Image: Smile for Peter
Despite looking unassailable in the latter stages of the 2016 NPL Victoria campaign, Bentleigh Greens won’t be in the grand final – a victim of their own success, where participation on multiple fronts and a growing casualty list took its toll, and the one-off format of finals making it easier for opponents to muster a win in the 90 minutes.
“You can’t expect some of these boys to go back to work laying bricks and roof tiles. You’ll never be able to match professionalism with boys who work all day. It’s something that has to change, not just for the future of this competition but for the betterment of the A-League as well,” John Anastasiadis says.
Football can be a seductive yet cruel mistress. Anastasiadis’ prolonged and successful career is a perfectly unfortunate example of such bitter yet opposing clichés.
A veteran of 203 league appearances for a leading European club. Two UEFA Cup campaigns. The only Australian to score a goal at the Maracanã. Not a single call up for Australia.
11 years at the helm of Victorian footballing powerhouses. Almost as many finals appearances. The continual development of A-League players. Yet until last year, Anastasiadis had only a solitary championship to his name.
For years after winning his maiden trophy as a coach, Anastasiadis found backing up success difficult. Between 2009 and 2015 Anastasiadis had been at three clubs without major success. Yet it’s incorrect to say misfortune has played a distinctive role in his managerial career; he is one of Victoria’s best and most experienced coaches.
Even in 2015, Bentleigh, after coming first with just three games left, gave up the lead and gifted South Melbourne the premiership.
But the Greens bounced back to snatch a 3-1 victory over South Melbourne in the grand final. It was bittersweet revenge against his old club, and meaningfully a first trophy since leading South Melbourne to the championship in 2008.
This season, Bentleigh looked to go one better. It was Round 19 and South Melbourne led the league all season. Bentleigh were in the chasing pack. But Anastasiadis had learnt from experience. And this time, they’d finally finish top of the league.
There is no doubt that earning Bentleigh Greens their first major title with the premiership that year was just reward for the laboriousness of this journey. It backed up the Dockerty Cup and Community Shield triumphs earlier in the year.
Yet once again, the premiership-championship double was not to be.
Despite a campaign Anastasiadis described as improving on their 2015 season, due to a disparity of resources, there are few clubs that challenge successfully season-to-season in Victoria, let alone when participation in various competition causes a fixture pile-up.
And so Oakleigh Cannons defeated Bentleigh 3-1 last Sunday to book the grand final match up with South Melbourne. It was just not to be.
“They played to their strengths – counter attacking football. I don’t think they really have anything over us, it’s just one of those things they had the mental strength to rise to the occasion and we didn’t.
“We’ve got to be better mentally prepared for those things, but the boys gave their all today. We’ve got a lot to look forward to now.”
Attention for Bentleigh now turns to a FFA Cup match-up with Melbourne Victory, along with national NPL finals series.
Yet the recurring theme is the inherent issue of balancing semi-professionalism with the demands of a jam-packed fixture list. Three season-long and arduously competitive fronts to juggle looms large over coaches with diminutive rosters to begin with. Then you take into account players working, often manual labour, five days a week.
“It’s never good to have players out, the team’s only about 18-19 players, so if someone’s out someone’s got to step up. We’ve dealt with it [as best we can].”
“You can’t have 22 players on the roster because we’re not fully professional. We’re not in that realm yet, so it makes it hard to compete on three fronts.”
“Maybe the finals series can be done away with. We don’t have the players to freshen the team up, with the FFA and Dockerty Cup’s it’s something that has to be considered. It’s not something (that’s been discussed). For the A-League, it’s reasoned we have to condition our players to play finals.”
There are always positives however, which are part and parcel of a successful campaign.
“We’ve achieved amazing things this year, we’re minor premiers.”
“Ryan’s [Scott] had an amazing year, he made mistakes but he’s learnt from them, he’s bounced back to make some great saves and if he keeps learning I’ve got no doubt he’ll keep knocking on the door of the A-League.