The A-League took a lot of hits before the 2010/2011 season even kicked off.

Bloggers and columnists raised questions about the financial uncertainty of two or three franchises, as well as concerns over whether CEO Ben Buckley is the right man for the job.

And of course, in the aftermath of global football's biggest party, the World Cup, it's easy to be skeptical of any domestic league outside of Europe or South America.

But guess what? After Week 1, the A-League is looking pretty good.

Now don't get me wrong, I can't see Craig Foster or Ruud Gullit sitting in a studio praising the technique and skill on display. In the matches I watched, there were enough terrible passes and poor decisions to fill an ESPN Top Ten list.

But the games were hard-fought, reasonably wide-open and in the cases of Perth/North Queensland and Sydney FC/Melbourne Victory, veritable goalfests.

Both of those matches had another key ingredient as well: great drama.

Victory skipper and hard man Kevin Muscat, who missed a crucial penalty in last season's Grand Final, made another dreadful mistake that gave Sydney FC its first goal on Saturday night. Then, Victory's amazing fightback - from 2-0 down to 3-2 up - was negated by an 84th minute Sydney goal.

In Perth, a sellout crowd of more than 16,000 saw former North Queensland marquee player Robbie Fowler line up for the Glory. Fowler didn't score, but the Glory took a 3-2 lead into stoppage time, only to have Chris Grossman equalise for the Fury.

On Friday night, Melbourne Heart debuted in front of 11,000 in brand new AAMI Park, and while the result wasn't ideal for the new boys (1-0 to Central Coast), there were enough good signs to indicate that the Heart will be fun to watch.

Before I go on, I do have to mention that both the Adelaide-Newcastle match and the Gold Coast-Brisbane derby ended in scoreless draws. That's part and parcel of the sport and, while disappointing, is to be expected.

It's also important to remember that the A-League is only five years old. The competition is still finding its feet in one of the world's most crowded sporting marketplaces.

We're just now starting to see a few big names - Josip Skoko, John Aloisi - return from overseas to help bolster the rosters. The imports, while not the quality of the USA's MLS (Thierry Henry, Juan Pablo Angel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto), seem to be at least fit and ready to fire.

Is the A-League ever going to challenge the AFL or NRL for fans and media space? Doubtful. Will the on-field quality ever reach the standard of the EPL or La Liga? Not a chance.

Can it be an exciting, integral part of the Australian sporting landscape? You bet. And it's off to a great start.