Photos (Top to Bottom): Chris Hey...the Olympia coach has faith in Adam Hedge; "What do you reckon, Bart?" asks Ken Morton. "Will that be the Zebras line-up?"; "Do you reckon we can beat South this time, Ryan?" asks Nick Di Giovanni of his captain; "I want a better team effort this week, Michael," said Kingborough coach, Geoff Freeman; "Well, Fish, do you think Eamonn will be back for this game?" asks Knights president Zarko Baltic of his captain, Josh Fielding; "Gee, those new shirts look nice," says Olympia's Paul Kaproulias to captain, Hugh Richardson. "I wish I could get to wear one."; "Hmmm," says Taroona coach, Ben Horgan to his captain, Sam Johnson. "Hope we play like in the Steve Hudson Cup."; "Are you telling me you're still injured, Wassie?" asks Eagles coach, George Krambousanos; The two experienced wise heads at Clarence, Luke Cripps (left) and coach Andrew Brown, size up their chances against Knights [PlessPix]
Defending champions South Hobart visit KGV Park on Saturday at 6.30pm to take on Tilford Zebras in their opening Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League match of the season.
South Hobart go into this showdown fresh from their Summer Cup win last Saturday and will be more used to the venue and the later-than-usual kick-off time than Zebras.
And, South beat Zebras 1-0 in the Summer Cup group stage.
All these factors make South the favourites, but Zebras are quite capable of springing some surprises.
Shae Hickey will be missing from South’s starting line-up because of an ankle injury, but he may play on Sunday in the Steve Hudson Cup final against Ulverstone.
His place in midfield will be taken by Garry Upton, a move that can only strengthen the side.
Upton is a marvellous player. He reads the game well and has excellent technical skills, while his physical capacities can be intimidating for opponents.
In other words, he is the complete player and on a par with some of the great imports of the past.
South coach Ken Morton said his team had trained well during the week.
Zebras’ chances may depend on the type of side they send out.
They never really hit top form in the Summer Cup and this may have been due to some positional changes and experimentation by new coach Romeo Frediani.
If he makes the right selections and chooses players in their most suitable positions, Zebras will give South a run for their money.
The league season begins on Friday night when Glenorchy Knights entertain Clarence United at KGV Park at 8pm.
Both sides have a lot to prove.
The Knights will be keen to show that last weekend’s Summer Cup final loss was an aberration, while Clarence will want to show that their spectacular and successful end-of-season accomplishments last season were not just a flash in the pan.
Knights should have defender Tony Dzelalija back from suspension and his experience will be important.
Jacob Huigsloot will have plenty to prove to his former club and against his brother, Luke, even though they are unlikely to be in direct competition.
Knights’ goalkeeper Alex Tatnell will also want to do well against his former club and also prove to the knockers who criticised him for some of the goals in the cup final that he is up to Premier League standard.
Knights beat Clarence 1-0 in the Summer Cup group stage and therefore may have the psychological advantage.
Coach Eamonn Kelly will also be back and his disciplined approach should make the Knights slight favourites.
Clarence certainly have the ability to topple the Knights in this joust, but they will have to show improvement over their Summer Cup displays.
They certainly have the potential to win and, if their youngsters can put together an exciting 90 minutes of fast, accurate and technically proficient football, they can get off to the perfect start and collect three points.
Newcomers to the league, Taroona, open their top-flight campaign by hosting Olympia Warriors at Kelvedon Park at 2.30pm on Saturday.
Taroona must learn to score if they are to have any chance of winning.
They created numerous chances in their Summer Cup games, but did not find the back of the net once in three outings.
They have managed to score in the northern Steve Hudson Cup competition, but that was against poorer opponents than they will meet in the southern league.
“We’ve got pretty much a full strength squad to choose from this weekend for our game against Olympia,” said Taroona coach, Ben Horgan.
“Our new signing from Somerset, Garry Hamilton, will start up front with Hugo Luttmer.
“Rick Nettlefold will be in goals after his great form in the Steve Hudson Cup.
“Hamish Macgregor will start on the bench having had a late start to pre-season after returning from overseas.
“We’ve had a pretty long pre-season playing in both the Summer Cup and Steve Hudson Cup so we’re looking forward to getting the league underway and it is important that we find some good form, particularly at home, so we’re keen to make it a good start to the season.”
Olympia have clever striker Kosta Grillas available, but he will probably start on the bench, while Adam Hedge, recently returned from overseas, is likely to feature in the starting line-up.
Olympia coach Chris Hey rates Hedge in terms of his positioning and his ability to hold up the ball and make something happen.
The Olympia squad is: Nester, Hey, Peter Tsakiris, Powell, Lebski, Wiggins, Phillips, Richardson, Meredith, Adam Hedge, Emmanuel Tsakiris, Kunwar, Grillas, Farrugia, Tracy.
The final game of the round is at Lightwood Park on Sunday at 2.30pm, where Kingborough Lions United welcome New Town Eagles.
KIngborough will make one change to their side, with Marcello Marchioli coming in for Ryan Bevan.
Kingborough coach Geoff Freeman is confident that his side can begin their campaign by collecting three points at home.
Eagles coach George Krambousanos again has headaches.
Chris Wass and Shane Kent, his two key central defenders, are both out because of injury.
On the positive side, goalkeeper Nathan Pitchford and striker Alex Leszczynski both return from injury.
Jacob Clamp will come into the squad.
“It won’t be exactly the formation I was hoping for,” said Krambousanos.
