The wheels of the North Geelong Warriors supporters’ bus are in motion as their team embarks on its foray into the state’s top flight – with first stop at Bentleigh Greens’ Kingston Heath – after clinching promotion with a second place finish in last season’s NPL 1.
Pre-season signs have already been promising, with a 3-1 victory over Melbourne Knights in the Victorian Croatian Cup final securing the trophy.
Coach Micky Colina, who guided the club to promotion after taking over from Ante Skoko midway through last season, said promotion was not even on the cards at the time but an uncompromising squad belief guided the club to the improbable.
“There’s no key factor, so to speak. We looked to play more of a possession based game which is probably one big aspect that excited the players and they bought into it and were fully committed to it,” Colina said.
“Above all, it was just the belief in the rooms and throughout the squad. There was never any pressure on saying “let’s get promoted”. We looked at the fact that you can’t get relegated for three years and wanted to utilise those three years to develop our youth squad and have balance across the whole list from an age perspective.
“We know what eventuated in the end, but it wasn’t a driving force when we sat down to get ourselves promoted.”
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The Warriors’ season prospects have been boosted by the retention of last season’s core squad, along with the addition of four new players.
The likes of Mark Paleka, Reardo Luka, Robert Zadworny, Michael Grgić and Vito Cichello – crucial in the team’s promotion battle – are part of 12 re-signings to date, and have been joined by New Zealand youth international Tomislav Trbuhovich, GNK Dinamo Zagreb trialist and former St Albans and Melbourne City youth goalkeeper Tonio Baresic, Englishman Josh Pugh and winger Milan Sekulic for the 2015 season.
Of the new names, former Melbourne Victory youth train-on Tomislav Trbuhovich is the most intriguing – returning to North Geelong after a stint at Whittlesea Ranges, where the striker was a rare shining light in a disappointing 2014 campaign, scoring seven goals in 12 games after missing long periods of the season on international duty with the New Zealand under-20’s.
“The club is really restricted from a financial point of view. The people we’ve added I’m confident can step into roles when required or add competition for position to the squad on a week-to-week basis because you want people to compete for their spot,” Colina said.
“We also made sure the players that came in didn’t upset the culture or the strong camaraderie we have in the rooms, which has been a telling factor in the success of last season. I think it’s a characteristic that if you do have it, you try harness it and grow it. You can’t buy it.
“The boys we’ve gotten in, they’re good young lads, their attitudes have been great since they’ve been part of the crew, they fit into the whole culture and vibe of our rooms.
“Somebody’s got to have faith and belief in them and we as a club have shown that and we hope that they manage and acquire enough knowledge and experience to be very influential members of the team going forward.”
2015 #VicCroCup CHAMPIONS #backtoback pic.twitter.com/KNAR7645VF
— NorthGeelongWarriors (@NGWFC) February 8, 2015
With a regular trip up the Princes Highway looming for another season, this campaign brings a distinctly different flavour.
In taking on the top NPL division for the first time, the Warriors’ mentor said the pre-season focus included re-signing existing players “to show the belief in them that they can help the club compete in the top tier in the state,” before adding players for depth and providing an opportunity for each one to prove themselves against Victoria’s best.
“Overall, we know we’re a very young squad, there’s no secret about that, more than half the squad is under the age of 23,” Colina said.
“We sat ourselves down with the squad and said we want to be competitive in this competition, earn some respect and credibility, continue to develop as a unit, continue to give opportunity to young players, try as best to create a pathway within our club for the juniors to see that there are opportunities, and develop players to play a brand of football that we think is not just entertaining as a requirement, but also efficient.
“Hopefully by being efficient we can also be successful over time.
“This season we really want to earn respect and credibility among this league among many big clubs that are not just big in Victoria, but also Australia for their reputation and history, and we are honoured and humbled to be amongst these clubs and we went to do everything within our power to make sure we consolidate and be competitive and ensure our status for years to come.
North Geelong Warriors’ first test comes against Bentleigh Greens at Kingston Heath on Friday night.