Half-way through the NPL2 West season and we’re none the wiser as to who will eventually go though and be promoted. The lead at the top has chopped and changed week in, week out, nothing like the relative dominance of Thunder and Kingston in the East, with four points only still separating the top six.
***
Ballarat Red Devils (6th)
Good: After a Round 6 loss to Dandenong City, a galvanizing run mid-season saw a five game winning streak to put Ballarat well within the promotion race for 2016, most notably a 1-0 win over Melbourne City with Michael Trigger in goals. They’re a tight knit unit with lots of familiar faces from the region united behind popular coach James Robinson
Bad: While they don’t want to use it as an excuse, the early season ownership issues set the club behind in pre-season preparation, with early results reflecting that to some extent. Furthermore, recent points dropped against the likes of Moreland Zebras, North Geelong and Whittlesea show that they are vulnerable when pitted against the fellow big boys of the league.
Key players: Michael Trigger, Nelson Salvatore, Pat Karras
Grade: B
Bendigo City (9th)
Good: Well, they’re not last, with one win and a draw against Eastern Lions and Brunswick respectively – the latter being Santamarta’s first game in charge.
Bad: The coaching situation has perhaps summed up the club’s situation this season. Esteban Quintas departed after one game, after which Marco Kueck was in charge as caretaker until the arrival of Jose Santamarta. Along the way there have been a few blowouts, with the side’s goal difference of -47 actually 30 goals worse than any other West club.
Key players: George McHeileh, David Younan, Carl O’Keefe
Grade: E+
Melbourne City (1st)
Good: Melbourne City currently sit top of NPL2 West after an incredible run including five straight wins as teams around them drop points. They have the most goals scored in the league, and while they don’t have one dominant striker with the majority of the goals, that responsibility has been spread amongst numerous players. Yusuf Ahmed continues his form from Dandenong Thunder last season to lead the charts for City.
Bad: City started off really inconsistently, losing games to the likes of Kingston City, Brunswick City and dropping points against Werribee. The departure of Phil Petreski to Heidelberg may have lasting effects on the side as well
Key players: Yusuf Ahmed, Chris Cristaldo, Leo Athanasiou
Grade: A
Moreland City (7th)
Good: A few important wins over the likes of Moreland Zebras and St Albans away has given the side the hope and knowledge that on their day they can match it with the best of the competition. In particular Apai Ukuno impressed early, and currently sits on 10 league goals having also missed time to international duty.
Bad: In general, not quite at the level of the leading pack, or the promotion chasing run of last season, though there’s plenty of time to rectify that. Inconsistency, which was perhaps exemplified by losing to Whittlesea 6-4 after leading 3-0 – has also seen defeats to the likes of Murray United and Brunswick, and they’ve also had to come up against Dandenong Thunder. A season-ending injury to keeper Brandon Galgano was also a bitter personal blow.
Grade: C
Key players: Apai Ukono, Lisandro Paz, Corey Thomas
Moreland Zebras (3rd)
Good: A 1-0 win over Ballarat stopped their rut of four winless games. Earlier in the season the Zebras were sitting on first spot after a run of five straight wins that culminated in a 4-0 thrashing of Whittlesea. On their day, James Papadimitriou and Baggio Yousif have been a force up front.
Bad: The Zebras’ runs of results happen in waves, with momentum coming or going. As mentioned, after taking top place, came points dropped against Springvale, Dandenong Thunder, North Geelong and Moreland City away. While none were easy fixtures, it did highlight that work needed to be done on the training ground to really nail down their promotion credentials.
Key players: Baggio Yousif, James Papadimitriou, Brad Murray
Grade: B+
North Geelong Warriors (2nd)
Good: In a strong position for promotion, North Geelong sit on second. Defensively they’ve been sound, conceding the fewest goals (only 11) and they’ve actually also lost the fewest games (two) in the West all season. At the other Kene Eze has been an astute pick-up prior to his injury.
Bad: It wasn’t quite five wins in a row, but taking top spot has also been a bit of a poisoned chalice for North Geelong as it has been for other teams, with too many draws for their liking in general throughout the season. Lots of unavailabilities to the likes of Eze, Anderson and Thorne have left the squad seeking reinforcements. Furthermore, have you ever accidentally or purposely used centre-back joins attack in FIFA? That’s what Micky Colina has done with Anthony Banovac, deploying the 6’5 big man up front in the absence of forwards in the side (that may in itself not be a bad thing, though).
Key players: Matt Townley, Nathan Long, Darren Lewis
Grade: B+
St Albans Saints (5th)
Good: From a team perspective there have been some very positive results like the most recent win over North Geelong Warriors, while on an individual level Joey Monek has been a shining light. Overall, the club is still poised to challenge for promotion as it sits within that leading pack.
Bad: The considerable turnover mid-season so far underscores that coach Zeljko Kuzman’s not entirely yet settled with his squad, with some tinkering still being done to the first XI. A lack of prolfic striker up front hasn’t aided the cause, with centre-back-turned-striker Barry Devlin the highest scorer on six – and now he’s departed the club. Sitting fifth with exactly a 50% win rate may not be up the club’s high standards coming into the season.
Key players: Joey Monek, Ryan McGuffie, Michael Grgic
Grade: B
Sunshine George Cross (10th)
Good: Started the season well with a draw against Moreland City and big win against Bendigo City. Generally a competitive outfit as seen by narrow defeats to the likes of Melbourne City and recent draws against Moreland City and Werribee City.
Bad: Despite their good start, results have been hard to come by with three draws since then. There’s been some backroom instability with the departure of assistant coach Franz Wiemper. They also suffered the indignity of having points stripped off them due to a pre-season incident, hence sitting last on three points instead of seven.
Key players: Chris Dib, Chris Grossman, Sam McCall
Grade: D
Werribee City (8th)
Good: Two wins on the trot finally sees the club move up from last, with performances vastly improving from some of the more disappointing weeks that the club’s endured this season. There are also some names keep popping up as good performers while the club adopts a more youthful policy, including the likes of Marafioti, Vidanoski, Naumoski etc.
Bad: It’s been a turbulent time this season given the coaching turnaround, faring the worst of the relegated sides of 2014. It seems a long time since Nino Ragusa’s valiant attempts to keep the club in the top flight, with Domenico Gangemi stepping down and Sergio Sabbadini taking over in the meantime.
Key players: Domenico Marafioti, Robert Naumovski, Delfin Mosibe
Grade: D+
Whittlesea Ranges
Good: Could it be considered overachieving? Coming of age? Only the club knows if this season is going according to expectation, but the early start was certainly beyond most people’s expectations. Buljubasic was our Manager of the Month in March, Atilla Ofli continues to score goals at an abundant rate, and promotion is actually still very much in the picture.
Bad: They’re still in the promotion race but recent results against the likes of Werribee City and heavy defeats to Dandenong City and Moreland Zebras had crashed the team back to earth a bit after a flying start. A season-ending injury to key midfielder Stefan Baricevic also didn’t help the club’s cause.
Grade: B+
Key players: Atilla Ofli, Naum Sekulovski, Kevin Martin