Major changes in the playing roster are afoot at Kingston Heath in the wake of a long season which ended with a quarter-final FFA Cup defeat to Melbourne Victory. Bentleigh Greens has announced the departure of five players, including talismanic skipper Wayne Wallace.

Also among the five exiting the Cheltenham-based club are two players who featured prominently in the Greens’ last two successful seasons, the versatile utilities Liam McCormick and Dion Kirk, as well as two more recent arrivals at Kingston Heath, Kamal Ibrahim and John Maclean.

Wallace’s departure is a big surprise, as he is acknowledged as Bentleigh’s driving force in the middle of the park, where his strength and will to win have been major factors in the team’s ascent to the top of the NPL ranks in Victoria over the past couple of seasons.

The 32-year-old Wallace made 127 league appearances over six seasons for the Greens, scoring 22 goals and helping the team to the 2015 NPL championship, and the 2016 Premiers Plate and Dockerty Cup double. Wallace will be joining rival NPL club Hume City.

“I think Wayne wanted to explore other avenues,” said Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis, speaking to Neos Kosmos after the departures were announced.
“He’s been six years at the club, won championships and been through a lot of success there. I think he just wants another challenge, as does Liam, who’s moved on also. He’s probably looking at getting more game time at other clubs. That’s probably the main reasons. There’s no bad blood. Everything’s good. We wish the boys all the best, and hopefully they’ll do well wherever they go.”

When asked if the club is looking to replace them with players of similar quality and experience, Anastasiadis replied: “We basically need to replace them. There’s no doubt about it. But don’t forget we had quite a few players who were injured last year who will come back into the fold − Lambros Honos, Matt Thurtell … . No doubt Wayne will leave a big hole, but we’ll fill that hole. We’re still in the process of looking at players all the time.

“It probably is a changing of the guard. It’s one of those things that happens in every club around the world. At some stage it’s going to happen, the coach leaves or players leave. That’s just normal. The good thing is we’ve enjoyed good times together with Wayne especially. We only wish the best for him. If he’s happy where he’s going to go, we’ll be happy.
“Like I said, we’ll change a few things around next year because we know it’s going to be another tough year for us, and hopefully we’ll be able to adapt to what’s going to come at us.”

The Greens have announced that long-serving centre back and deputy captain Jack Webster will succeed Wallace as the new skipper.

The versatile McCormick is the next longest serving player after Wallace to leave, having been at the club since 2013 and played 94 matches. Dion Kirk played 48 games for the Greens over the last two seasons after joining from South Melbourne at the end of season 2014-15. The Adelaide-born Kirk is thought to be heading back to his hometown.

Former 2015 NPL FFV gold medal winner Kamal Ibrahim arrived at Kingston Heath from Port Melbourne Sharks with high hopes but leaves the Greens after just one season, when he struggled to establish himself in the starting line-up because of injury. Striker John Maclean joined the Greens from Victory Youth late in the season to boost the Greens injury depleted attacking stocks.

On the positive side, the club has announced the re-signing of striker Matt Thurtell and midfielder Troy Ruthven.