“Steve Louden and Jacob Clamp will be the two centre-backs, while Adam McKeown and Alex Leszczynski will be our two strikers.
“I think we can win this one, but a few of my plans have suffered set-backs.
“The boys will do all right, though.”
21 comments:
South by a few
Clarence by a goal
Olympia by a couple
bore draw
Kingborough under the radar, teams will again feel the pain at the Lion's Den. Kingborough by 3
just for a bit of interest:
Refereeing Appointments:
Seniors:
Knights/Clarence: Sean
Taroona/Olympia: Ivan
South/Zebras: Kim
Kingo/NTE: Patrick
Reserves:
K/C: Brenton Kopra
T/O: Michael Thain
S/Z: Hanna Manuela
K/N: Ali Taheri
steve payne on stres leave? is this true?
Hopefully there will be refs and assistants for U 19 games
Im confident Jacob has already given Clarence an indication that they lost one hell of a player, especially for the likes of the future Walter. End of story really.
Not suprised by the Refs appointed to be honest. None of those reserve referees ring a bell. Good that Ivan and Kim are both doing middle jobs this week.
I think that what's discgraceful and stupid is the fact that referee appointments are advertised on this blog. It must be hard enough for these guys to do what they do, week in - week out. But to also have to put up with these comments days out from the game...not good!
Whoever is putting these appointments on this blog must have access to the appointment system, therefore either a referee or FFT employee. Please think about what you are doing, it's not value adding.
If Shane Kent is Kramo's key defender this year Eagles are in alot of trouble.
kosta grillis back to olympia.....
olympia getting stronger every week! newtown very much under rated, kingbrough and taroona to fight for survival, clarence the dark horse again, knights and zebras to stop south on their day!
south to collaspe under pressure as last year!
melikesfootball said...
I think that what's discgraceful and stupid is the fact that referee appointments are advertised on this blog. It must be hard enough for these guys to do what they do, week in - week out. But to also have to put up with these comments days out from the game...not good!
FULLY AGREE WITH THIS GUY -- BEST WAY TO GEWT TREATED LIKE A LOSER ON THE GROUND IS BUCKET THE GUY IN CHARGE BEFORE THE GAME EVEN HITS THE GRASS... ONE WONDERS IF ITS THE TEAM INVOLVED OR THE OPPOSITION SETTING THE CAT LOOSE TO RILE THE REFS UP.
EITHER WAY ITS BAD NEWS AND IF IT CONTINUES WE ARE ALL GONNA END UP REF LESS AND HAVE TO RESORT TO THE SUBS DOING IT LIKE LOWER DIVISIONS USUALLY HAVE TOO ..
ENGAGE THE BRAIN BEFORE THE KEYBOARD GUYS MAY HELP YOUR OWN TEAM A LITTLE EHHH
What's wrong with referee appointments being named? The poster said nothing negative about them, they stated they merely posted them for extra info.
Many other sports/leagues have this information available before a game without any dramas being caused. The teams/players involved know well before the game also. So why should it be a drama for such an amateur league?
The only comments relating to specific refs has been positive. It'd actually be a good way to keep an eye on the upcoming refs and hopefully see them break through for senior games during the year for some more options.
No matter what people are saying about the referees they do the best they can and we would all be complaining more if we didnt have them. the most improved over the last couple of years has been Ivan. he is still prone to the odd bad decision but who at any level isnt. i think most clubs will agree with this.
I dont think it is bad to publish who the referees are. it shouldnt and wouldnt make a difference to anything to do with game day.
Why should we always compare ourselves to other sports, surely they should be comparing themselves to us, the number 1 sport in the world.
Refs should not be the centre ot attention, therefore should not be published or promoted.
If a game has been run without the referee being noticed, it must have been a well run game me thinks.
lions den more like pussy palace facts kingborough won nothing in 13 years stop blaming refs start excepting responsability you have a great setup and ground take the next step look in the mirror and move forward
south vs zebras game should be a cracker saturday night. if walter is right in saying that zebras line up experiments are finished with then there may be a juve side to challenge south
taroona 2-olympic 1
kingborough 1- new town 2
south 3- zebras 0
'melikesfootball' - It may be the number one sport in the world, but it's not the number one sport here, and this competition is even further from a well organised sport like many others around the state/country/world.
Refs are published and promoted at the top levels of the game, so that blows your theory out of the water. If we should be comparing to our own sport, it shouldn't be an issue then. It doesn't mean they are the centre of attention, it's merely information related to the game. There are few games here where the refs do well enough not to be noticed, and having their name listed to a match is not going to impact their performance in either way.
Don't forget they were included in comments on a blog. If a referee is looking at comments on a blog, they are doing so at their own risk (and even then, there's still nothing negative that's been said). Do you think a FIFA referee would look at blogs/forums or care what was said on such things? Only amateur refs with ego problems would look on here and care what was said. The ones that I've seen post here (and on previous blogs) before are prime examples of that type.
If Walter was having a go at them in an article, that'd be a different story, but he's not, and never has, so I really don't see your issue. You're a sad reflection of the PC/Cotton-wool society we are becoming to please the lowest common denominator!
Ril
Yoe rite soo good. yoe must be an educaeted won. maybe even got to high school!
Barely deserves a response, as there is no clearer sign that someone has nothing left to stand on when they resort to immature insults.
Sounds like you didn't even get to high school, but luckily for you it'd still be enough qualifications to work for FFT! Good luck with that!
A job at FFT...great I better put in my application, thanks Ril for the advice.
how good is the staff recruiting in the last 12 months by fft? they have outdone themselves big time!
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