed one, Hawrysiuk missed one, and Sabljak missed one and acknowledge the good saves made by Scarsella. "I thought he was a bit scratchy in the first half. He did some very good things and some very poor things." He thought Adelaide was a very physical side but that Wollongong matched them for muscle in the second half. Vidmar, by contrast, was enormously disappointed at how Adelaide had lapsed from their normally physical game. Tuner said Adelaide counter attacked very quickly. "They get out very quickly. They'll sit back and let you come forward. And play the offside trap very well."
Tuner said since Wollongong had lost Nahuel Arrarte they had lost a lot of punch going forward. He had been a good play maker. "We miss him a fair bit; that's hurting us." He said Andrew Vargas and Nick Carle could play that role "but I haven't got one of those two players". Wollongong had lost pace on the right with Hawrysiuk playing Arrarte's role, but "it's a bit late in the season to start playing new systems". Turner thought the game was entertaining because both teams came to have a go. "I don't think anyone can accuse us not going out there to attack teams."
Vidmar, standing in for John Kosmina at the media conference, said he thought Adelaide were terrible. Very sloppy. Both sides missed sitters that should not have been missed at this level of football. Though Scarsella made some crucial saves, he said. He said, "It was a hard game through the 90 minutes because we didn't play to our capabilities Š Coming off a couple of wins, South Melbourne and the Knights, we thought this was going to be a formality. But at this level Š you've got to be up for it every week. And tonight we weren't up for it."
He said he expected a tough game and Wolves kept Adelaide under pressure. "We let ourselves down terribly Š We had the chances and just weren't cool enough. This year we've only created a handful of chances in any particular game and tonight, when we got five or six, could only put one away which was a scrappy goal."