The last time Oakleigh Cannons played a competitive match under joint senior coaches was in the 2012 VPL Grand Final at AAMI Park, under then coaches Billy Theodoropoulos and Peter Zois. This season, under newly-appointed joint coaches Peter ‘Gus’ Tsolakis and Con ‘Tanga’ Tangalakis, the expectations aren’t quite as high. But there are hopes that the two will help lay the foundations of a new era at Oakleigh.
“On the pitch we’ve got a lot of work to do, but that’s the same with any team that’s been restructured,” Tangalakis says.
The restructure follows last season’s disappointing league campaign in which the team, initially under Miron Bleiberg, and then Arthur Papas, finished 11th in the league, despite performing well in the Cup competitions.
Papas has moved on to coach at Green Gully, while some of the big name signings such as Mirjan Pavlovic and Sean Rooney (Marconi Stallions), Kofi Danning (to Hume City) and Matt Foschini (to South Melbourne) have also departed Jack Edwards.
The club has signed six to seven new signings, including, among others, strikers Dimi Hatzimouratis (from Sydney Olympic) and Ross Frame (Carson-Newman University, USA), midfielder Ioannis Georgopoulos from OFI, Crete, and utility/defender Steven Topalovic from reigning champs Bentleigh Greens, while former midfielder and best and fairest, Dominic D’Angelo, is a late signing.
New coach Tsolakis says that the Cannons’ recruitment in the pre-season has been hampered by the NPL points system, which limits the opportunities to make further signings.
“It’s like a salary cap,” he says, “and we’re very limited in the number of points we’ve got, so that’s really hampered us to an extent.
“But in saying that, the players we’ve got are very experienced, and if you mix them in with the players who were here from last year – again I think we’ve got a decent squad – we need them all on the same page.”
It’s no secret that Oakleigh had problems in the dressing room last season, and one of the first aims of the new coaches was to rebuild team spirit.
Coach Tangalakis says: “At the moment we’re psychologists just as much as we’re coaches and trainers. The problem this club had last season was that the change room was lost. It all stems from there. We’ve actually got hold of that at the moment. The boy’s are gelling and they’re a good bunch. They’re mates. It’s good high spirits in there.”
Tsolakis is confident that the squad has enough offensive weaponry to produce winning scores, particularly if Dean Piemonte, Dusan Bosnjak and Goran Zoric can regain their goalscoring touch from season 2014.
It’s in central defence that he’s got some injury concerns at present with a number of central defenders still recovering from injury.
He doesn’t mince words when he says “we’ve got our work cut out”.
“It’s going to be a tough season. Teams like Pascoe Vale, Bentleigh, Heidelberg have been together for five years with the same coach. We’re not pretending we’re going to be anything like that by a long shot. But we’ve just got a bit of work to do.”
While all teams are looking to make a good start, Tsolakis believes the draw for the Cannons’ fixtures makes it very important to start well. Playing three of their first four games at home, the Cannons kick off the NPL season at Jack Edwards on Thursday 18 February against Port Melbourne Sharks.
“All the games we’ve got in the first four or five games are winnable. It’s important we do get a good start, because after Round 4, we’re not back here for another six weeks, because they resurface the ground, so we play six away games.”
“We’ve got a very supportive committee behind us,” Tangalakis adds.
“They know all about what we’re doing. We’re restructuring and regrouping. You know it’s new times for Oakleigh. It’s a three-year plan they’ve asked us to put together. So expectations aren’t extremely high. Obviously we don’t want to be bottom three. Hopefully if the team gels and the boys combine, we might have a half decent season. Looking forward to it actually.”