Lloyd’s Lions still hungry for success

The way Rydalmere Lions started the 2016 PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s season, it looked like they were going to take the competition by storm and sweep all before them.

Player movement, injuries, and dropping some key games saw the Lions stumble somewhat during the middle part of the year, but in the end they recovered sufficiently to finish the season proper in second spot on the ladder, and now find themselves one victory away from a Grand Final.

Lloyd Owusu has been there and done that in a long and distinguished career, so we asked the Rydalmere captain to review the season, and provide some insights in to what makes the club tick.

“We are definitely disappointed not to be Premiers and to have missed out on promotion. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, given the opposition, but we were still confident of doing the business,” lamented Owusu.

“But we played some great football during the year, and finished strongly, and now we are focussed on winning the Grand Final and being Champions,” he added.

Owusu was enticed to the club by first grade coach, Tony Basha, at the beginning of last year, and his work for the club goes beyond knocking in goals for the first grade team.

“I am employed as the club’s Technical Director, which involves overseeing the junior teams between the ages of 13 and 16, and providing advice and guidance to the coaches and players. I also work with Tony (Basha) in assisting to overview the seniors, from 18s to first grade. Other than that I play and try to do a good job on the park whenever I’m called upon.”

Tony Basha has a high benchmark when it comes to expectations of his football team.

“Tony is a good coach, very opinionated, and has his way of doing things. He has great man management skills, he is tough on the players but is also their friend, and gets his message across clearly. Tony is also a funny character, with his own mannerisms, and persistent, he chased me for months at the end of 2014 when I had ‘retired’, and I’m happy he did, because I’m enjoying working with him and Rydalmere.”

There are other staff who have been instrumental in the everyday operational running of the club, the volunteers who work for the love of the club and of football.

“Oh we have so many people who contribute and do a wonderful job for Rydalmere, and we simply wouldn’t be able to perform the way we do without them. Peter Bacha and Marcel Zalloua do everything from the running the entire ship to serving in the canteen, Louie El Khoury is a fantastic team manager, Gabby Barakat is awesome as the club’s operations manager, Charbel Daher is the head physio, and he and his team of staff do wonders in making sure the players are fit and ready to play week in, week out, Monica Bacha is our 18s managers and is always on the lookout for the players…the list goes on and on!” said a proud Owusu.

Rydalmere is a scary unit to come up against when they are in full flight, and there have been some catalysts in amongst the team performance.

“My co-captain, Shane Webb, is a big part of our playing staff, so much so our dip in form coincided with his absence for about six weeks mid-season. Since his return we’ve returned to some of our best form. Amaury Gauthier has been great since he joined from NPL1, and I would believe he has one of the best ‘goal-per-game’ ratios in the league. I’d also like to single out Matthew Mayora, who is an experienced leader himself on the park, and who had to make a transition mid-year from central striker to central defence, and made that change with ease.”

As stated earlier, Owusu was impressed with the quality of opposition in the NPL3 this season.

“I’d like to acknowledge everyone in the league, irrespective of where they finished on the ladder, no game was easy this season and everyone deserves respect. Additionally, from day one I knew that Dunbar Rovers would be up there challenging. They’ve got such a professional set up, from the way they approach their game to the style of football they play. I think Stanmore were a very well organised outfit, where everyone knew their roles and responsibilities, and how can you go past Hills? A fantastic team, and an incredible striker in Peter Cejka, who scored more than 30 goals.”

Rydalmere Lions started the campaign with a hunger to win everything, and the capability on and off the park top realise that objective. The fact that they have only just missed out on the Premiership as well as promotion, could very well be the very foundation of desire that catapults them to Championship glory on September 25.