ON A RAINY night in Brisbane this week, more than 12,000 fans turned out to watch Brisbane Roar kick off its Asian Champions League campaign against FC Tokyo. It was a very decent crowd despite the weather, the lack of publicity and the unfamiliarity of the opposition.

It can't be said yet that the ACL is a sure-fire winner with fans - the evidence of the previous five years of Australian clubs in the competition suggests there is work to do - but it is a step in the right direction, and some proof the ACL is beginning to get traction with supporters.

And so it should. There is no better measuring stick to test the development of the A-League than by benchmarking its best clubs against the champions of other nations from the region.

The ACL provides a wake-up call, not just on the pitch, but in other facets of the game: supporter culture, infrastructure and professionalism.

In some areas, Australian clubs are better than many of their Asian rivals (especially those from outside the big leagues of Japan and Korea), but in other ways they are inferior.

And it's not all to do with money, as so many suggest.

Of course, bigger budgets do help and of course the big teams from the J-League, K-League and the Chinese Super League (CSL) can buy in a better class of foreign player than other Asian clubs. Imagine any local side buying Nicolas Anelka, as CSL club Shanghai Shenhua has done.

But fundamentally, these teams have got to where they have over the past 20 years because they invested in developing local players, encouraged and nurtured them and built soccer up as a major sport in Japan and South Korea.

The success of their national teams (they are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in Asia behind Australia) shows that.

But unlike this country, many of their first-choice national team players and the bulk of their international squads play at home in the J-League and K-League rather than in European or other foreign leagues.

The Roar, by almost all measures regarded as the best side in this country for the past two years, was comfortably beaten 2-0 at home by a Tokyo team at the end of its pre-season preparation phase.

The Japanese side, full of skilful, quick and technically proficient players, was able to do to Brisbane what few local clubs could: press high up the pitch, deny it space and time on the ball to build from the back, and hustle and bustle it out of its game plan.

Interestingly, the one Australian side this season that has had consistently good results against Brisbane, Melbourne Heart (one win and two draws in three meetings), adopts a similar pressing style when it can to choke the space and prevent Ange Postecoglou's side from settling into a rhythm.

It's early days yet for Brisbane. That first match was always going to be a steep learning curve. And it might just be that the Roar has had to meet not only the best team in the group, but a club that has the wherewithal to go a long way in the tournament.

After all, it was a similar experience for Melbourne Victory in its first season in the competition, running up against Gamba Osaka in the group phase and going down 4-3 in an absolute thriller at Etihad Stadium. Gamba was to go on to take the cup, humbling Adelaide United in the final.

Experience obviously counts for something in the ACL (although it didn't do Victory much good in its three disastrous forays in the competition) as the two other Australian representatives, Adelaide and Central Coast, got terrific results away from home.

Adelaide has a distinguished history in the competition, having reached the final once and progressed to the knockout phase on another occasion, and it brought all its know-how to bear this time in.

The difference between cup soccer and the grind of the league is well known, and it was particularly well illustrated by Adelaide's win on the road in Uzbekistan.

The Reds have been awful for most of the A-League season, yet here they were able to beat big-spending Bunyodkor on its own turf. The Mariners, who failed at the group stage in 2009, got off to a decent start this time with a scoreless draw in China against Tianjin Teda. Graham Arnold will have the Mariners set up well to be as competitive as possible in their remaining fixtures against Korean club Seongnam and Japanese side Nagoya.

Much is also made of Australian clubs losing players to Asian teams, making it harder to compete. Maybe it does, but it is the way of the world. Yes, the Mariners lost Rostyn Griffiths to Guangzhou in the CSL, and they would have been stronger with him in their ranks, but it is something Australian teams have to plan for.

The A-League, while terrific entertainment, is still under-funded compared to some of the Asian clubs. While the salary cap and squad limits exist, it will always be at a disadvantage in absolute terms, but those things exist for a good reason: to maintain the competitiveness of the domestic competition, keep budgets within sensible limits and prevent cost over-runs.

Australian clubs will have to work smarter, prepare better and develop talent to keep the conveyor belt rolling. It's a challenge, but the ACL can help development greatly.