PlayStation4 NPL 2 NSW Men’s Season Preview 2017
The 2017 PlayStation4 National Premier Leagues 2 NSW Men’s competition begins this coming weekend, with all sides looking to kick on from last season after Sydney FC’s promotion to the top tier men’s competition.
Blacktown Spartans and Hills Brumbies join the NPL 2 after their respective relegation and promotion in 2016, while Hyundai A-League NPL sides Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners continue in the division after Sydney FC’s promotion.
With a huge turnover of players over the offseason, coaches across the league have looked to strengthen their teams with a mixture of youth and experience, ensuring an exciting season ahead.
The top six format remains this season after the expansion to a fourteen team league in 2016, as does the shortened three-week finals series.
Bankstown Berries FC
Bankstown Berries come into 2017 looking to improve on a disappointing 2016 season that saw them finish in 13th place, six points clear of the bottom of the table.
They finished the year strongly, with only two defeats in their final nine fixtures, but a run of five straight losses early in the season made any prospective push for the finals difficult for Wally Savor’s team. Savor has been replaced by Perry Moustakas, last season a defender at Sutherland Sharks, who brings with him number of players from across the NPL NSW system as he attempts to take Berries back towards the top six.
Andreas Vais joins from Parramatta FC, Nicholas Mouzourakis and Dominic Hudap from Bankstown City, Mitchell Farmer from Sutherland, and goalkeeper Chad Taylor from Marconi. Moustakas stressed his side has the right balance of youth and experience, and joining players promoted from Berries’ 20s and 18s team is James Combes, who moves from Sydney Olympic’s 20s side.
"We’ve added a lot of experience and brought in quite a few young players," said Moustakas.
"So it’s a young team but we’ve tried to get a good balance – we’re happy with how we’ve gone so far. We wanted an honest, hardworking team and that’s what we’ve got.
"I’m the kind of person who concentrates on tonight’s session, and the session after that – I try not to look too far ahead into the future. That said, we’ve been training well, and training hard, and we’re all really looking forward to the first game of the season.
"We go in every week to win. I’m new to the club, but I’ve known it for many years, and I know the people here are passionate – I think my passion is what helped me get this position. I want to see the players with that passion, too, and from the work we’ve done in preseason I think we’re on the right track."
Bankstown City FC
Bankstown City enjoyed a relatively successful run in the 2016 season, finishing third during the regular season before losing an elimination final to Mt Druitt Town Rangers.
Coach John Caruana is expecting a similar performance in 2017, despite losing all but three senior players during the offseason, including former Socceroo Michael Beauchamp.
Dion Shaw and Steven Veleski are among those who remain at Jensen Park from last season, along with a number of players from the 18s and 20s sides, while Kojiro Hori and Christopher Gomez are just two of the names who join Beauchamp in leaving Banktown City, joining Blacktown Spartans and Spirit FC respectively.
Caruana is optimistic that his reinforcements will more than cover for his losses, with Hussein Akil coming in from Hakoah, David McMurray from Macarthur Rams, and Alex Becerra from Bankstown Berries. A number of players return to Banktown too, among them Aaron D’Mello from Hakoah and Bruno Pivato and Billy Darwich from St George FC.
Caruana stated that while his squad is less experienced than in previous seasons, he expects his new recruits to step up to the task with enthusiasm.
“We’ve got a reasonable balance with a small squad, but we’re very hopeful, and the boys are very positive.”
“Collectively, we know we should be aiming for top six. In saying that, we’re all very realistic. We’ve lost a bit of experience at the back with Michael Beauchamp; he’s a real loss having moved to Marconi. Trying to replace someone of his quality is difficult, but we’ve moved to shore up our defence in his absence.
“We want to play a dynamic brand of football with good ball retention, and aim to dominate teams, especially with the quality of players that we have on the ball – the players we’ve recruited are all quite good on the ball.
“I think we’ll see around round four where everyone lies. I’m quite confident with the players that we have that we’ll be in a good position by then.”
Blacktown Spartans FC
Blacktown Spartans endured a disappointing 2016 season, and were relegated to the second tier after finishing at the foot of the PS4 NPL NSW Men’s table; winning just four games from 22.
