Brisbane Roar hosts Adelaide United this weekend in a mouth-watering top of the table clash. As the sixth A-League nears its halfway mark, these two sides, separated by a single point, sit seven points ahead of the chasing pack. Both teams are comfortably the top two goal scorers in the competition and both are widely acknowledged as playing the most attractive and sophisticated football in the league.

The turnaround in fortunes for both clubs is staggering. These same sides occupied the bottom two league positions at the end of the previous season. By comparison, Adelaide has already won the same amount of games and scored just three less goals than they achieved in the whole of 2009-10.

Credit for the turnaround in fortunes must go to coaches Rini Coolen and Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou joined the Roar midway through last season following the dismissal of Frank Farina but the rest of that campaign proved to be damage limitation as player unrest destabilised the club. Postecoglou's appointment and stated new direction for the club led to senior pros Charlie Miller, Liam Reddy and Craig Moore leaving before the end of that season. To make matters worse, over the winter Roar lost three talented youngsters Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo and Adam Sarota to Utrecht. It would not be unfair to suggest that prior to the start of this A-League season, Brisbane was a club in crisis.

As damaging as that sounds, this situation provided an opportunity for Postecoglou to recruit his own players and craft a side in his image, free of any baggage. In came Michael Theoklitos, Matt Smith, Erik Paartalu, Shane Steffanuto, Kosta Barbarouses, Milan Susak and the mercurial Thomas Broich. The result is a confident unit committed to keeping the ball on the ground, attacking at pace and backing itself. The one criticism is Brisbane's inability to find the net as often as their build-up play deserves.

Coolen, in contrast, who joined United pre-season following Aurelio Vidmar's promotion to coach of the Olyroos, inherited a strong squad at Adelaide that had woefully underperformed the previous season. Coolen has not drastically altered the personnel, Cameron Watson and Iain Ramsay have come in, but the Dutchman is getting far more than his predecessor out of what is at his disposal. Talent including the A-League's hottest prospect, speedster Mathew Leckie, goal machine Sergio van Dijk and the current South American playmaker de jour Marcos Flores.

From such promising raw materials Coolen has shaped an Adelaide side with multiple attacking threats. Flores, on form arguably the league's best player, pulls the strings from his classical number ten position while Leckie's pace and van Dijk's finishing offer a range of scoring opportunities. United is not all flair though as the likes of Fyfe, Pantelis, Reid and Galekovic provide solidity and consistency throughout the side. Such a mix helped Adelaide record the A-League's longest unbeaten run recently, surviving thirteen games without defeat before succumbing to its nemesis, Melbourne Victory.

Form and fitness favours the Roar heading into Saturday's game. They're coming off the back of a thumping 4-1 win in Wellington - ending the New Zealand side's record 24 match unbeaten run at home. Adelaide meanwhile tasted defeat for the first time this season last week against Victory, losing the influential Leckie to injury in the process.

Last time these two sides met was back in September, when they shared a 1-1 draw in a game that saw Adelaide heavyweight Cassio dismissed late on.

The anticipation for this match highlights how the sixth A-League season is coming to the boil nicely as it approaches its halfway mark. Powerhouse Melbourne Victory is gathering momentum, new franchise Melbourne Heart is justifying its place and with the other football codes finally over there is space for the league to enjoy its moment in the sun
In such a space, what better way for the A-League to advertise the health and prosperity of the domestic game than the top two head-to-head in a Saturday night blockbuster?