Monash City FC may be the new kid on the block in the State League 5 East men’s competition, but the Caloola Reserve club has wasted little time in climbing up the ladder to be among the league leaders after just seven rounds.

After pre-season merger talks with the club’s State League 4 neighbour Waverley Wanderers broke down at the 11th hour, the Oakleigh-based Monash City FC decided to go it alone, and has launched its first ever senior team into the State Leagues this year.

Up until this season, the club had only fielded a masters team, concentrating instead on growing its junior and sub-junior department, which has mushroomed over the last five years, expanding from five teams to 27 teams and involving 320 players.

Recognising the rapid growth in its junior ranks, and guided by a vision to become one of the most successful and respected developmental football clubs in Victoria, the committee has appointed former Melbourne Victory player and Australia U20 representative Daniel Vasilevski as its new technical director of coaching this season.

“The appointment of Daniel is important because our vision is to develop players form juniors through to senior level and we want to do it the right way,” says club president Angelo Zissis.

Vasilevski’s focus, according to Zissis, will be “to implement a consistent game strategy and the coaching of core skills throughout the entire club from U7 to our junior teams”.

Vasilevski, who holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports Coaching, says the junior development philosophy at the club is very similar to the FFA’s curriculum.

“We’d like to play an attacking brand of possession-based football and develop footballers that can go on to play at a higher level. We want to play as a 4-3-3, as an attacking, pro-active team. That’s our philosophy.
“We also want players to play for the club. We don’t want players coming and going. We want players to stay and develop. If they want to move on to NPL clubs or bigger and better teams, that’s good for us as well because we get credit for that.”

With the junior program under the guidance of Vasilevski, the committee also recognised the need for a progression pathway into senior football within the club.

“The idea behind the seniors and reserves was we were losing a lot of kids come 15, 16 because there wasn’t a progression pathway,” Zissis explains.

“So we wanted to basically provide that pathway for them, and that’s why we threw our lot into the ring for a seniors and reserves team.
“And credit to the boys. To Dimos Sevastiadis (inaugural seniors coach), to Con Tzoumaneka (fitness coach) and Mark Antonopoulos (reserves coach). They’ve banded the kids together – and we’re a young side too, but we are performing really well and it’s giving that pathway now, that vision for those kids coming through, which was the plan all along.”

After seven rounds, the seniors are undefeated in second place on the league ladder. Over the next two rounds, they face their biggest test to date when they take on two of the other front runners in the competition, beginning today with Yarra Jets at home followed by Healesville away. After those games the team will have a clearer idea of where it stands in relation to the other front runners in this season’s race for promotion.

“We will try and climb the State League competitions as quickly as we can with the aim of playing in the higher leagues,” president Zissis says. “The start has been positive and encouraging, however we know we need to continue to work hard, commit to one another and continue to invest in the vision of the club and success will ultimately arrive.”

He knows the approach the club is taking, to grow organically by developing its youth, takes time, but he believes that it’s ultimately the best approach to develop a successful club and to sustain that success.

“The players need to play for the club. They need to have a sense of belonging and pride playing for the club otherwise, as you know, there’s lots of clubs, where history shows, if you tend to play quite a few players, their hearts and their passion, isn’t for the club.”

As he acknowledges, it’s early days yet, but there may come a day when Monash City FC lines up against NPL neighbour Oakleigh Cannons at nearby Jack Edwards Reserve, in an FFA Cup round. Now that would make for a local derby worth watching.