Unable to retain a single senior player from last season, they enter 2017 with reinforcements chiefly drawn from their 20s and 18s sides, as well as a few experienced players from clubs around the NPL 2, including Kojiro Hori from Bankstown City FC.
New Coach in charge Luis Contigiani, who replaced Ben de Haan, foresees a period of rebuilding for the Spartans, and is eager to start work with a group of players which he describes as “excited for the challenge ahead.”
“We’ve got a great bunch of boys,” Contigiani stated.
“There’s good discipline, great respect, and they get along well. Nobody has a bad attitude – I’m fortunate to have a good bunch of guys all the way through the club, from the youngest to the oldest. We’ve got the foundation for a good first grade side and I’m optimistic that we’re on the right path forward.
“Last year we were relegated, and we had a very small budget so we were unable to secure any players from last season. They wanted to stay in the first division, which we can’t hold against them. It’s a brand new team, and a very young team.”
“The aim is to be competitive and win games – we want to gel, and as the weeks roll by we’ll become stronger and more competitive. I’d love for my team to play a possession-based game, but at the end of the day results are the most important thing. I’m realistic – I know we’ll have to tweak things. It’s a genuine rebuilding process for us.”
Central Coast Mariners FC
Central Coast Mariners come into 2017 with a young side looking to build on a mixed first season in the NPL system, in which they finished 10th in the PS4 NPL 2 NSW men’s division.
The Mariners conceded the most goals of any side in the competition in 2016 and struggled for consistency throughout the year, but look to the future with faith in the side that coach Ben Cahn has assembled over the offseason.
Nathan Verity and captain Liam O’Dell are no longer eligible to play for the Mariners under the age restrictions that apply to Hyundai A-League academies, but Makis Petratos and Duncan Stewart join as reinforcements, as do Brenton Fox from Western Sydney Wanderers, and James Enticknap from Queensland.
Cahn stated that it’s not easy to make up for the experience his side have lost with due to the departures of Verity and O’Dell, but says he’s excited to work with a group of “high-potential young players with a lot to look forward to.
“It would be unfair to expect a lot of them early on, and I think it’ll take them a bit of time to adapt to senior football and the PS4 NPL 2. Ultimately, the number one priority is to produce A-League footballers, and to do that within the playing style of the club. That said, we don’t want to end up in a relegation fight so the goal we’ve set for ourselves is to set finals. We believe we can be there or thereabouts – we’ll see what happens.
“I think we played really well last season and dominated in most games, but we struggled at either end of the pitch – we conceded too many soft goals, and gifted teams opportunities through a lack of experience and organisation, while at the other end we’d create five or six good chances a game and struggle to take most of them. We know that we’re able to control the majority of the games we play, so it’ll come down to what we can do at either end of the field.”
Hills Brumbies FC
Hills Brumbies prepare for their return to the PS4 NPL 2 NSW men’s division after relegation in 2014 with a sense of optimism; maintaining much of the same squad that saw them top the goalscoring charts in their successful bid for promotion in 2016.
Six players join the Brumbies in 2017, among them Nathan Rayner from the Bankstown Berries, Eoin Montford from Sydney Olympic and Matt Viera from Prospect. They also begin the season with a new captain, as Castle Hill local and Futsalroos player Dane Merrin taking on the armband.
Dan Sheppard is pleased to have kept together most of the squad that achieved promotion, while adding a number of players who he believes will keep the Brumbies from slipping back down a division.
Paul Down moves from the field to the bench as he begins his coaching career with the Brumbies’ 16s side, while Merrin takes the captain’s armband for the 2017 season.
Nathan Rayner, Eoin Montford and Matthew Viera are amongst the new faces at Lilys Football Centre this year, joining from Bankstown Berries, Sydney Olympic and Prospect United respectively.
They’ll also have last year’s Golden Boot and Player of the Year winner in the PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s side in their roster, the big presence of Peter Cejka who will ruffle a few feathers in this division up-front.
“We’re quite happy to have the group that won promotion sticking together.
“Any club that gets promoted has the minimum ambition to survive, but I haven’t put an aim on the season. Our preseason results have been very promising, so I don’t want to tell the boys to aim for survival when we could be aiming higher. We’ll take stock after the first six or so games, and see where we’re at then.
