Photo: Riley Dillon (extreme right) scores Clarence Zebras' second goal against South Hobart today [PlessPix]
South
Hobart beat Clarence Zebras 4-2 in a pre-season friendly at Cornelian Bay this
morning.
It
was South Hobart’s second win in two pre-season friendlies. They beat Kingborough Lions United 2-1 last
weekend.
Some
people are saying South Hobart are in trouble because they have lost as many as
eight players from last season’s team, but on the evidence of these two
friendlies, they are far from finished.
They
have a very young team, but coach Ken Morton is sure to get the best out of them. And, they may well pick up a few players once
disgruntled personnel from other clubs start looking for a place to play.
One
can only field 11 players at a time and squads tend to be composed of 15 or 16
players, so if a coach has 20 at his disposal, some players are going to be discontented.
It
happens at the highest professional levels and it happens in leagues such as
our own Tasmanian NPL.
Veteran
Mark Moncur played in goal for South Hobart today, but the word is that an
import is on the way.
Photo: Clarence Zebras' Brad Jones tackles South Hobart's Tobias Herweynen [PlessPix]
Clarence
Zebras had new signing Nick O’Connell in goal.
The youngster, who was previously with Kingborough Lions United, had last
year out after knee surgery.
The
only players I recognised in the Clarence Zebras squad apart from O’Connell
were Chase Clark, Riley Dillon, Lachie Burt, Jayden Hey, Cody Snell, Adam
McKeown, Josh Jones, Brad Jones, Sam Jones and Alex Smith.
South
Hobart had Kobe Kemp, Bradley Lakoseljac, Sam Berezansky, Mark Moncur, Samson
Juju and a whole heap of youngsters on view.
Photo: Nick O'Connell in goal for Clarence Zebras today [PlessPix]
“It’s
a run-out and we wanted to have a look at 17 or 18 players trying to play an
hour of football,” South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said.
“We
also wanted to have a look at the structures because I think we have to change
that with so many young players in this year.
“So,
there’s a lot to work on.
“The
only good thing about it is that we have time.
“I
mean, the season doesn’t start until March 21, so really everything we do until
then is about preparing the team that can compete at NPL level.
“Physically,
I think we’ll cope all right. Kasper Hallam and Sam Berezansky had good
experience last year and Bradley Lakoseljac is a little bit older and stronger.
“It’ll
take time, but I thought there were good moments today, but obviously, there were
some sloppy moments, too.
“There’s
a lot of work ahead of us.”
Photo: Clarence Zebras' Lachie Burt (left) tries to elude South Hobart's Tobias Herweynen [PlessPix]
Morton
said one cannot read too much into such friendlies because coaches are continually
making changes to give everyone a run.
He
said South Hobart will play against Victorian visitors Pascoe Vale next weekend
and then, on 15 February, South Hobart will travel to Melbourne for a return
match and that is when he will field his best eleven and the team that will
play in the NPL.
Photo: Ken Morton (right) deep in thought [PlessPix]
“That’s
when we’ll start to gauge where we’re at,” Morton said.
“We
had good moments today, but not enough of them.
“They’re
having difficulty in finding the confidence to play the ball forward and in between
lines, especially here [Cornelian Bay] where the ground is a bit tight.
“Overall,
I’m very pleased with the effort and commitment from them.”
Photo: Nick Morton (seated second from right) on the South Hobart bench. The big question is whether he will play this season after breaking his leg late last season. [PlessPix]
Clarence
Zebras were missing several established Zebras players from last season and they
had four overseas players on view. These
guys are not imports but are backpackers looking for a club and a game.
Clarence
Zebras coach David Smith knows there is a lot of work to be done to bring the club
up to speed since the merger between Clarence United and Hobart Zebras.
Photo: David Smith (seated) pondering [PlessPix]
“We’re
probably where we thought we’d be,” said Smith.
“We
were missing six or seven today and brought in four triallists and there were a
lot of young kids we wanted to have a look at, so we’ll go from there.
“I
wasn’t that disappointed because I kind of knew where we’d be and it was out
first hit-out.
“What
did I learn? That we’re probably going
to have to be a lot more aggressive, but that’s probably because of the players
we had in there today more than anything else.
“When
I start to bring in the Paces [Matthew Pace], Huigies [Luke Huigsloot] and
Walshies [Dwayne Walsh] and a couple more guys like that, we’ll see.
“We
know where we stand and we need to rebuild so we’ll just do that”.
Photo: A back-packer triallist named Florian wins a header for Clarence Zebras against South Hobart [PlessPix]
23 comments:
I saw south playing a practice game on Thursday night when I was driving home from work. Don't know who they were playing.
David Smith states that his side I where he thought they were.
Sounds very much like last year David.
I bet South didn’t have 4 players missing.
First practice game of the year for a new club and
new players and already 4 players not available,
As I said before sounds like last year.
