The NPL 2 West season launched yesterday afternoon with Moreland Zebras pushing their title contentions with a 3-1 win over Ballarat Red Devils and Melbourne City thrashing Bendigo City to the tune of four goals. Sunshine showed they’d be a tough side to
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Ballarat Red Devils 
Established: 1968 (as Ballarat SC)
Coach: James Robinson
Last Season: 4th place
FFA Cup: 6th Qualifying Round (2-1 defeat to Hume City)
It was a tumultuous period off the park for Ballarat Red Devils throughout pre-season, with uncertainty at the top level meaning there were essentially two squads in contention to play Round One – the old Ballarat Red Devils side and the one formed under appointed, then relieved manager Savas Saglam. It was the former that will play this year after the board acted to re-appoint former coach James Robinson, who will steer the regional side into his third straight season. They’re a talented outfit, with players like Dom Swinton and Nelson Salvatore capable of deciding a game. Most importantly for the Red Devils is the return of Michael Trigger from Hume City, who is one of the league’s best attacking minded midfielders. They have all the ingredients for a successful season in place – something that didn’t look possible two months ago – and could feature at the top end of the league in 2016.
Squad: Miles Baker, Daniel Firth, Jake Francis, Liam Harding, Patrick Karras, Charles King, David King, Simon Murphy, Aaron Romein, Joshua Romein, Shaun Romein, Dominic Swinton, Daniel Tinker, Michael Trigger, Pietro Angeli, Isaac Ellis, Carl Frankson, Tristan Romein, Nelson Salvatore, Adam Ranson
Bendigo City 
Established: 2014
Coach: Esteban Quintas
Last Season: 9th place
FFA Cup: Round 6 (5-1 defeat to Oakleigh Cannons)
It’s been a difficult initiation into the NPL for the regional side, with a name change after one year highlighting the challenges on an off the pitch for the club – ending in bottom half finishes each year. With a number of Bendigo alumni now plying their trade in the top division, a rebuild has been in place from a playing and coaching perspective. Esteban Quintas comes from the Genova International Soccer School, with Jye Cohen named his assistant. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ronaldo Yousef becomes the youngest captain in the league, having been announced as the skipper of a youthful line-up. It will be a season of learning for all involved at Bendigo City.
Squad: Wahid Hashimi, Lachlan Beever, Vladimir Khamees, John Roberts, Godwill Basha, Roderick Yousef, Anmar Yousif, George Mcheileh, Isaac Commadeur, Daniel Purdy, Robert Munday, David Younan, Vinicius Branco, Sam Scoble, Ronaldo Yousef, Eh Soo She, Joshua Bauer, Say Ku Paw, Dillon Maikousis, Alkin Keles, Carl O’Keeffe
Melbourne City 
Established: 2015 (NPL)
Coach: Joe Palatsides
Last Season: 5th place
FFA Cup: N/A
The comparisons were always going to be drawn between the two A-League sides Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. While City’s development side enjoyed a stellar year in their own right, they were outdone by their bitter rivals who earned promotion last year. Equipped with some of the most talented youngsters in the state and a group that’s trained together all year round, City will prove once more to be a hard-to-beat outfit who should feature comfortably in upper-mid table. They have a good blend of experienced heads such as Phil Petreski and Chris Cristaldo, as well as some exciting talents like Ali Eyigun, Jordy Hall and Denis Genreau with players such as Yusuf Ahmed and Luke Gallo exposed to Victorian top-flight football. Whether promotion is an aim for the side is yet to be seen, but on paper alone, expect them to be a chance come the end of the year.
Squad: Yaren Sozer, Philip Petreski, Luke Gallo, Tomislav Fadljevic, Leo Athanasiou, Stefan Zinni, Ali Eyigun, Yusuf Ahmed, Mehdi Sarwari, Jack West-Astuti, Denis Genreau, Nicolas Gonzalez, Giuseppe Marafioti, Austin Wong, William Nuttall, Thomas Barforosh, Bailey Row, Jordan Hall, Christopher Cristaldo, Marcus Dimanche, Steve Kuzmanovski, Bradley Clarke
Moreland City FC 
Established: 1916 (as Coburg)
Coach: Adrian Matthers
Last Season: 3rd place
FFA Cup: 4th Qualifying Round (3-1 defeat to Ballarat Red Devils)
Make no mistake, Moreland City are gunning for promotion in 2016. Equipped with the core of their impressive squad of last year – blended in with a number of quality recruits such as Trent Rixon and interstaters Apai Ukuno and Jack Reynolds – the club from out North have one of the most valuable assets available in the game of football, confidence. A barnstorming run at the back end of 2015 nearly saw them sneak into a play-off position, but were pipped in the end by cross-town rivals Moreland Zebras on goal difference. Equipped with quality down the spine, City will be disappointed with anything less than promotion in their second attempt.