“The thing with promotion is that we don’t really know where we are in relation to the rest of the competition. We didn’t have as many clean sheets as we would’ve liked in 2016 – our style is very attacking, and that leaves us more open than we’d like. We averaged nearly five goals a game last season, so attack will be the first form of defence for us. Hopefully we’re the entertainers that we were last year, and we have people wanting to come and watch us.”
Macarthur Rams FC
Macarthur Rams enjoyed a relatively successful return to the PlayStation 4 NPL 2 NSW Men’s season in 2016, finishing just five points behind sixth-placed Mt Druitt Town Rangers, and will look to improve under new management with Bill Pilovski, assisted by Eddie Briscoe and Robbie Todorovski, as Lee Sterrey moves across to Mounties Wanderers.
Rams began last season well, losing just once in their first six games, before a 7-0 loss to eventual grand final winners Sydney FC.
Only five players remain from the 2016 campaign, and Pilovski has drawn from clubs across the competition to strengthen his side ahead of the new season: Danny Lazarevski joins from Wollongong Wolves, Simon Valastro from Marconi, Frank Martey from Mt Druitt and George Codrea from Mounties Wanderers, while Jordan Ward and Mitchell Di Pietro join the first grade team at Rams after previously playing for the 18s and 20s sides respectively.
One of the more disappointing losses to Rams in preseason was last season’s top scorer Elsid Barkhousir, who sustained an injury which looks likely to keep him out of action all the way through 2017.
Pilovski is excited about the challenge ahead, and is confident that the team he has assembled is up to the task of going one better than last year by finishing in the top six in 2017.
"I really believe in what we have. We want to win every single game, but we want to be realistic. If we finish in the top half of the comp, I think we’d be pretty satisfied.
"More than anything, I want the players to know that Macarthur is their home, and that they should be fighting for the club every time they go out onto the field – we want teams to play us at home and be intimidated by us. I think we might surprise a few people."
Marconi Stallions FC
A strong push for promotion at first asking ended in disappointment for Marconi, who begin a second season in the second division in 2017 as staunch favourites considering the new faces that will don the famous kit out Sydney’s west..
The former NSL giants are strengthened, however, by the arrival of former Socceroo Michael Beauchamp from Bankstown City, a player who coach Tony Candy believes will bring much-needed experience to the Stallions title challenge this year.
There has been a plethora of changes at Marconi over the offseason, including a number from the top tier men’s division: Theo Kofinas and Peter Triantis join from Sydney United 58, while Stefan Dubocanin comes from Rockdale City Suns. Dhari Alsaad joins from Bankstown City, along with Eros Bergamin from Macarthur Rams, Sam Burfoot from Auckland City and Aaron Christopher-Berg from Norway.
Candy has kept the bulk of his squad together, with Brandon Vella, Sean Rooney, Mirjan Pavlovic, Sam Perre, Robert Perre, Marko Jesic among those who remain from the 2016 season, which saw Marconi finish in fourth place before a loss in the elimination finals to Mounties Wanderers.
“There’s been lot of turnover since last season.
“But we’ve made a number of good signings, and kept a lot of quality. Obviously Michael Beauchamp’s experience and professionalism will be of real value – he’s fantastic in the dressing room and a great leader on the field. He’s a very good signing for us.
“Our priority is the same as last year – promotion – and we also want to do well in the Westfield FFA Cup. It’s a hard task – it’s not easy in this division, so we’re looking for consistency to get us through. The players are adapting and are engaged and all on the same boat, which is great – they’re working really hard, and we’re improving on the training pitch with every session we put in. We’re happy with the way things are moving along, so we’re focussed on keeping up that level of progress.”
Mounties Wanderers FC
Mounties Wanderers will be looking to improve on an impressive showing in the 2016 PS4 NPL 2 NSW men’s’ competition under new coach Lee Sterrey, who moves across from Macarthur Rams.
Mounties finished third in the regular season and were defeated in the semi-finals by Western Sydney Wanderers, and Sterrey is adamant that the team can go one better and win the competition in 2017, despite the loss of top scorer Matthew West to APIA Leichhardt.
Sterrey retains half the squad from the 2016 season, with West headlining the departures from Mounties’ relatively new home of Valentine Sports Park.
“It’s a little bit more turnover than I’d wanted, but that’s the way things turned out.
“We were semi finalists last year and we’re looking to make the jump up into the first division in the next two years. So I’ve signed a squad that can achieve that – we’ve got some young guys in, but I’ve signed them for that longer-term goal.
