Six things we learned this weekend

Photo:  Jake Vandermey helped Olympia out of a pickle in 2011 and he is now captain of the club [PlessPix]

1.  Olympia Warriors have problems, but not terminal ones.

It was way back in 2011 that Olympia Warriors last faced the prospect of relegation from the top flight.  It was a southern competition then and not a State-wide league.

They survived by the skin of their teeth and even brought in two players from Victoria to stave off relegation.  Jake Vandermey, the current captain, and Joshua Colosimo added strength to the team and that did the trick.

Olympia’s start to the current unique season has been disastrous.  Three defeats in the first three games has left the Warriors in last place on goal-difference.

This cannot go on.  On paper, the team is too strong to stay at the bottom and it is only a matter of time before they start to accumulate points.

Games are not won on paper, but Olympia have enough talent to work their way out of this mini crisis and they are sure to click soon.

Strikers such as Ben Hamlett and Jack Ryan (who played in defence for most of Saturday’s 3-2 loss away to Devonport) will fire soon and there could be a goal rush.  They are too good to lie dormant for much longer and they will erupt soon.

The goalkeeping position is a worry.  Neither Darby Randall nor Elliot Hoystead are consistent enough.  They need to work hard to be consistent, or the club needs to find another keeper to put pressure on the two current custodians.

Callum and Declan Brown scored the two goals on Saturday.  They are not out-and-out strikers, though.  When Hamlett and Ryan find their scoring touch, they will benefit from the Brown twins’ creative abilities, and then the rest of the pack had better look out.

Patience is a virtue and that’s what Olympia supporters need right now.

The title is not out of reach yet, but Olympia cannot suffer too many more defeats if they are to mount a realistic challenge.

Photo:  Eva Edwards (left) of Kingborough Lions United and Isabella Ferrier of Clarence Zebras do battle yesterday [PlessPix]

2.  Women’s Super League is a two-horse race.

Clarence Zebras and Olympia Warriors will fight out the Women’s Super League title.

That is clearly evident already at this early stage of a shortened season.

No other team has a chance and the other four teams in the competition are makeweights.

That’s not to say they cannot produce some exciting performances, but they won’t beat the top two sides.

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' Zoe Nichols gets a shot away against Kingborough [PlessPix]

I watched Clarence Zebras beat Kingborough Lions United 5-1 on Sunday.

I admired the Lions’ plucky display and never-say-die attitude.  They were never going to win, and they did score an excellent goal right at the end.

If you watch women’s football, you’ll always see something to inspire you, but you can rest assured now that either Clarence Zebras or Olympia Warriors will take home the candy at the end of the season.

Photo:  Kingborough;s Amy Ollington tries to stop Clarence Zebras' Caitlin Stalker [PlessPix]

3.  What happened to the government grants to football?

I’ve been to North Chigwell a couple of times since the season resumed after the lock-down and I have yet to see any work on the grand football complex that had been assigned $12 million or so dollars last year.

South Hobart Oval and KGV Park seem to be just the same as they always have, and yet both grounds were scheduled to have the odd million or so dollars allocated to them for redevelopment.

What’s happening?  Can anyone enlighten the football public?  Where are these funds squirreled away?  Will anything happen soon?

4.  There need to be NPL games on Sundays.

Only one NPL Tasmania game has been scheduled for a Sunday.

That is the one between South Hobart and Kingborough Lions United at South Hobart Oval on Sunday, 16 August.

What a waste.

With the Women’s Super League title a two-horse race between Clarence Zebras and Olympia Warriors, there is little reason to schedule nearly all women’s games on Sundays and have no men’s games on Sundays.

Women’s games could, after all, be played as curtain-raisers or after the mend’s games, thus ensuring decent attendances and benefiting the women’s games.

I am sure this would appeal to fans much more than the current rostering situation.

It would sure beat enduring the cold evening games.

Perhaps I’m getting too long in the tooth, but that’s how I see it.

5.  The ‘law of the ex’ is alive and well.

It often happens in football that a former player returning to play against his old club produces a blinder and destroys his former team.

That ‘law’ was sown to be true this weekend.

Adam McKeown, who left Clarence Zebras to join Kingborough Lions United, returned to Wentworth Park on Saturday and scored against his former club.  He produced an excellent overhead scissors kick to put the Lions in front after just 4 minutes.

It’s true that he later had a penalty saved, but hey, he proved the ‘law of the ex’.

Glenorchy Knights beat South Hobart 3-1 and two of Knights’ goals came from players who were with South Hobart last season.

Connor Schmidt and Alex Walter were the players to prove the rule in this instance.

6.  Keith Roberts’s “Tasmanian Football Club Directory, 2020”.

I received a copy of this wonderful booklet on Saturday.

Keith has done a marvellous job in compiling this directory and it will be a constant source of reference to anyone interested in Tasmania football.

Keith has informed me he omitted Launceston White Eagles, but an addendum to the booklet will rectify this.

I go hope that Football Tasmania will come to the party and work with Keith to ensure that this booklet is produced in numbers and widely circulated.