Liavas’ Hawks flying high

Stanmore Hawks have had a very successful season thus far in the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition, being near the top of the ladder for the best part of the entire campaign, before finishing the regular season in equal second spot on points, and fourth on goal difference.

Leading in to the first week of the Finals Series, where Stanmore Hawks host Sydney University at Arlington Oval in an Elimination Final, we caught up with Stanmore Hawks’ experienced captain, 37 year old Steve Liavas, to reflect on the season thus far, and see how the team shaping up to play Finals football.

We started off by asking Steve what does he put his team’s success down to this year.

“We have a very close unit at Stanmore, everyone gets on well, and we put the team above everything. The players have shown this on the park by their desperation in every game to keep the opposition out, we always have players willing to make that last gasp tackle, to back each other up, to put their body on the line.”

Stanmore Hawks have had two coaches this season, with Soteris Mavrou laying the foundations, and Tony Panteli taking on the reins mid-stream and continuing the good work.

“Soteris did the work early on to set us up for success, recruiting well, and putting us in a position to challenge for the title. Tony took over and made sure not to change too much, but maintain the good things we were doing, and that’s been reflected in our consistency,” assessed Liavas.

Successful teams are usually a result of successful clubs, and Stanmore is no different, with some hard working staff behind the scenes instrumental in keeping the Hawks near the top.

“Our physio, Steve Esposito, has been remarkable for us this season. He is diligent and knowledgable in his treatment and follow up, and often has players back on the park well in advance of what was first thought,” said Liavas.

He added, “We have many volunteer staff who work hard to keep the club moving along, headed by our president, James Theore, vice president George Tatarakis and Secretary Kiriana Hudson. Everything from looking after the match day responsibilities to managing the day to day duties between games means that the only thing the players have to focus on is playing, knowing we are being looked after.”

On the park itself, Stanmore have proven a hard nut to crack, losing just four of their 22 regular season matches, and boasting the best defensive record in the competition with 29 goals conceded.

Liavas commented……“As I mentioned earlier, our team is tight, and we play as a team, both in attack and defence. We wouldn’t have been where we are if we didn’t have everyone in the squad with the same objective and doing their job. It’s difficult to single out individuals, but a shout out to Sam Awad, a little younger than me at 35 years old, who has been great in terms of helping me guide the younger boys. Sam’s experience is so invaluable, and he has scored some important goals for us with that trusted head! Our defence as a unit has been excellent, conceding the least amount of goals in the competition, lead by our goal keeper, James Webb, who has improved so much in recent seasons and is now easily one of the best shot stoppers in the league.”

There have been plenty of high performing teams in the NPL3 this season, but Steve Liavas thinks the team that has set the benchmark is clear to everyone.

“Hills Brumbies deserve all the credit for winning the Premiership, they have been the benchmark all season. The ladder will tell you that they have been the most consistent, with so many attacking players that can hurt you, scoring goals for fun.”

An interesting fact going in to Saturday’s Elimination Final is that of Stanmore Hawks four losses this season, two have come against Sydney University, the only side to do the double over the Hawks.

“Yes, they have beaten us twice this season, but they were very close, both games finished 2-1. But that doesn’t play on our minds, because we know why we lost those matches. In both games we dominated for parts, but not for the entire 90 minutes, so we have to focus for the whole match and not drop our intensity,” stated Liavas.

Disappointingly for Stanmore, they will be without their inspirational skipper, with Liavas suffering an ACL injury in last week’s final round match against Hills Brumbies.

“Personally, I have had a good run in football without a major injury. It’s unfortunate it has happened now, but I have faith in the boys and know we have what it takes to win our semi final. In terms of myself, I have to listen to and follow the specialist’s advice, and if I can recover and my knee is as good as gold, I definitely want to continue next year and beyond.”

There is no doubt that Stanmore Hawks will miss the presence of their captain in Saturday’s Elimination Final, but it could just be the tonic they need in order to lift in his absence, and topple Sydney University so they can continue their march towards more success in 2016.