Futsal Premier League Grand Final Preview
The Futsal Premier League and Nova Employment AWD Futsal League Grand Finals at Valentine Sports Park (February 21) will feature the state’s best Futsal players battling out 10 fantastic Grand Final contests.
The stadium will be packed with Inner West supporters throughout the day with the Club Champions represented in seven of nine Futsal Premier League trophy matches, while Dural has four Grand Final berths, Enfield and Campbelltown three each and Mascot one.
Magic will heed its past trophy days with dread however. Last year they won one of four Grand Finals the club contested, and the year before they lost all five, and just one of three in 2011/12 to make it two successes in 12 attempts.
Club stalwart Matteo Maiorana remained steadfast. “Seven out of nine teams in the Grand Final is a brilliant effort and one that I’m very proud of,” he said.
“The club’s main focus is to win the Club Championship; Grand Final wins are just bonuses – the entire Club knows that. We’re hoping a change of venue [from Dural Sport & Leisure Centre to Valentine Sports Park] does the trick.”
It will certainly be a beauty in the Open Men Championship decider as Premiers Dural Warriors line-up against Inner West Magic in the day’s final trophy dash.
Dural may have finished top of the pops for a fourth straight season but they haven’t accounted for an Inner West side that held them 1-1 in the opening round before a stunning 5-1 victory at Dural in January (their heaviest home defeat in over five years) showed Magic have no fear of Warriors.
Inner West will be without the services of star player Daniel Fogarty (10 goals) after his send-off in a 7-5 defeat of Enfield in a fiery Preliminary Final, but they’ve already unearthed 10 players who’ve scored three goals or more so Magic won’t be short on firepower, while Warriors will be led by Greg Giovenali (13), Wade Giovenali (8), Bruno Pivato (8) and Chris Polkinghorne (7).
And while Dural’s won seven straight, Inner West’s 12th straight league match without loss equals the Warriors’ 2013/14 output, and Magic have shown great form away from home unbeaten in nine road trips – one short of Dural’s incredible run last summer.
“I’m incredibly proud with the progress the team has made,” Maiorana said. “To have a team that has six players under the age of 20 and only lose one game all season is brilliant. Credit must be given to coach Steven Knight and all the squad for the time and effort they have put in.”
“[Suspended] Daniel Fogarty will be a huge loss but the form of [our] senior players will lead the squad in his absence. The squad has vowed to go that extra step for Fogarty, who is the team’s inspirational leader.”
Dural coach Rob Varela was looking forward to a good challenge. “It’s arguably the two best teams in the League so it promises to be a great game,” he said.
“Magic have some fantastic players, an outstanding coach and they play with a great deal of passion. We haven’t managed to beat them this season so we’ll have our work cut out in the decider, but my blokes will be trying their best.”
Other grades
The Open Women title clash features Premiers Dural against second-placed Enfield – and it couldn’t be tighter between them. Rovers beat Warriors 2-1 last November and the teams drew 2-2 in January before Enfield stunned the Premiers in a major Semi Final penalty shootout triumph (2-2 after extra time) to become a real bogey side for Dural. Warriors bounced back to defeat Magic in the Preliminary Final and will be primed for revenge this weekend.
With runaway Premiers Enfield missing it’ll be up to Campbelltown and Inner West to decide who’ll be Youth Men Champions. Quake stormed into the Grand Final with a penalty shootout win over Rovers, who then fell 0-1 to Magic to drop out of the race altogether. It’ll be an interesting Grand Final with Campbelltown edging Inner West 3-2 late last year before a 1-1 draw in January signaled a closeness between the teams.
It’s David-versus-Goliath as fourth-placed Inner West tackles Premiers Mascot in the 17 Girls decider. Magic had to win their final game to sneak into the post-season where they earned sensational 3-2 victories over UTS Northside and Mountain Majik to march into the trophy match. And they’ll fancy their chances against a Vipers side they held 1-1 at the end of January following Mascot’s earlier tight 2-0 win.
The 16 Boys championship comes down to a top-two meeting between Premiers Campbelltown and Inner West. They split their regular season games, Quake winning 4-3 and Magic 4-1, before Campbelltown edged Inner West 3-2 in a gripping major Semi Final. And while Magic proved excellent in close contests (only two games had margins of more than three goals), they’ll have to find a way to slow down Quake’s Anthony Haddad (31 goals).
15 Girls Premiers Dural face a third-placed Inner West side riding a wave of good fortune into the Cup game. Magic knocked UTS Northside out of the running 2-1 and then beat Mountain Majik in a Preliminary Final penalty shootout to advance to a Grand Final clash against Warriors. Dural may have conceded just nine goals in 15 summer outings and won their opening round encounter with Inner West 4-1, but their only defeat all season was to Magic (0-1) at Dural last November.
Top-two 14 Boys sides Enfield and Inner West will contest the trophy match with both clubs in with a solid chance at the silverware. Rovers claimed the Premiership by a point but have plenty of concern after Magic blitzed them 7-2 at Valentine Sports Park in December. Inner West were also excellent value in one-goal losses to Enfield in round two (4-5) and last weekend’s major Semi Final (1-2) to ensure this will be a nervy affair.
It’s first-versus-second in the 13 Girls Cup match with Premiers Dural facing Inner West in an evenly balanced contest. Warriors and Magic finished the season equal on points and won’t fear each other much, Inner West winning their opening-round meeting 3-0 before Dural returned fire with a 2-1 win and 4-2 major Semi Final victory two weekends ago, but Magic will have to do something to contain Warriors spearhead Emily Bastow (40 goals).
The 12 Boys Grand Final will be unusual in that it won’t feature an Inner West side that went undefeated throughout a glorious summer only to be beaten by Campbelltown in the major Semi Final and then fourth-placed Enfield in the weekend’s Preliminary Final to leave the title for Quake versus Rovers to settle. The two teams traded regular season blows with Campbelltown winning their first meeting 2-1 before Enfield exacted revenge in a 6-2 final-round triumph at Minto.
AWD Grand Final
The AWD Grand Final promises to be a hotly contested affair between runaway premiers South Coast Taipans and Mountain Majik at Valentine Sports Park (3pm).
The Coasters were unstoppable in an unbeaten summer that saw them score 81 goals in 10 matches, but there’s no surprise they’ll face the only team to get close to them all season in Mountain Majik who pushed them in 3-4 and 2-4 losses before a dazzling 3-2 major Semi Final win in extra-time two weeks ago left Taipans on the knockout trail.
The Southerners were brutal in a 10-0 Preliminary Final win over Phoenix on the weekend to set up a dream Grand Final match-up that features Taipans strikers Mitchell Forrest (25 goals) and Patrick Mitchell (18) against Majik wizards Ben Atkins (21) and Jack Williams (18).
Premier League grand final preview
Open Men (6:30pm): Dural Warriors vs Inner West Magic
Open Women (5pm): Enfield Rovers vs Dural Warriors
Youth Men (4pm): Campbelltown Quake vs Inner West Magic
AWD (3pm): Mountain Majik vs South Coast Taipans
17 Girls (2pm): Mascot Vipers vs Inner West Magic
16 Boys (1pm): Campbelltown Quake vs Inner West Magic
15 Girls (12pm): Dural Warriors vs Inner West Magic
14 Boys (11am): Enfield Rovers vs Inner West Magic
13 Girls (10am): Dural Warriors vs Inner West Magic
12 Boys (9am): Campbelltown Quake vs Enfield Rovers
-By Dan De Nardi
