They say opposites attract, and in the case of Southern United co-coaches Bill Mihaloudis and Rob Giabardo, a certain aspect of this is true.
Having seldom worked with each other, more so against each other – back in the VCL days leading different sides – it seemed unlikely that they would join forces in 2017, especially considering that Mihaloudis was in charge of Heidelderg United Women’s and Giabardo was mentoring the Oakleigh Cannons U20s; two different roles requiring different managerial perspectives.
Yet together they now co-coach Southern United, and have hit the ground running in preparing for the upcoming campaign. The overriding theme of the two was that although they bring different skills and knowledge to the club, both agree in each other’s philosophies and those of the club itself, and they have a mutual respect for each other.
The recent announcement of the positions came following the departure of inaugural head coach Stuart Munro to Dandenong City.
Mihaloudis comes to Southern with plenty of experience in the top flight of women’s football, having managed the likes of Heidelberg and South Melbourne in the past, leading the Bergers to Team App Cup victory in 2016.
Giabardo came over from the Oakleigh men’s U20s side, but had previously coached the Dandenong Thunder U18s to the title in 2015.
“I’ve coached women before in America. I know what it takes to get women at the top of their game having coached high levels over there. It’s also an opportunity to have the challenge of working at a new club,” Giabardo said.
“If somebody said I’d be co-coaching four months ago I’d have laughed but now I’m thinking this is fantastic and works really well. It’s like a tag team and you’re feeding information in areas where the other person isn’t and I’m thoroughly enjoying it,” Mihaloudis added.
Southern United improved steadily across the course of the inaugural WNPL season, and both coaches see plenty of room for further development in the 2017 season.
Results aren’t the sole focus of the club on each coaches’ mind, but rather to build on the holistic approach and positive culture on and off the park the club has established in its first year that brings both juniors and seniors closer to each other.
“There are phenomenal footballers coming through the age levels and we want to make a great pathway for all of them and work with all age levels to develop a system of understanding,” Giabardo said.
“Senior coaches have to be part of the club and work with the 13s, 15s and 18s to build that culture. We want to make it a place where youth get an opportunity – Theresa Deas and Mark Cassar have put together a quality coaching group so players get coached by good coaches, we’ll give them an opportunity to show what they’ve got because that’s what the NPLW was designed for, to increase the talent pool for higher level teams.
“We’re going to take that job seriously and create players that get the opportunity to play at the highest level in Victoria and Australia.”
Mihaloudis added: “We wanted to make sure we have stability with players coming in and being part of the team – not just for one season but years to come, and not just for current players but new ones coming in.
“Having a family environment is very important and we want to keep it like that and grow it, and they’re the foundations we’ve set going forward. We will continue to look after our current players and build on that to develop the club playing group together.
The feedback to that approach has been positive so far, according to the coaches.
“Players are really enjoying what we’re doing and Rob is doing a brilliant job – players have bought into that philosophy,” Mihaloudis said.
“We’ve trained for a couple of months and it’s been going really well, the improvement has been amazing,” Giabardo added.
With co-coaching utilised to various degrees of success in the men’s and women’s top flight in Victoria, the tenure of Mihaloudis and Giabardo will be one of the new narratives to shape the NPLW in 2017. First signs indicate the direction is up for Southern United in 2017.