This blog's not dead yet, which might yet be considered a virtue.
Goodbye
The first farewells so far this off-season have been announced. Back-up goalkeeper Chris Couesnon played only the one game - that cup game against Avondale - so it's little surprise to see him moved on, as is often the way with second choice keepers after a year of limited opportunity. Winger and youth-team product Matthew Loutrakis made several appearances this season, but I guess someone made the probably not invalid observation that he had hit his ceiling with us; like many before him, it's up to Matthew to prove them wrong.
Chris Irwin's 21 appearances in 2022 was the most he'd achieved in his five seasons across two stints at South, but he could never quite cement a starting spot, and I suppose being a depth player makes you more likely to being seen as disposable. I will miss having a player around the club rocking a pair of spectacles, even if he didn't wear them on the field.
Lastly, Jai Ingham played in every single match this season, a fact that you would have had to pay real close attention to in order not to find it incredulous. Ingham started well - two goals in the first three games - but never got fit. He rarely started matches, and when he did, he'd rarely finish them. So he mostly came off the bench, and to be fair, didn't did all that much. I think we all wanted him to do more, because he clearly has talent, but one moment or half moment per match just isn't enough.
Back again
Max Mikkola, though who knows who he's going to throw it to next season. Patrick Langlois, who scored ten goals in 2022, and I fear may not score that many in the rest of his time with South. Marcus Schroen, hovering on the edge of mug punters' tolerance, but not that of the decision makers. Skipper Brad Norton, turning 32 next season, and approaching 300 matches for South - will he make it?
Speculation
Players from Bentleigh, that forward from Thunder.
Déjà vu
If you've wondering how Harrison Sawyer's been going, here's your answer. He also headed down a corner that became another assist.
Free feed round-up
In the spirit of 2022, this is another South of the Border segment well past its newsworthiness.
Quite a few Wednesdays ago I was invited to attend South's low key presentation night, in the week after the grand final. I think I was invited because one of the people set for the media team table was taking his mum to the airport or something.
The presentation night was held midweek and at short notice, probably because everyone was going to piss off on holidays soon after. Fair enough. Attendance were senior men's and women's teams and reserves, as well as the blind and powerchair teams. Also sponsors. Many sponsors. One can cry about the lack of supporter oriented events, but... well, yes. There should be more supporter orientated events like this.
But I digress.
Awards were handed out, some small speeches were made. Revelations? Not many that I can recall. Esteban Quintas loves the club. Our goalkeeper deservedly won our best and fairest. Long serving treasurer Mario Vinaccia was awarded the Sam Papasavas award for services to the club. There are plans for a testimonial for Brad Norton.
Second division news
Apparently it's still coming.
Scoreboard news
It is my understanding that the Lakeside Stadium scoreboard might be getting a renovation, or even a replacement.
AGM news
Nothing yet.
2023 fixturing
There's an interesting fixturing problem coming up next year for a couple of clubs, namely ourselves and Avondale. Lakeside Stadium and the Reggio Calabria Club are designated as official training venues for the Women's World Cup next year, and could well be off limits to both clubs not just for the duration of the tournament, but also some time before that. If that's the case, there's going to be some pretty big fixturing headaches for us especially, considering that we have both men's and women's teams which play out of our home ground, and considering the restrictions we face (albeit recently diminished) around the time of the grand prix.
At a surface level, it looks like there's really only a couple of ways around the issue. It's possible the women will play out of Darebin or Knox during that time, as has been the custom in the recent past. But for the men? Unless several home matches are scheduled at the start of the season, it looks like we could be playing home matches out in the suburbs. If that were to be the case, my preference would be Northcote, but we'll see I suppose.
At least some of the problem could be ameliorated if the NPL Victoria (and perhaps even the whole football system) took a couple of weeks off during the group stage of the tournament. Again, we wait and see.
