Over the past 48 hours, three NPL clubs have confirmed seven signings for 2016: Jakob Williams and Ryan Paczkowski to Bentleigh Greens; Dimitri Hatzimouratis, Perry Lambropoulos, Steven Topalovic and Ioannis Georgopoulos to Oakleigh Cannons; and Lambros Honos to Port Melbourne.
Bentleigh Greens
Bentleigh Greens have further bolstered their NPL Championship winning side with two additions for the 2016 season.
Jakob Williams has been signed from Oakleigh Cannons, while Ryan Paczkowski joins from State 1 Champions Mornington.
Paczkowski netted 22 league goals as Mornington went on to claim the title with an extra time victory over Western Suburbs.
The 25-year-old Englishman hails from Doncaster and has also played non-league football in Gainsborough Trinity.
A former Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers youth, Canberra-born Williams was at Marconi before playing 23 games for Heidelberg United between 2014 and 2015, leaving mid-season this year to Oakleigh, where he appeared 14 times in the league and featured in the Cannons’ FFA Cup run to the quarter-finals.
A versatile defensive minded player, he can play across the backline or in defensive midfield.
There’s been lots of activity at Bentleigh since the club won the 2015 NPL Grand Final, with Kamal Ibrahim,
Danny Charalambous, Milos Ridesic, Kane Pierce, Josh Brindell-South, Nathan Tidmarsh all arriving at Kingston Heath.
Meanwhile, Ryan Love (Kingston City), Jamie de Abreu (Port Melbourne), Alastair Bray (Green Gully), Steven Topalovic (Oakleigh Cannons) and Daniel Visevic (Hume City) have departed the Greens.
Oakleigh Cannons
Meanwhile rivals Oakleigh Cannons, fresh off the capture of former Benteigh Greens defender Steven Topalovic, announced a trio of new signings spearheaded by former player Dimitri Hatzimouratis.
READ MORE > Topalovic joins Cannons for 2016
The 25-year-old attacker returns to Melbourne where he is reunited with former coach Peter Tsolakis, who coached the inaugural Melbourne Victory Youth team member during the 2012 and 2013 seasons respectively.
He began his senior career at the Western Suburbs in 2007 under the stewardship of Michael Chatzitrifonas, before making the short move to Somers Street Stadium in 2009 where he featured for the Melbourne Knights, in between his spell with Victory Youth.
A spell with fellow Sunshine-based club George Cross followed later that year, before the forward spent two years in Cyprus with Alki Larnaca.
A short spell with the Cannons upon his return to Australia eventuated before two years at Lakeside Stadium with rivals South Melbourne.
A move up north to Sydney Olympic in 2014 saw the forward play an integral role in attack for Grant Lee’s men, where he netted 20 goals over the space of two league seasons, including a strike against Hume City in this season’s edition of the FFA Cup.
Joining Hatzimouratis at Jack Edwards Reserve is Perry Lambropoulos, who returns to the top flight of Victorian football having spent 2015 with South Springvale in State League One where he featured in his side’s 2-1 Dockerty Cup Quarter-Finals defeat to the Cannons.
The 19-year-old youngster spent 2014 with the Bentleigh Greens and Hume City respectively and will be joined at the club by midfielder Ioannis Georgopoulos.
The midfielder returns to Australia having spent the last decade in Greece where he progressed through the youth ranks of domestic giants Panathinaikos.
The 23 year-old has had senior stints with Greek second division side Paniliakos and most recently top-flight island club OFI Crete.
The trio join Topalovic, midfielder Corey Slevin and young defender Thomas Lakic as new arrivals at the 2015 FFA Cup quarter finalists, who finished a disappointing 12th on the league table in 2015.
Port Melbourne
One player moving in the opposite direction however is midfielder Lambros Honos, who returns to former club Port Melbourne Sharks after a stint with Oakleigh this year.
Honos first played for the Cannons upon his return to Australia in 2012, having played much of his senior football up until then in Greece.
A move to the newly-promoted Sharks in 2013 followed, with Honos memorably netting a winner away to rivals South Melbourne as well as providing the assist to Connor Reddan which saved Eric Vassiliadis’ men from relegation from the top-flight in 2014.
Honos returns to JL Murphy Reserve having already played 45 league games for the Sharks over two seasons and links up with Jamie de Abreu, James Karvelis, David Stirton and Bonel Obradovic as new faces at the club.