Redemption, of a sort - South Melbourne 3 Oakleigh Cannons 0

South coach Chris Taylor and captain Michael Eagar lift the Dockerty Cup
trophy, as the rain pours down. Photo credit: South Melbourne FC/unknown.

There was an obvious fear that no matter how well we played yesterday, that we'd nevertheless fall short. This fear wasn't just based on the 120 minutes we'd played on Wednesday, but also on the mentality of the players and whether they'd be able to get up for the game following the FFA Cup disappointment. Instead the team put in a solid 90 minute performance and took home a third trophy in 12 months, and our first Dockerty Cup in 20 years. The win, in front of about 1200 people braving wind, rain and cold, also showed that the club needs to be and can be about more than the odd spell in the mainstream limelight.

I'm struggling to recall a South game with a more even performance from every player that took the field. While we weren't faultless, I'd argue that every South player contributed to the win yesterday, and that they were superior to everyone in their opposite position. Even with Oakleigh's relative abortion of a 2015 season, they'd still managed to get this far and were still a side comprised of several quality players - yet they struggled to penetrate the 18 yard box, and were left scrambling to defend our attacks on multiple occasions.

Even with the aid of a strong wind in the first half, Oakleigh weren't able to conjure up much to trouble Nikola Roganovic in the South goal. One long clearance from defence (actually a clever chip from midfield) saw Oakleigh beat the high offside trap, but Roganovic was quickly off his line and dealt with the oncoming attacker brilliantly (Lambros Honos hit it straight at him). For the rest of the game, the back four of Tim Mala, Brad Norton, Luke Adams and Michael Eagar were superb. Eagar in particular had an outstanding game,

The midfield, which this time included Matthew Theodore (replacing Jake Barker-Daish) and a start for Leigh Minopoulos (replacing David Stirton out wide on the right) never stopped running. Rather than the one dimensional, predominantly left wing attacking side we'd been for several weeks, we were a team that looked dangerous from whichever direction we attacked from. While we had the better of a relatively even first half, the main concern from an attacking sense was how isolated Milos Lujic was once again. All this was rectified in the second half, as the early goal was symptomatic of the way we'd run the game out, with numbers running into the box to support our star striker. Scoring goals from a corner also helps, but to be honest we could have won this game by a lot more. Some of our finishing once the game was settled could have been better, but at least we were well in front as opposed to having to play catch up as we'd had to do in some of the cup games leading up to the final.

In the room after the game, Roganovic still felt the need to apologise to supporters. What I would say to him is that his service in his brief time at the club has been exemplary as both a player and someone who feels part of the club, and that there are many, many former players and people involved with the club over the years who'd need to apologise before he does. And while it clearly sucks not having a social club, I'd like to say a big thank you to the players for allowing the supporters to share the win in the locker room after the game.

Speaking on behalf of myself, on a personal level...
I was pleased that we'd won the Dockerty Cup rather than some no name trophy or that light bulb trophy. Having been one of the people that fought for the return of the Dockerty Cup name and trophy - albeit this season in its stupidly truncated semi-final onwards only format - it was great to be able to lift the trophy in the change rooms as a supporter rather than as a historian during my sojourns to FFV HQ as part of the Historical Committee. It was even better to be able to share that experience not just with the players, but with other long serving supporters of the club. A pity that South's habit of breaking trophies was once again on display; having broken last year's NPL trophy, and the 1998 NSL trophy, yesterday this happened:

@PaulMavroudis nah we got him, never fear!

— Cindy N (@cindyn) August 2, 2015

Time to break out the Tarzan Super Grip I think.

Update:

@77kazzg @PaulMavroudis lol... ok, ok... Being babysat by the gaffer! pic.twitter.com/eGFnIbGFM4

— Cindy N (@cindyn) August 3, 2015

The questions that keep you up at night, and then follow you into the next day
After the consistent appeal for an answer to Chris Taylor's questionable substitution decisions on Wednesday night, did Taylor make no subs in yesterday's game out of spite? Was there a great overarching plan somewhere in there that we just can not perceive, nor be trusted to comprehend?