“It’s going to be hard to replace Matthew West – the team this year will be very different to last year, because he was a key player in the front line. I’m looking to play an open brand of football that’s attractive, but we want to threaten teams from more than one position – Westy was maybe three-quarters of the attack last year.
“Our aim is to win the comp – any coach who sets out for anything less at the start of the season is happy to underachieve. We’re good enough to do it, so that’s what we’re setting out to do, as should every other club.”
Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC
Mt Druitt Town Rangers had a strong 2016 season, finishing sixth during the regular season before losing in the semi-finals to eventual competition winners Sydney FC, and will be hoping for more of the same under coach Aidan Desmond, now in his third season at Popondetta.
Rangers have recruited heavily over the offseason, with Lachlan Roberts (Western Sydney Wanderers), Mitchell McClintock (Southern Districts), Aram Tayebi (Parramatta FC), Hitem Satoh (University of Tokyo), Alex Vlismas (Sydney United 58), Andre Guzman (Bonnyrigg White Eagles) and Carlos Saliadarre (Blacktown Spartans) all joining Desmond’s team in 2017.
Returning to Rangers is David Mavisa, who was previously with Spirit FC, while Hitem Satoh arrives from Japanese side University of Tokyo.
Patrick Dixon leaves the club to return to the United States, while Abraham Majok has since signed for the Western Sydney Wanderers, and has enjoyed a call-up to the senior side under Tony Popovic.
“You never want to lose quality players.
“But it’s fantastic to see Abraham go and get that opportunity.
“We’re happy with the team that we have – this season is all about consolidating for us, and looking for continuous improvement. If we can improve on our start – we had a very hard draw in the first few games last year, which made things difficult for us later on – then we can definitely be in the mix for finals football again. That’s absolutely our aim this season.”
Northern Tigers FC
Northern Tigers finished one place outside of the top six in 2016, and will be looking to make a push for the finals this year with a younger side than previous seasons, in part due to the loss of two senior players.
Paul Davies has retired, and Steven Baveas recently decided not to play in 2017, though will be helping coach Mark McCormick throughout the season.
There was a focus on youth in recruitment for Tigers, with Lachlan Hughes, previously of Sydney FC, among the players that team manager John Comito is expecting to have a positive impact in 2017.
Elsewhere, Joshua Tanner joins from Blacktown Spartans, and Harry Mears returns from APIA Leichhardt Tigers.
“We lost two experienced players in Davies and Baveas.
“But we’ve got good young side, and we’re expecting big things from them. We’ve also got very good 20s and 18s sides, so we’re looking at the long-term.
“We’re looking to consolidate this year. We’re a real chance of making the finals, but we’re realistic – we’re looking towards the future. With the young team that we have, we think we’ll be looking at promotion in 2018. We’re aiming for the finals, but overall I think it’ll be a year to consolidate. Tigers is a very ambitious club, and I think a two-year plan is more realistic – with twelve months of football under their belts, this team should be very strong next year.
North Shore Mariners FC
North Shore Mariners look to 2017 hoping to avoid a repeat of their 2016 season, which saw them finish six points clear at the bottom of the PS4 NPL 2 NSW men’s table.
North Shore Mariners lost a number of players in the off-season – “one or two we didn’t want to lose,” said coach Joe Haywood – including Michael Cole, who has stepped down to play local football due to family commitments.
Haywood insists his side has learned from a difficult experience, and says a focus on recruitment throughout the club means that his side are well-prepared to make amends for a disappointing season last year.
“We’ve got a good group of players – a lot from the state league that we watched throughout the season and brought in using the good scouting network that we have.
“We’ve brought twelve new players into the first grade team.
“We looked at what we did last year and how we could improve on that –we found ourselves in a situation that we didn’t really want to be in with seven or eight games left. But we’ve drawn on that experience and moved forward. Our main focus was retaining the players we wanted to keep, and recruiting new players into the program.
“On the field, the main thing we want to improve on is scoring goals. We had the best defence in the league last season. We had a great defence, but we struggled in attack. We really worked hard on that in the offseason, and we think we can definitely improve at both ends of the park this year.”
