An astounding 9805 votes piled through across all editions of the Team of the Season voting. Seven clubs in total were represented in the voting with five within the starting XI (Bentleigh, Dandenong, Northcote, Oakleigh and South Melbourne). The voting proved to be an incredibly tight race, the closest run race actually finishing in a dead heat. Craig Carley and Dean Piemonte actually finished even on 179 votes for the year, but the latter earned his spot in the line-up based on Team of the Week appearances. Without further ado, here’s the much anticipated FAN VOTED Team of the Season!
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GK: Alastair Bray (Bentleigh Greens) – 456 votes
“Started the season on the bench and had to regain his spot from Webster after a shoulder injury ended his 2013 campaign. He’s recaptured the form which saw him win VPL U21 player of the year with some superb saves and clinical distribution. He looks to have a massive future ahead of him.” -Rory Flanagan, FFV contributor
LB: Kris Kioussis (Dandenong Thunder) – 702 votes
“He gives 110% for the team. Since he’s been shifted out to left wing-back, he’s really stepped up his game in the second half of the year. Constantly gets forward, creating havoc and his balls into the box have been good. Great season, great attitude and he deserves everything coming for him going forward.” – Brendan Elmazovski, Dandenong Thunder
CB: Adrian Chiappetta (Northcote City) – 494 votes
“Chippa’s a solid defender. His strengths are his one-on-one defending, and more importantly his leadership on the pitch, which is second to none.” –Evan Kounavelis, Northcote City
CB: Michael Eagar (South Melbourne) – 301 votes
“He’s a great leader on and off the park. We came together to the club and after a successful year [with Northcote] we tried to implement the same discipline at South. He’s been our rock in defense and hopefully we’re both at the club for a long time.” -Milos Lujic, South Melbourne
RB: Kristian Konstantinidis (Northcote City) – 559 votes
“While we didn’t make the top four where we deserve to be, we believe it was a successful season as we promoted six-seven youth players, who all have a bright future. Personally, it was good to establish myself at right-back and now I can tick that off as another position under my belt.” –Kristian Konstantinidis
LM: Nick Epifano (South Melbourne) – 417 votes
“Epa is a player full of talent and you can see that when he turns a game around in the space of 15-20 minutes off the back of a few individual plays.” –Tim Mala, South Melbourne
CM: Tyson Holmes (South Melbourne) – 252 votes
“Quickly established himself as a fan favourite at Lakeside Stadium, Tyson Holmes delivered another strong season, contributing three goals and a number of key assists. The Queenslander occasionally frustrated with his finishing in front of goal, but was a key cog for South Melbourne in 2014.” -Steven Chang, The Corner Flag and South Melbourne supporter
RM: Kieran Dover (Dandenong Thunder) – 369 votes
“Kieran’s worked hard throughout the year and his efforts have paid off. With his great technical ability and work rate, he’s proved to be an important player for the club. He’s also growing a lot of confidence and has shown many what he’s capable of.” -Feston Azizi, Dandenong Thundner
AM: Matt Millar (Dandenong Thunder) – 256 votes
“Matt Millar’s still working on his technical side, but he’s got unbelievable pace and strength. Him and Kieran [Dover] complement each other perfectly when they’re in the same line-up. Both have bright futures as long as they work on the things they aren’t as good at.” – Dean Hennessey, Dandenong Thunder coach for season 2014
ST: Milos Lujic (South Melbourne) – 230 votes
“It’s been a great year from a team perspective and on a personal level. I’m over the moon to have won the NPL title and golden boot award back-to-back. Hopefully we can win the NPL title next year and I can score a lot more goals for South in the future,” -Milos Lujic
ST: Dean Piemonte (Oakleigh Cannons) – 179 votes
“Pretty happy with my season personally considering the amount of minutes I played. I was lucky enough to be in a good side surrounded by quality players. It would’ve been nice to win the league though, but hopefully that can happen next season.” -Dean Piemonte
Bench:
Jason Saldaris (South Melbourne) – 353 votes
Tim Mala (South Melbourne) – 363 votes
Shane Rexhepi (Hume City) – 268 votes
Goran Zoric (Oakleigh Cannons) – 290 votes
Joey Franjic (Hume City) – 187 votes
Dusan Bosnjak (Oakleigh Cannons) – 160 votes
Craig Carley (Goulburn Valley Suns) – 179 votes