Five years!
If the rumours are to be believed, when our board had claimed that we'd signed Chris Taylor for a 'long time', they weren't kidding. Five years?! That's almost as long as we've been waiting for a social club! Of course this could turn out to be either a masterstroke or disaster. Not wishing to judge (five years, what the hell?), I reckon we should all agree to meet at this spot in about five years time and see how it all worked out.

Next game
Back to league action, with a game against Port Melbourne at home on Friday night - please note that kickoff has been pushed back to 8:30.

Nick Epifano, born charmer
Nick Epifano was interviewed last week on the Sydney based Soccer Stoppage Time show, in what turned out to be a brief interview. The main presenter of the show appears to be a huge fan of Epifano, and is flabbergasted by the fact that he's not in the A-League yet. When he asks Nick that question, Nick replies with I don't know, guess I have to work harder, etc. Nick goes on to say that he owes a lot to Chris Taylor; that the Dundee United experience, although truncated due to personal reasons, was an eye opener in terms of what kind of professionalism is required to play at that level; some guff about the club's FFA Cup preparations (this was recorded prior to our loss to Palm Beach); and there being interest from Adelaide United and Perth Glory. Epifano doesn't make a very good interview subject; his answers are short, nervous and provide little prospect for elaboration. After the interview ended, the main presenter once again praised Epifano's footballing ability, took aim at the struggling A-League franchises that hadn't done their homework, and while acknowledging that there were some concerns about behavioural issues, brushed them aside.

Film review - El Cinco
The Melbourne International Film Festival has made a habit of showing some really interesting soccer films. Two years ago it was the North Korean film 'Centre Forward', while last year it was Romanian experimental doco 'The Second Game' (which I really regret not reviewing for this blog). This year it's 'El Cinco', an Argentine film about a professional footballer who has made the decision to retire. It's a low key and poignant film, but which also has several hilarious moments.

This is a film about the end of what director Adrian Biniez portrays as the extended childhood of life as a professional footballer. Defensive midfielder Paton (Esteban Lamothe) - a sort of man child who spends his spare time on video games, booze, pot and annoying his wife -  is 35 years old when he receives an eight match ban following a red card; the ban rules him out of all but the final matches of the season. Locked away in the change rooms by himself and sitting out the rest of the game in what resembles a prison cell, Paton clearly feels the hand of football's Father Time resting on his shoulder. At home later on, he calmly announces to his partner Ale (Julieta Zylberberg) that this will be his last season - and the rest of the film follows what will be the final portion of his career, as Paton struggles to find what his purpose in life will be after his career is finished, including several schemes for his post-footballing life, as well as attempting to get his high school diploma.

The portrayal of Argentine professional soccer in this film is almost unrelenting in its working class aesthetics. Paton's side, Talleres, plays in a dilapidated stadium; but then again, so do most of their opponents. Money is short, and wages are often delayed. His team mates are mostly, if not all, working class boys like himself, who seem to have few other prospects apart from being professional footballers. Playing in a match is at best a reward for the repetitive exercises and training sessions that have to be undertaken; at worst, they are a frustrating and unfulfilling experience. Adulation is there for the players, but more often than not they are employed as a way for the club's supporters to be able to vent the frustrations of their own lives.

As Paton dithers about telling his family and his team mates the news, he learns about the fate of those from his junior soccer days who never quite made the grade, and tries to fight a battle against anxiety and boredom that threatens to derail his post-football life before it begins - because as much as playing football is the chief means of his employment, it also makes up almost his entire identity as a person. Football is not only a job for Paton, but also his vocation - he knows little else of the world. The pending loss of the companionship and camaraderie of the change rooms are heightened by Paton's impending retirement.