Squad: Brandon Galgano, Tou-Yeng Yang, Ioannis Avramidis, Finn Huzzey, Nejdet Sahin, Osman Kose, Lisandro Paz, Trent Rixon, Kieran Mcdowell, Casey Thomas, Corey Thomas, Liam Brian, Anthony Ianchello, Liam Francis, Conor Rafferty, Muhammed Kurucu, Shane Carr, Jack Reynolds, Apai Ukuno, Alexander Petrovski
Moreland Zebras FC 
Established: 1948 (as Juventus Melbourne)
Coach: Danny Gnjidic
Last Season: 2nd place (2-1 play-off defeat to Melbourne Victory)
FFA Cup: 5th Qualifying Round (1-0 defeat to Essendon Royals)
They fell agonisingly short of promotion last year, falling to Melbourne Victory in the NPL2 play-off final, in a game that they controlled for the most part. This year, the expectations will be similar on a talented playing roster. In terms of outwards heading players, the loss of exciting attacker Danny Charalambous is a big hole to fill, especially given he chipped in with 14 goals last season. Fellow forward James Papadimitriou will be hoping to lead his side to glory after capturing 18 goals in 2015, while they’ve strengthened well in other areas with Dean Campelj joining from Avondale FC (after being let go by the Melbourne Knights who originally signed him) and Nejc Kolman from Heidelberg, who will add a dimension to the Zebras’ midfield. Expectations will be high in 2016, will the Zebras live up to them?
Squad: Mile Medjedovic, Joel Nikolic, Steve Martin, Daniel Petrov, Kliment Dimitrieski, Lucas Ruffino, Joshua Mcmonagle-Ihasz, Bradley Murray, James Papadimitriou, James Kelly, Baggio Yousif, Joshua Sabidussi, Nikola Kostadinovski, Johnny Crivelli, Nejc Kolman, Liam Scott, Francesco Greco, Stefaan Sardelic, Milos Tosic, Dean Campelj
North Geelong Warriors FC 
Established: 1967
Coach: Micky Colina
Last Season: 12th place in NPL (2-0 play-off defeat to Melbourne Victory)
FFA Cup: 6th Qualifying Round (2-1 loss to South Springvale Aris)
The North Geelong Warriors return to the second tier after being defeating 2-0 by the Melbourne Victory in the promotion/relegation play-off last September. While Micky Colina’s side has lost the likes of Nikola Jurkovic, Michael Grgic and Juso Julardzija, the core of the side remains with the experienced goalkeeper Daniel Zilic, captain Matthew Townley, midfield enforcer Vito Cichello and veteran marksman Gareth Richards being retained. Add to this list the new signings spearheaded by former Avondale midfielder Burakhan Koca and a host of emerging youngsters, and on paper the 1992 VPL Champions have a very balanced squad. Although promotion may be out of the cards for this season, expect the Warriors to be tough to beat especially at their Elcho Park home where they receive plenty of strong support from the local community.
Squad: Daniel Zilic, Darren Lewis, Matthew Townley, Joshua Pugh, Vito Simon Cichello, Ridvan Saglam, Nicholas Jurcic, Michael Anderson, Hamish Flavell, Nathan Long, Gareth Richards, Burakhan Koca, Michael Simms, Alessandro Stefano, Billy Argyros, Darcy Rapa, Anthony Banovac, Matthew Thorne, Kene Eze
St Albans Saints SC 
Established: 1954
Coach: Zeljko Kuzman
Last Season: 6th place
FFA Cup: 4th Qualifying Round (1-1 draw, defeated 5-4 on penalties by Caulfield United Cobras)
St Albans Saints have had an impressive off-season on all fronts with the club maximising its brand off the field as well as overseeing an extensive squad turnover. Zeljko Kuzman is the new man in charge at Churchill Reserve having been assistant to Rick Mensink at Richmond last season with the former Saints 20s Manager recruiting a host of promising youngsters in addition to the capture of Josh Knight from his former home whilst retaining the services of a number of experienced players spearheaded by captain Ryan McGuffie. With pre-season results being positive, there is a great deal of optimism at Dinamo who will be looking to return to the top flight for the first time since 2011 as the club hierarchy does its best to ensure such a smooth transition if such achievement were to be accomplished this campaign.