Spirit FC
Spirit FC begin 2017 under new management, with David Perkovic joining from Mounties Wanderers and aiming for vast improvement on a thoroughly disappointing 2016 season at Christie Park for the 2015 champions. Spirit finished in 12th place last season, seven points ahead of 14th-placed North Shore Mariners, and have brought in a number of players from across the NPL NSW system to better set themselves up in 2017. Christopher Gomez and Jack Musgrove join from Bankstown City, Andre Carle from the Blacktown Spartans 20s side, Dylan Whitlock from Manly, and 2016 NPL Goalkeeper of the Year James Webb from Stanmore Hawks.
Perkovic says a focus on the task immediately ahead of his side, rather than setting an aim for the season, will be beneficial for his players. “I’m just looking at round one –we’re looking to design a model for the club going forward, so I’m looking at implementing that. In terms of results, I never look at the end of season aim. I’m looking at it on a game-by-game basis – it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason.
“Of course, like most teams, we’d hope to be pushing for the finals. Considering where the club was last season, we think we can definitely improve, but we’re not looking to set ourselves any unrealistic goals.
“We had an issue scoring goals last season. For me it was all about trying to recruit players who’d give me more options in the front third. I’m a very attacking coach, I believe in attacking football, so hopefully the combination of the new club model and recruitment will help in that area.”
St George FC
St George found themselves amongst the three teams that finished just outside the top six last season, joining Northern Tiger and Macarthur Rams on 34 points, but finishing ninth due to goal difference.
Terry Palapanis has put together a young side for the 2017 season, and is “quietly confident” that his team can improve on last year to make the finals series while continuing to promote youth from within the club.
Making the move to Seymour Shaw are Jacob Bandur from Hakoah, goalkeeper Andrew Depta from Sydney United 58, and the talented Zac Riberio from Fraser Park, who are joined by Juan Carlos Romero from Spain’s third division.
A number of players from St George’s 20s side also make the jump up to the first grade, among them Anthony Morabito, David Ilic and Thomas Menton.
“We obviously want to make the top six, and promote as many 20s players as we can.
“We’ve really only lost one player that I wanted to keep – Bruno Pivato, who left to Bankstown City. Otherwise, we kept the players I wanted to keep.
“Our pre-season results haven’t been great on paper, but I’m very pleased with the way that we’re going. We’re looking to play a higher tempo game than last year – we parked the bus a bit then. This year we’ll be playing a quick passing game, with an energetic team, and we’re hoping to have a good go at the top six.”
Western Sydney Wanderers FC
The Western Sydney Wanderers begin another season in the PS4 NPL 2 after missing out on promotion in 2016 in a 4-1 loss to cross-city rivals Sydney FC, despite an impressive first year in the competition.
The Wanderers will be hopeful of improving on last season’s grand final loss, however, having finished the regular season just three points behind Sydney FC, with a goal difference far superior to the teams that trailed them.
Brenton Fox (Central Coast Mariners FC) and Lachlan Roberts (Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC) are among the players who move on from Western Sydney, while Keanu Baccus and Lachlan Scott have been promoted to Tony Popovic’s first team squad, though Baccus is still set to have a role – albeit a reduced one – in the Wanderers PS4 NPL 2 side this season.
Abraham Majok, formerly of Mt Druitt Town Rangers, has featured for the first team in the Asian Champions League this season, but is expected to play a part in Trevor Morgan’s plans for 2017. Emmanuel Gonzalez joins from Sydney FC as the 20s side’s top scorer in 2016, while Noah Pagden and Adrian Viggiani are among those players promoted from the Wanderers’ 18s and 20s teams.
"There’s excellent potential here.
"We’ve played a few games in preseason where there’s only been two 19 year olds on the pitch – everyone else we’ve put out has been 16, 17 or 18. They’re going to be tested, but we’re looking forward to those matches because they ultimately help to prepare out boys for the highest level, which is really the end goal for this kind of team.
"The focus of our club is one hundred per cent on producing players for the first team. Having said that, we will be prepared to win every match. We should be highly competitive in every match, and our expectation will be that it’s possible to win every time we go out there.
"You’ll see us with a similar pressing style and structure as the first team – the speed of our game isn’t the speed of their game, but we will be playing a Wanderers’ style of football. We’re always looking for continued improvement, so we trust that we can rise to the challenge."
-By Max Grieve