If that sounds like all too much po-faced seriousness, then it should be clear that there are a lot of funny moments in this film as well. While Paton is usually quick witted, he can be undone by his own determination to get even with those who have slighted him (at one point a radio talkback segment goes very, very wrong). The supporters and club directors are always there to make a nuisance of themselves. The most comedic (and tragic) lines in the film though go to the team's coach, a slob of a man with little obvious football nous, who sometimes sleeps in his car and is always at a loss as to how to inspire his troops in their quest to escape mid-table mediocrity.

And as much as this is a film about soccer and the life of a professional athlete, it is also a film about marriage. As another review of this film has noted, the marriage portrayed in El Cinco is not a typical film affair. We are shown a relationship that is in the middle, not at its beginning or end; we are not shown a relationship in strife, but one that has its protagonists constantly renegotiating the terms of its existence. Paton's partner Ale is neither harridan nor long suffering saint, and this portrayal is aided by the excellent acting chemistry between Lamothe and Zylberberg.

The only two gripes I had with the film? The on field soccer scenes are pretty lame, but then again they almost always are; and the subtitles are a little wonky at times, which only makes you appreciate the quality of subtitling we get on SBS. There will be those, too, who will feel that this film doesn't really go anywhere, and that would be a valid complaint, if only that was not the purpose of the film - to portray working class life in all its low key mundaneness.

It's showing again this Saturday, and it's definitely worth a look for fans of good football films, and of course Latin American cinema.

Sic semper tyrannis
If the moderation of smfcboard is going to be more active, in terms of banning people and deleting their posts, the least we could do is have some clear rules set out for what the mods consider acceptable posting. It was bad enough when posts were being deleted because someone from the board demanded it, but the moment it becomes about posts being deleted because of an arbitrary matter of taste, then we've crossed into really dangerous territory.

I have received my share of criticism for my own vague comments publishing policy on this blog, because I've more or less allowed just about every nutbag to have their say over the years. This is based on my belief that the vast majority of my readers are sensible enough to post thoughtful commentary, even stuff that I disagree with and even items where I myself am the target of the post. I also trust my readers to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff for themselves, and that stupid posts reflect badly not just on their own authors but also the cause they seek to promote.

There are few more powerful tools of rebuttal against a person's arguments than their own words and the passage of time. I hope the moderators keep this in mind before pulling the trigger in future.

Does Mornington count as being in Melbourne?
Remember this? Well, Mark Bosnich was in town on Saturday for Mornington's 50th anniversary, but I still had to pay for own crepes yesterday, and complain to people who've already heard all my complaints.

Around the grounds
Mummy, where does daddy go on Saturdays?
A trip to Bendigo was reluctantly knocked back; an opportunity to watch a tanking Collingwood was considered only briefly; so it was off to Paisley Park for the State League One North West Greek Derby between Altona East and Western Suburbs. And what a game it was! At least for the first 50 odd minutes anyway. East looked better than the ladder leaders, and took the lead when Gomer Pyle was given too much room to unleash a curling left foot shot from the edge of the box into the opposite corner. Then the little Japanese fellow blasted his shot miles wide on the goal line, and that's where things stopped going well for East. After a passage of play where East cleared desperately off the line, the keeper got up dazed and confused but continued. Suburbs equalised with a great free kick from out wide to go into the break level. The early parts of the second half saw East go down to ten men after a handball on the goal line. After the penalty was scored, East's keeper also got subbed off suffering from the concussion he got in the first half, and Suburbs made sure of it soon after with their third. Goals four and five were icing on the cake.

Final thought
I'm a worrier, it's true; but you'd worry, too, if you had people come up to you after reading last week's post after our FFA Cup loss and ask you to write something positive for once.

In a canter - South Melbourne 8 North Sunshine Eagles 0

I couldn't make it to this game, so thank you Gains who has provided this match report in my absence.

Paul asked me to help him write the match report for the cup match before the game, so here I am again. My previous match report ended up with Peter Tsolakis resigning as head coach so I hope nothing of the same sort happens again.

Personally I don't like how it is called the FFA Cup qualifier where it is primarily about the Dockerty Cup and the four FFA Cup spots happen to be the easiest way to find four entrants from Victoria but maybe that's just me.

