Brisbane Strikers

Frank Farina was already a Socceroo when he took the Brisbane Strikers job in 1996. That season he scored in the Grand Final as his side beat Sydney United 2–0, and Queensland had its first national championship. No club from the state had won one before.

The club had been put together five years earlier as Brisbane United, run with the state federation's involvement, and it changed both owner and name in 1993/94. Through the National Soccer League years the shirts followed Brisbane's civic colours — blue and gold, mostly gold with blue trim in the championship season, where the United kit had been white.

When the NSL folded in 2004 the Strikers dropped into the state game and stayed there. Under the National Premier Leagues structure they finally strung two together, champions of Queensland in 2016 and 2017, the first club to do it back to back.

Perry Park holds 5,000 and has been home throughout.

They had reached the quarter-finals five years earlier; this time they went one round further, the first Queensland side into the semi-finals, where Melbourne City ended it.