Queensland Roar and the New Zealand Knights have been rated the two wildcards for the second season of the A-League.

An AAP poll of captains and coaches from all eight A-League clubs at the season launch saw the Roar and Knights - sixth and last respectively last season - installed as the teams most likely to surprise the competition in 2006-07.

"Queensland has got a lot of experienced players up there now, (coach) Miron Bleiberg has signed some great senior players and they could be a surprise packet," Central Coast skipper Noel Spencer said.

The Roar collected three votes while the Knights - whom coach Paul Nevin says are targeting a finals berth this season despite claiming just one win last season - received four.

Predictably, reigning champion Sydney FC was the only club singled out as the team to beat, drawing four votes with the other four responses "all teams" - perhaps showing the closeness of the competition.

"You can't go past Sydney, every team has got a chance and there's some very good sides, but just from the pre-season games we played Sydney stood out for me," said Perth Glory skipper Jamie Harnwell, whose side was beaten 3-0 by the Blues during the pre-season cup.

All eight captains and coaches polled agreed the quality of the competition would be better in the second season, while the minor premiership was given the nod - albeit only just - ahead of the grand final winner as the greater achievement.

"For us it's the premiership," said Adelaide skipper Ross Aloisi, whose side won last year's league title race before crashing out of the semi-finals.

"It's the best team over the season, but here in Australia it's obviously the grand final and the championship which is considered the top prize."

New Zealand was perhaps the biggest surprise in the poll.

While the Knights again finished last in the pre-season cup, they only narrowly missed playing in the semi-finals of the competition after drawing their first three games - including a 0-0 stalemate with Sydney FC.

Under new coach Paul Nevin they have made wholesale changes to their squad, bringing in 14 fresh players.

"I think New Zealand will surprise a lot of people," said Newcastle captain Paul Okon.

"They had a poor result last season, I don't think too many people are going to fancy them in many games, but they'll have a point to prove and I expect them to be very, very competitive."

Sydney FC coach Terry Butcher added: "The Knights impressed me very much when we played out there and drew, I think they could have won it in the last minute. They'll be a very difficult team to beat this year."

Of his side's goals for this season, Knights coach Nevin said he wanted to make the top four and play in the finals.

"People might say that's unrealistic from where we came from (last season) ... but I've had the chance to bring in new players and we're definitely within a shout," said Nevin.

"That's a realistic goal for us. And I think we've gone some way to show we're in the mix in the pre-season fixtures."

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