Pre-match and Background
On the way to the ground there are at least fifty North Sunshine fans singing and chanting to support the team and with the addition of those already inside, there were at least a hundred of them coming to support their team against South. They were here courtesy of an epic penalty shootout victory over Sunshine George Cross, after drawing 4-4 in normal time and 6-6 in extra time with two men down after red cards. South won 5-0 against Whittlesea United in the previous round.

Perhaps knowing their previous round win and people talking about North Sunshine as being a team that fears no opposition, Chris Taylor selected a strong starting eleven after the weekend derby against Melbourne Knights. Nick Epifano and Jake Barker-Daish replaced Dane Milovanovic and Matthew Theodore from the team that beat the Knights, while Tim Mala served the second part of his two match ban from the red card against Green Gully.

Andy Brennan on the ball, with what looks like a hundred tissues stuffed up
his nose, after copping a ball to the face. Photo: Cindy Nitsos

First Half
An early goal from Milos Lujic assisted by the in-form Andy Brennan, who dispossessed a North Sunshine player, helped the team's confidence considering it had taken around half an hour for the first goal to arrive against Whittlesea. Ten minutes later, Brad Norton's great cross found Brennan rushing from the right, which made it two. There was controversy when Lujic got heavily fouled just outside the box and the loose ball went to Brennan who put it into the net, only for the referee to pull the game back for the initial foul much to the protestations of South fans. David Stirton scored from the free kick, most likely South's first since Fernando's against Preston Lions in the 2013 Dockerty Cup quarter final. Lujic got substituted for Leigh Minopoulos immediately after the goal. Another Stirton goal, this time from an Epifano cross, put the game beyond North Sunshine's reach and just a minute later when Epifano was brought down close to the six yard box, a penalty scored by Epifano himself and a red card for the defender basically ended the game as a contest. Taylor made his second substitution at this point, replacing Brennan who got hit in the head with the ball and ran around with gauze around his mouth for a while with Andy Kecojevic. The first half ended 5-0 and with one man advantage, progression to the next round is almost certain.

It seemed during the second half, North Sunshine's goalkeeper (who drew a few “sign him up” chants after some of his saves) got substituted.

Iqi Jawadi evades his North Sunshine opponent. Photo: Cindy Nitsos

Second Half
The intensity of the game dropped in second half; consequently, North Sunshine got a lot more of the ball compared and had some moments where they broke through South's back line and tested Nikola Roganovic in goals. It took until the hour mark for South to increase the lead with Minopoulos scoring. Five minutes later Stirton grabbed his hattrick to made it seven. Around this time other match results were announced through the PA (though having some sound issues where it sounded like a Nespresso machine operating after they finished the broadcast) with Ballarat Red Devils getting a cheer and impromptu chant after news of their lead (and eventual victory) over Bentleigh Greens piped in. Jake Barker-Daish ended the match with a goal of his own, a right footed shot from outside the box beyond the goalkeeper's reach. Eight-nil it ended, more players getting a run in the team and gaining match fitness; the next round awaits.

Nick Epifano gets brought down in the box. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Nick Epifano
After being dropped from the starting eleven against the Knights, Epifano looks more active in the second half, dropped back and tried to win the ball from his opposition more. On the pitch, his extra effort showed itself in the form of a first half assist and goal, not to mention his shots and dangerous crosses. The intensity dropped in the second half but so did that of the others considering the scoreline, but he still provided a few crosses which almost resulted in goals.

Post-match though, Epifano walked straight to the tunnel and despite captain Michael Eagar's attempt to have him celebrate together with the fans, Epifano pushed him away and walked down the tunnel, which the  fans noticed. Post player/fan celebration, Roganovic went over to the fans and tried to give an explanation. He asked the fans to give Epifano some time, said that he is probably having his issues at home, he is still very young at nineteen, and all the other players are trying to support Epifano who they consider an important part of the team. Most of the fans there accepted Roganovic's explanation, but more importantly gained more respect for the goalkeeper as he did not need to go out of his way to clear the air.