I heard it was Eagles comment 1. Kenny getting his kids used to bigger bodies not a bad tactic by the silver fox for these kids preparation for the season ahead.. South wont be easy beats by any stretch of the imagination. They will be a top 3 team.
Nick O'connell, great pick up. Goalkepper quality in the making. Bright GK future that boy.
Zebras missing Sanders this year there goes the Golden boot scorer goodluck
Clarence lucky if they make top four.
Then again they have never been there before.
Lots of changes across the board for all clubs - FT's decision to put the NPL clubs into the championship will prove to have dire affects and I think we will see the demise of several clubs in the championship. Maybe that is needed or wanted but sad if it happens.
Top three will be the money clubs then distance between the rest. even ken has been quoted saying "I cant compete" . Ridiculous amounts of money being thrown around by knights and olympia but really for their benefactors its small change
clarence need Brieley to throw in 100k to compete !!
good luck to all
Anon 3.40 pm.
Clarence need more that $100,000 in order to compete.
They have gone down that track for years now and still can’t win anything.
Devonport have the squad and right attitude.
Olympia have the money and signed everyone but that will
not guarantee success. They should finish second if all goes well and they
keep all their players. My prediction is that South will be third. They will do
better than everyone thinks. Ken is keeping a kid on things. He will let their results talk.
Knights may be fourth but similar to Olympia will they keep all players
happy and at the club. Too many egos for me. They may get some good results but will not
be consistent enough to win anything. Then the remaining spots is anyone’s guess.
David Smith 2019 “We’ll be using local players and our youth academy to build our NPL team for the future.”
David Smith 2020 - Plays French backpackers.
Anon 10.53 pm.
They are desperate. The backpackers are probably better than what they
already have.
They are a joke. They will not last.
So much for giving it away!!!
I think Kenny will play the 4-2-3-1 system over 4-3-3 as I've seen it during the preseason so far. Maybe Kelly Cross helped with playing this system when Sydney Fc were down.
When South were playing 4-3-3 in some games they couldn't get enough space out wide but when they converted to 4-2-3-1 the three came inside which left a lot of space for the fullbacks to maraud into and created a lot of threatening situations.
I think Zebras will be mid table maybe just below and no need to panic. Smithy will have his health and temper tested as there will be a lot of inconsistency from the NPL squad.
I think the real concern is underneath as no disrespect but I can not see them being that competitive in the Champ and Champ 1. Teams like Beachside will eat them up for breakfast. physically mentally and on the score board.
I could be wrong!
Haven't been looking forward to a season of uncertainty this much for a long time
Anon 10.48.
Zebras are in for one hell of a shock. It serves them right.
They would have the worst Championship/ reserves than any
other club other than Kingborough.
That is the level of their future.
Serves the board right. Disgraceful decision to merge.
10;48 are you saying that Zebras champ reserves are going to be the old Clarence and Knights of the NPl conceding 100+goals.
If this is the case then the structures are not worth the time and effort and who will take the blame that the structures then.
If John and Sean had left the Southern structures as they were in the North we would not be having the problems we have today. To remove a whole reserves competition and replace it with U/20 was the worst decision FT have made.
What happens to the Championship clubs who have their 3 teams thinking towards promotion but can't have their 3rd team playing socials as Ft rules now states.
Div 2 now has to be for the clubs that have a third team so their players who are pushing Senior or reserves selection can play otherwise their off to the wilderness.
I can't wait for Clarence v Beachside.
You can't blame the merger but you can blame zebras as far as their Youth development has been over the past 6-7 years for their state of affairs.
12.56 pm
The merger is not to blame but the merger will exacerbate the problem.
Bringing 2 clubs together where neither had a great youth program and now
they have a problem twice as big as they previously did
Not rocket science.
There is only one club that wins with the Clarence merger and that is olympia.
OMG, listen to all these world renowned football experts bagging the Clarence Zebras already , I’m not saying you shouldn’t have an opinion but come on same stuff after same stuff , just let the results start talking first either way , I really don’t care about that club but at least I wish them well for the next few seasons ahead , any of you that would even have the audacity to knock down a newly built merger after a few trial games or even in the first 3 months are really just out to take the piss and obviously support the open cheque style of football , get a grip , I bet if any of you had even played the game besides at your family Xmas parties you would understand the ups and downs a new club will go through but apparently you obviously were never good enough
2.09 pm.
Mate you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
You obviously have never played at any decent level.
Knights have lots of work to do. Poor defensively. Can’t keep the ball and when
they finally do win back they give away again due to poor passing.
It is early in the season but if you think you have a chance to win something or are expected to
then performances early on should be better than what was displayed. Knights di not seem to have any structure or system.
Only forward option is Nowicki over the top.
Very easy to defend against. No imagination or creativity from Knights.
Olympia also need to improve if they are going to win anything this year.
Both teams have players to come in but boy, both teams looked very ordinary especially Knights
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