Photos (Top to Bottom): Zlatko Belanic has a breather at the clinic; Zlatko Belanic with coaching clinic participants and his assistant, former Zebras keeper Matthew Ferguson (back row extreme right); Belanic warms up keeper Nathan Pitchford before Eagles' game against Clarence last Saturday; Zlatko Belanic at one of his coaching clinics in Hobart; Eagles' stalwarts Peter Wass (left) and Andrew Leszczynski (right) with Belanic; Belanic on his way to the coaching bench before Eagles' game against Clarence on Saturday [PlessPix]
Zlatko Belanic, the former Rapid, Croatia-Glenorchy and White Eagles goalkeeper, was back in Hobart last week to conduct goalkeeping clinics.
Belanic, 47, came to Tasmania from Adelaide in the 1980s and stayed for a decade before returning to his home state, having won a treble of trophies with White Eagles.
“Andrew Leszczynski was on a business trip to South Australia and came down to watch me coach one of the Premier League clubs and he invited me back to Tasmania to conduct some coaching clinics,” said Belanic.
“My daughter was born in Tasmania and I have really enjoyed my trip back here to coach.”
Belanic is currently freelancing as a goalkeeping coach but spent four years with the South Australian Sports Institute and the elite women’s team.
He was also an assistant coach and goalkeeping coach at a number of senior South Australian clubs.
Croyden Kings was his last club before branching out on his own as a goalkeeping coach.
“It’s not a case of doing some sessions and saying ‘see you later’,” he said.
“I like to provide feedback and help them as much as I can because it’s a very lonely position at the best of times.”
Belanic said the clinics went very well and he coached junior keepers as well as senior keepers from a number of local Hobart clubs.
“We had about eight junior keepers in the mornings and in the afternoons we’ve had senior keepers,” he said.
“The pitch at Clare Street has been perfect.
“If you talk to the kids, I think they’ll tell you they’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Belanic rates Adam Federici of English side Reading as Australia’s next national team goalkeeper after Mark Schwarzer.
He said there were a few young keepers overseas knocking on the door of national selection but Australia was not producing them in the same numbers as before.
“When Schwarzer came along, he was only about third or fourth in line for selection,” Belanic said.
“That shows you how persistence and patience pay off as far as goalkeeping goes.
“I think Federici has been consistent, and I think Eugene Galekovic has to go overseas as he’s by far the best keeper in the A-League.
“I think our current national coach and whoever takes over from him will want goalkeepers who are playing in the better leagues.”
Belanic said the A-League clubs needed to give young players more of a chance, and that meant goalkeepers and out-field players.
He said that Melbourne Victory’s Mitch Langerak had played superbly recently but that he needed to do that over a longer period and he needed to go overseas.
“Goalkeeping is a cut-throat position,” said Belanic. “Galekovic couldn’t displace the previous Melbourne Victory keeper, Michael Theoklitos, who eventually went to England and played for Norwich City.
“They lost 7-1 in his first game and although he stayed on for a while he eventually became the third-choice keeper and he’s now back in Australia and has signed for Brisbane Roar.”
Belanic was not very confident of a good showing by Australia at this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
A performance like the one in Germany would be very good, he said, but we had a better team, man for man, in 2006.
“This will definitely be the last World Cup for some of the older guys,” he said.
“It’s a tournament in which the older players haven’t got time for recovery and, if we get some injuries, we could be in trouble.
“If we keep away from injuries, we could do okay.
“I think if we get to the quarterfinals we’ve got to be happy with that.”
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Tasmanians Michael Holden, Dean Watkins, En Soo She and Isaac Kenyi were selected for the All-Stars team from Group B at the recently concluded 2010 FFA National Championships for Under-13 Boys held in Canberra.
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All games scheduled for KGV Park have been cancelled until 7 May because the two goalmouths have to be repaired.
This means there won’t be any Friday night games for a while, which is disappointing as these have become part of the game’s culture in Hobart.
And, the TIS will have to find another venue for their Premier League Reserve mid-week matches.
13 comments:
I believe the TIS play at WWP tomorrow night .
Any word on when the draw is for the next round of the statewide cup?
Surely FFT won't leave it to a week before this time!
Can't wait for Matt'Chalky' Russell to bash the TIS up tonight
Re KGV - what an absolute joke.
Nothing has been played on it for the six months leading up to the season start yet after 1 months use it is 'unsafe'.
someone needs to be made responsible for this. imagine the uproar if north hobart oval or bellerive were in such a state!
no refs,
no ceo,
no home of soccer,
what a sorry state of affairs.
may 7 isnt exactly around the corner either!
could it get much worse, Sean?
apparently chalky has a sore knee and wouldn't be playing anyway. the kids may yet survive
Bring back Kenny Hanson, FFT appear to be struggling without his obvious input.
It's a joke they even care about the goal mouth, have you seen the state of pitches other states have to deal with, GET OVER IT FFT there is nothing wrong with it.
there are a number of grounds which host A grade lights for mid week games.
North Hobart, Pontville, Showgrounds, although the surface is less than desirable, not sure wentworth park are really graded for night games, Sandown Park certainly is not
FFT is out to make money this year
we all have to be careful!
they won't make money with the employees they have.......... trust me, they will suck the dollars out quicker than they come in!!!
Obviously people commenting on the condition of the ground werent there last week when Knights played Zebras.
Its in terrible condition, safety of players needs to be considered.
Imagine if Henry Fagg had injured his neck in the sandpit goal area?
They have only moved two premier league fixtures and 6 premier reserves. If it means we get a better surface to play on go for it.
anon 8:10am
like ginger say, why leave to now when they had the of season to fix it
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