Learned a New Greek Word Today
Σταμάτα! (Stop!)

Next Match
Hume City away. Five previous away results against them were W L W L W. Depending whether you believe in statistics and/or superstitions this might be the match you want to skip or go to and see the team break the pattern. As Tim Mala has finished serving his ban and might potentially return to the team, you might also want to spend a minute or more of your weekend in Broady with him.

Speaking of which... - Bentleigh Greens 2 South Melbourne 2

Well, we matched it with them for about 20 minutes, and then we didn't, and we copped two goals and we looked done like a dinner, And then we somehow dug our way of that, not without a bit of luck, and almost snatched it.

Some of those banners are not very NCIP friendly. A good thing that it was
'erase racism' round. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Nick Epifano is a hell of a frustrating player. In the first half he was nowhere near it really, and was directly involved in the first goal we conceded, after he dithered in midfield and lost the ball, from which Bentleigh countered and scored while we had numbers committed forward. What was worse was that the danger from such half-heartedness was already apparent, after Milos Lujic had earlier stopped dead waiting for a referee's whistle that never came, sending Bentleigh on their way.

To be fair to Epifano he was not playing in his more suited wide positions, and neither did I think he that had the capacity to pull himself out of his lacklustre performance - and to be even fairer, he was hardly alone in the slack arse stakes in the first half. The whole side picked up their work rate, and the performance improved considerably, and Epifano was a huge part of that, so credit where it's due.

Less credit to David Stirton who hasn't quite lived up to my expectations yet. I've been defending him over the past few weeks despite his sluggish form from the attacks of my favourite hill and terrace loud mouth, but last night Stirton had a shocker. Subbed at half time - as part of an atypical Chris Taylor early double sub roll of the dice - his replacement Andy Brennan if nothing else provided the kind of grunt work that Stirton would not. Whether Stirton gets a reprieve for next week is anyone's guess.

Lujic is beginning to annoy a section of the supporters - this writer included - with his tendency to now play for fouls and not play to the whistle. The aforementioned incident was a perfect example, and even the penalty that we got was in that realm. Looking at the replay, he does get clipped, but the possibility that he was milking it has now entered my mindset and it's going to be hard for me to shrug off. Of course for others this is less of an issue, and they may even applaud Lujic for winning the foul, because there was contact and he made the most of it to the benefit of the team. And what of last year's game, where we were denied a much more obvious penalty? Swings and roundabouts.

Epifano's equaliser - which was well worked, though I think Alistair Bray could have done better if he'd just stood his ground - set up a show stopper of finale, where the Greens were denied a goal late on for reasons I'm not aware of, Tyson Holmes didn't score against us, and Lujic seemed to pull up with cramp just as the ball sat up for him to snatch the winner in the last seconds of the game. Both teams can play better, but I think we have more improvement left in us than Bentleigh, and more than the point we got out of the game, that's what makes me happiest - despite being very unhappy with our performance for large chunks of the game.

Next week
Heidelberg away.

Could we have had Eagar earlier?
Overhead a story yesterday that prior to joining us last year, Michael Eagar had previously trialled with us in 2013, only to be rejected.

Wavelength: 495–570 nm
My, wasn't the Kingston Heath surface looking particularly verdant last night? Maybe because someone - either the local council or the home team themselves - had it painted green! It seems as if South's team manager Frank Piccione has had a horror time trying to get the green paint off the white uniforms. Brad Norton has claimed that even after three showers, he still looks like the Grinch! More seriously, why was there paint on the field? What was the paint on the field? And who's going to reimburse us in the event that the paint has left permanent stains on the uniforms? Speaking of things green and not being what they claim to be...

Truly, the most overrated of foodstuffs in the league
Ten dollars doesn't get you very far in the south-east. Oh, in parts of the west it can get you both a meat filled roll and a soft drink, but out there in the middle of nowhere, you're left with no change from a tenner after you purchase your meat and bread product. But that's OK, as it's part of the experience of travelling to overhyped football tourist spots like FoxSports Souvlaki Stadium. What's less than acceptable is being charged ten bucks for what is essentially a bread pocket half filled with lettuce so devoid of flavour that it felt not like I was eating discarded grass clippings, but instead munching on leftover parts of the synthetic turf they used for the second pitch. Speaking of which...