Squad: Trent Waterson, Ryan McGuffie, Barry Devlin, Josh Knight, Nicholas Sarbin, Nana Yaw Otuo-Acheampong, Ben Shaper, Anthony Boras, Konrad Dobraszkiewicz, Andrew Milicevic, Michael Grgic, Davor Pavleka, George Tsiakalakis, Ivan Skorich, Joseph Monek, Tedros Yabio, Alex Baird, Reuben Quinn-Walters, Adrian Barresi, Ante Kozul
Sunshine George Cross SC 
Established: 1947
Coach: Tony Ciantar
Last Season: 8th place
FFA Cup: Round 4 (6-6 draw, defeated 4-2 on penalties to North Sunshine Eagles)
Last season was a tough one for the club founded by Maltese immigrants in 1947, finishing a lowly eighth and making barely a splash in the FFA Cup, losing out in a 12-goal thriller to crosstown rivals North Sunshine Eagles. One of the highest profile moves in the off-season has been nabbing South Melbourne technical director Sean Gale, who has gone about instilling a greater focus on youth. Tony Ciantar has secured the services of Juso Julardzija from North Geelong and former A-League player Chris Grossman, while the Santilli brothers and Ahmet Turer will also play a big role in nurturing the club’s youth. Steady improvement and consistency is on the cards at Chaplin Reserve.
Squad: Jacob Attard, Eddie Cetkin, Denis Dasoul, Christopher Dib, Ryan Dragovic, Nathan Liberto, Daniel Hutchison, Juso Julardzija, James Kapuranovski, Amara Kromah, Adrian Logozzo, Anthony Marafioti, Martin Mason, James Micevski, Liam O’Connell, Ayodeji Omoboye, Damian Rastocic, Robert Santilli, Brandon Scerri, Chris Grossman, Ahmet Turer, Moses Gondwe, Marco Santilli
Werribee City FC 
Established: 1969
Coach: Domenico Gangemi
Last Season: 13th place in NPL
FFA Cup: 4th Qualifying Round (2-0 defeat to Springvale White Eagles)
Werribee City drop down from the top-flight after two seasons at the top which were primarily plagued by the threat of relegation throughout. Domenico Gangemi has decided to stay on as manager after temporarily taking charge of the side late last season and is joined at the club by Davide Picone who is the club’s new Technical Director. The club may have lost plenty of experience with the departures of Simon Colosimo, Milan Savic, Steven Cudrig and Frano Saric, there is no doubt that they should be more competitive in NPL2 and develop great consistency. New arrivals at Galvin Park include former Northcote City and Bulleen Lions winger Jonathan Voulgaris in addition to several arrivals from Dandenong Thunder including Abdirahman Ahmed and goalkeeper Anthony Saric while Nemanja Govedarica has returned to the club.
Squad: Anthony Saric, Dillon Jakupi, Jonathan Voulgaris, Anil Muharemovic, Robert Naumoski, Angus Martin, Brandon Zaffina, Abdirahman Ahmed, Bobby Vidanoski, Reis Aygun, Domenico Marafioti, Matko Budimir, Daniel Piovesan, Dimitar Veljanoski, Yasin Nur, Julien Cassano, Delfin Mosibe Esara, Nemanja Govedarica, Tony Stojkovski, Patrick Colliar, Hamid Kamali
Whittlesea Ranges FC
Established: 1971
Coach: Vinko Buljubasic
Last Season: 7th place
FFA Cup: Round 4 (3-2 defeat to Goulburn Valley Suns)
Vinko Buljubasic takes the reigns of his third season of NPL at the club, having been there since since its State League days. This year he’ll also be joined by new assistant Lirim Selimi and goalkeeper coach Steve Tilevski. It’s been a slow burner of an initiation into the competition, having finished in the bottom half both years, but at the same time fielding youthful sides. This season has been earmarked as a possible year that the Epping-based outfit makes an ascension up the table, having secured the services of former Perth Glory Naum Sekulovski to help guide the ship. Papua New Guinea international George Slefendorfas also joins to add spark to the front third, while players such as Steven Baricevic and Matthew Cundari will look to grow in influence at the club.
Squad: Jordan Brown, Luke Gallo, Abdulkerim Koc, Liam Newman, George Slefendoras, Mathew Cundari, Stefan Baricevic, Gian Tapia, Mario Piraino, Atilla Ofli, Tobias Haegele, Naum Sekulovski, Adem Mustedanagic, Matthew Iuliano, Dauda Sanni, Pavle Durkic, Andrew Taylor, Marijan Totic, Andreas Bachos, Kevin Martin