Despite losing four players from last season’s grand final squad, there was ample proof on show on the eve of the new NPL season, last Friday week, that the Greens will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in all competitions in 2016.
Its 3-nil demolition of close rival South Melbourne showed that coach John Anastasiadis’ side looks more than ready to defend its crown.
Anastasiadis has managed to retain a strong core of his championship-winning team, including key players such as skipper Wayne Wallace, playmaker Tyson Holmes, Liam McCormick and defenders Jack Webster and Luke Pilkington. Keeper Ryan Scott has been promoted to the number one spot following the departure of Alastair Bray to the A-League.
A boost for the club has been the late re-signing of defensive midfielder Troy Ruthven, after he had initially chosen to return home to the Gold Coast for season 2016.
“As soon as he rang and asked if he could return, we jumped at it and said ‘of course’,” Anastasiadis says. He describes Ruthven as “a main cog in our team”.
“He strengthens the team a little bit more, especially in that defensive four or five that we’ve got there, and brings a bit more competition to the squad. And when you’ve got competition, you’ve got players playing their best football, which is what we want.”
There’ll be no shortage of competition for places, with the Greens having made nine to ten signings in the pre-season. Three of those signings started in the Community Shield match against South, including central defender Ross Archibald, full back Josh Brindell-South and forward Ryan Paczkowski.
Anastasiadis says of his squad: “Defensively we’re quite sound, midfield we’re quite good. But I think up front we’re maybe one player thin. We’ve got them, but they’re injured. We’re just waiting for them to come good.”
The forwards due to come back from injury are new signing Kamal Ibrahim and Matt Thurtell, who is coming back from a long lay-off following a knee reconstruction.
The coach told Neos Kosmos that fans can expect his team to be a lot stronger physically this year.
“We’ve altered our pre-season training slightly this year, made it a bit tougher because we know, obviously we’re going to be the hunted this year and people are going to be after us every game, because we are the champions. That poses a lot of challenges, so we have to be ready for everything. We’re not going to be reactive to it. We’re going to be pro-active. Know what’s required and what we have to do. We just want the boys to be ready for it, and I think they are.”