Segment rescinded due to ongoing investigation
Because sometimes you gotta sure make of a few details before going off half-cocked.

Lead singer: No there's no substitute for you.
Backing singer: No substitute, no substitute!
While it escaped my attention during our last league game away to Werribee, last night while looking at the team sheets on Twitter it became very clear that we did not have a substitute keeper listed. My mind immediately went back to the 2000 Scottish FA Cup final, where Aberdeen played Rangers, a task made much harder for Aberdeen due to the fact that they had no substitute keeper. Well what do you know, their keeper Jim Leighton went off injured and they had to use one of their outfield players in goal. It didn't turn out so well.

Now when Roganovic went down heavily in the six yard box yesterday, it looked like we were in big, self-inflicted trouble. Now I had overheard that under these quite plainly unacceptable circumstances, Kristian Konstantinidis would be the outfield player to take up the gloves. But of course he's out injured. So what was going to be Plan Z exactly? Poor organisation by the club on all fronts on this matter, thought its comforting to know that we've reverted to our habit of signing 101 midfielders. Luckily Roganovic managed to get up and continue. But speaking of Gonzo...

Kristian Konstantinidis out for season?
It looks like Gonzo's out for the entire season now, or at least a huge chunk of it. Since much of our plan for this year seemed to hinge on Michael Eagar playing a central defensive role, what would be the back up plan if that couldn't be arranged because Eagar needed to played in defence? Perhaps new recruit Dane Milovanovic could fill in that role - but is he even fit? Murmurings around the ground suggest that he is not.

Dockerty Cup opponent
We've been drawn against the plucky cup outfit North Sunshine Eagles. North Sunshine have a habit of punching above their weight in the cup, most recently eliminating Sunshine George Cross on penalties after their game finished 6-6 after extra time - including coming back from 6-4 down with nine men.

Hey Martin Foley, where's the social club? (via smfcboard)
"He said the wheels were in motion, but there was no motion. He's a very bad man"

Around the grounds
Three times is a trend
This week was the first game of the league season for the state leagues, and I ventured out to the Paisley Park derby. Neither of these two sides had apparently shown much during the pre-season. Altona East were lucky to avoid relegation last year, thanks to Moreland City accepting promotion to NPL. 2015 hadn't started much better, being bundled out of the Dockerty Cup by lowly Riversdale. For their part, Altona Magic had reportedly recruited heavily with a view to getting into the NPL, only for that door to be shut by the FFV for this year. Magic, too, had been bundled out of the cup by Berwick. The game started in typical derby fashion, with a lot of strong tackling, but eventually Magic went on to take control of the match. That they ended winning this game because of pretty much scoring the same goal three times doesn't reflect well on Altona East. Each time the ball was lofted into the area, each time confusion reigned in the East defence, with the keeper and defenders at sixes and sevens. OK, so the second of the third goals was an own goal, but that was the only outlier. East did pull it back to 2-1 early in the second half, but never really threatened again after that. Echoing last year's 'Robin Egg Blue' fiasco, Ian Syson decided that the colour of Magic's away strip was 'banana yellow' (as in the skin, not the flesh), whereas I argued it was the colour of an egg rich custard. It was that kind of day.

Oh, and my hair has apparently changed colour again. I blame the sun.

Final thought
There was some, er, 'arousal' in among the crowd there last night. Perhaps it's best to leave it at that.

2014 season getting closer! Hurrah!

I'm Bored, You're Bored
This week has seen the senior squad begin the long road to avoiding our longest league title drought - in other words, pre-season training has started. After missing out on the supposed seven year itch omen last year, our record of the eight years it took to win a title after leaving the state leagues in 1976 stands to fall if we don't pull our finger out this season.

