Sounds daft, doesn't it, but it's all to do with the ongoing issue of ground availability and the inability of the FFA, AFL, Western Bulldogs, Victorian Government and Etihad Stadium to come to an agreement.

Because the AFL had scheduled the Bulldogs v Fremantle game at Etihad for Sunday May 17, the date of the championship decider, the 54,000-seat Etihad was a no-go zone for the soccer final. That means that if the Victory win through to the grand final they will have to play at the 29,000-capacity AAMI Park.

It's been an embarrassment for the state government, which has been in discussions for weeks with soccer bosses and the AFL to ensure this won't happen again - particularly the threat to shift the game interstate so that a suitably sized venue can be found.

NSW tourism officials and ANZ Stadium had indicated they might be happy to stage the game if Victory qualify to play Sydney FC, as a crowd of 70,000 might be expected at the Olympic venue.

How much could the club lose by playing at AAMI instead of Etihad? Could there be compensation? If so, who would pay?

Melbourne Victory won't lose anything, as all proceeds from the finals go to the FFA, for whom it is a significant money spinner. The game's governing body pockets ticket sales revenue and sponsorship cash from its showpiece event, as well as corporate sales.

The FFA could lose up to a million dollars, though, and that money is badly needed: unlike the AFL, which doesn't have  meaningful international competition, the FFA has to underwrite numerous male and female international teams,  all of whom are involved in expensive qualification programs for World Cups and Asian Cup finals.

Why won't the AFL play ball? Is their schedule really that inflexible?

The AFL say that when it was given the May 17 date it had already begun formalising its television schedule for the 2015 season and it was too late to make any changes.

There may be a thaw in the relationship, however. FFA chief David Gallop this week said he had held talks with AFL supremo Gillon McLachlan, and they had agreed to make sure that the ground availability controversy that has taken place this year does not take place in future.

There's a salary-cap scandal going on, I believe. Tell me more. 

Is there ever. Perth Glory has been exposed as salary cap cheats extraordinaire, splurging almost half a million dollars above the current $2.55 million salary cap. The team from the west found numerous ingenious ways to spread the fiscal love, paying friends and relatives of star striker Andy Keogh, a Republic of Ireland international, to augment his reported salary. In all Keogh alone was reportedly paid  $200,000 through nominated beneficiaries money that was not divulged to the FFA.

Glory had also overpaid players in previous seasons but not by anything like as much.

Chief executive Jason Brewer resigned last week, saying he and he alone had authorised the systemic program of cheating. But FFA bosses say it is hard to believe that mining magnate Tony Sage, the club's owner, had not known anything about it all.

Glory had been top of the league for most of the season and looked a real championship chance until sprung by the FFA after the story of the salary cap rort was broken by Fairfax Media. They have now been excluded from the finals and fined $269,000 for their transgression.

There's also a kerfuffle brewing over Melbourne Victory's loan deals from last season. Stay tuned.

Australia just won the Asian Cup. Has that translated into increased interest in the A-League?

Yes and no.....

Yes, in the sense that interest in the game has grown on the back of Australia's historic success, but the crowds have not grown exponentially as a result.

The A League was suspended for three weeks during January when the Asian Cup was being played and that rather broke the regular attendance habit for some clubs. Melbourne Victory are by far the best supported, but some teams having poor seasons — particularly Newcastle and Central Coast — struggled to attract fans and dragged the averages down. But they will be lifted again during the finals season.

Television ratings depend  largely on the feature match on a Friday evening, the only one on free to air and, in recent months, the ratings have been rather disappointing.

Generally speaking, how is the A-League going financially?

Victory will make a profit of around $1 million but all the other teams are struggling to break even and some are losing money. The A-League remains a development competition which is seeking to establish itself, and its cash burn rate is high. Collective club losses a few years ago were $27 million (in the 2011-12 season) but they had fallen to $20 million in the 2012-13 season. Three clubs, Auckland, Gold Coast and North Queensland, have gone bust in the competition's 10-year history.

But on the upside one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, Manchester City, has shown its confidence in the competition by investing in Melbourne City, paying around $11 million for 80 per cent of  the club. The FFA sold Western Sydney for a similar amount, while last year a rather optimistic share issue valued Melbourne Victory  around $30 million.

What's next for the Socceroos? And where is Tajikistan, anyway?

The Socceroos begin qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, due to be staged in Russia, in June of this year with a trip to Kyrgyzstan. They then face Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Jordan home and away as well as Kyrgyzstan at home. Tajikistan is a landlocked Central Asian republic. Quite who flies there is anyone's guess, but intrepid Socceroo fans, not to mention querulous journalists, are about to find out.