Player Points System Is Here!
Well, well, well. Here we go. We get 275 points this season, fewer in subsequent seasons, unless the PFA pull their finger out and do something major. Once again, here's the gist. Everyone is worth 10 base points, and then gets points added or taken away based on a whole bunch of criteria. In a nutshell, here's what's 'good' and 'bad'.


Players you'll tend to want include:

• Those who came up through your junior system.
• Local players.
• Players who are 25 or under.
• Players you already have.

Players you don't want as much:

• Players brought up through the junior wings of other clubs.
• Foreign players.
• Players over 25.
• Players from other clubs.

Now, a very important addition to all this is the fact that you will now only be able to have two visa players. They'll cost you 20 points at a minimum. The FFV's explanatory PDF says:

Any player who is not an Australian Citizen, or does not have Permanent Residency status, is considered a Visa Player.

Which should make things easier and more lenient than I expected. There;s also scope for what they call a 'marquee' player, who is described as"

who was playing in a fully professional league the previous season, and subsequently signs for an NPL club.

Lastly, you also get bonus points in your cap for having players get promoted to the A-League or an Australian based pathway. It does not appear to count if your player gets sold overseas first.

So, Who's Gonna Save Us? (and will we come in under the points cap?)
Well, pinching a whole bunch of Northcote players didn't work. Pinching a whole bunch of Thunder players didn't work, though it did get us closer. How about getting players from both of those teams!

Re-signed/Apparently sticking around

• Dimi Tsiaras - despite getting increasingly limited game time, has re-signed. Will provide decent cover even if he's not in the starting eleven.
• Nick Epifano - fell away badly toward the end of last season, so will be interesting to see if he finds the form that initially made him one of the more valuable mid-season acquisitions.
• Tim Mala - probably the weakest of the Dandenong acquisitions in 2013, but beggars can't be choosers. 
• Tyson Holmes - signed a two year deal. Steve from Broady will be happy.
• Brad Norton - has been signed up for our 2014 plans.
• Iqi Jawadi - apart from being one of the Dandenong Thunder boys, played in the friendly the 21s played against Selangor late last year.
• Shaun Kelly - will need to adapt to a new partner. Did well again last season, but Bran going will mean that perhaps more attention will be paid again to his performances

New players/invited to train/rumoured

• Michael Eagar - defender from Northcote. Dual citizenship helps his and our cause when it comes to visa spots.
• Matthew Theodore - midfielder from Dandenong Thunder. This was apparently a done deal last season (or as much as deals can possibly be done back during that period of time, which resembles more the primordial ooze than anything concrete and stable). Young, lots of experience at this level.
• Anthony Giannopoulos - after having spent the second half of last year at Sunshine George Cross in state league one, where he apparently played well predominantly as a left back (as opposed to his usual under 21s forward position), he's apparently been training with the side. Whether he'll be able to make the step up is anyone's guess.
• More players of unknown provenance.
• Kieran Gonzalez - Green Gully's goalkeeper has been thrown up as a possible replacement for the retired Peter Gavalas.
• Milos Luic - Northcote's star forward had been thrown up as a possible acquisition, pending him not being picked up by an A-league team. While his initial attempt to get on Sydney FC's books didn't work out, it looks like he's got at least a temporary spot at Wellington Phoenix.

Who's gone so far? (and who else may be going?)
Remembering that it is pre-season, and that there are new rules to play by this season, it's a scenario that's been complicated beyond the usual 'can we afford him/does he want to play for us/is he under contract' shenanigans.

Now we also have to deal with a 275 player points cap (which will probably be reduced in the coming seasons), which penalises teams who recruit heavily, rely on visa players, and generally favour older, non-own club products to younger, crafted by your own hand players.

Definite outs

• Bryan Bran, supposedly to FC Chabab, an ethnic Moroccan team playing in the Dutch third division (which is a recent attempt to bridge the gap between amatuer and professional football there, or so Wikipedia says.
• Trent Rixon, gone back to Northcote. A shame, but not entirely unexpected.
• Alan Kearney - apparently to Dandenong Thunder. For whatever reason, looked like he was falling out of favour once the new signings came in during last year's mid-season transfer window. The limit of visa spots has not helped his claim I would think.
• Peter Gavalas, retired, a big hole to fill, whether you rated him or not.
• Fernando De Moraes, retired. Fare thee well, Nando.

In the maybe/likely/fucked if I know pile

• Luke Hopper - with only two visa spots available (and one of those being taken up by Shaun Kelly, the other probably to Nick Soolsma), he looks like the one that will miss out. Or will he? 
• Carl Recchia - supposedly going to Pascoe Vale - disappointing as he was allegedly paid throughout 2013 despite missing the entire season due to his knee injury. Though quite how much value he'll provide a season after a serious knee injury and at his age is anyone's guess.
• Renco Van Eeken - almost certainly gone back home. His chronic osteitis pubis problem is probably where our downward slide started in the first half of the season.
• Nicky Soolsma - the info on this keep changing, but the assumption at the moment is that he'll stay
• Chris Maynard  - I'm hearing disturbing things related to a shit attitude towards training. I hope this is not true, as a) we need a keeper b) I would rather have one of our youth products make the grade if he's good enough and c) I think it's fairly well known what Chris Taylor's attitudes to a slack attitude to training are.
• Rhys Meredith - Have heard he's gone back to Queensland. A pity, and a little bit of a surprise I think. At one point I thought that if either of the two Queenslanders was going to win a spot here, it would have been Rhys over Tyson, but the latter's late season form really turned a corner.
• James Karvelis - the young defender got a few games last season and actually did OK, but if he stays it looks like he'll be a back up player again.
• Nick Jacobs - despite my love of this player, have the gut feeling he's destined to be remembered as a future SMFC trivia question for his winning goal against Southern Stars in 2012. Still young though, so hopefully he's still deemed worthy of overcoming his injury problems and giving it a real crack.
• Matko Budimir - the big defender probably should have got more game time last year, but for whatever reasons didn't. Not sure what his future holds. Would like to see him given a chance, but I'm not sure it's in his best interests to stick around.
• Baggio Yousif - apparently left for Hume. Scored a ton of goals and seemed to take up a lot of the on field leadership slack after Giannopoulos left the 21s last year. While 21s football is not senior football by any stretch, I'm actually disappointed to see him go.
• Erdem Ozcagli - assume he will be staying.
• Andrew Cartanos - got more senior game time than most from the 21s last season, but I'm not personally convinced by him. Would love to be proven wrong.

So when do we get to start seeing them in action?
No firm dates for friendly or trial matches have come forth yet, though some other clubs are apparently getting into gear. But on that note. here's what one of the peoples on the old smfcboard posted recently:


George Katsakis interviewed by George Karandonis on Rythmos 1656 just before where he stated Heidelberg are conducting a tournament that starts on Sunday Jan 26th.

Confirmed teams:

• South
• Heidelberg
• Oakleigh
• Bentleigh
• Port
• Sydney Olympic
• West Adelaide 

 Nearly confirmed:

• Hobart Olympic 
  

Declined to participate:

•  Northcote City

Further to that information, my mail is that Hobart Olympia will not participate in this tournament, but will be heading down to Melbourne to play a couple of games against us. Another chance for Jake Vandermey to show his worth against his old mob?

It's a pity we don't get an interstate trip, as was mooted towards the end of last year, but since Melbourne is the centre of the Greek-Australian universe, it makes sense for everyone else to come to us.

Of course, this hasn't been confirmed as of yet beyond the radio broadcast, so expect some changes. One of the Football Anarchy Sydney Olympic fans has pointed out that the NSWPL pre-season cup starts in the first week of February.

Quite why they're proposing to start on Sunday 26th - instead of say, starting on the night of Friday 24th, taking advantage of the whole of the Australia Day long weekend is anyone's guess. The Groundskeeper Willie of smfcboard has also noted that Olympic Village's turf is not in good nick.