Preparing for his second season in charge at Oakleigh Cannons, coach Peter Tsolakis hopes to build on the success of making last season’s grand final in his first season at the club. Last season the south-eastern suburban club exceeded most people’s expectations by finishing fourth on the table, before embarking on a strong finals campaign which only ended with a 3-2 defeat in the grand final to South Melbourne at Lakeside.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, Tsolakis said: “Last year we probably flew under the radar a bit. No one expected us to end up where we did in the grand final. I think a lot of people were looking at the previous year and thinking Oakleigh wouldn’t be up there. But we put a string of wins together and we did quite well. This year I think it might be a different kettle of fish. Teams will be more wary of us and what we’re capable of. As I mentioned to the players, we’ll be hunted this year. Our objectives, again we want to perform as well as we did last year and we want to try and get into that top six and make the finals.”
Tsolakis and his coaching team have managed to retain the bulk of last season’s squad, which he believes will mean stability and continuity.
“Everyone knows what’s expected … the most important thing with clubs is stability. Once you get that then things start growing.”
The coach has sought to take the squad to the next level by adding four experienced players to the group, covering all areas of the park. In defence, he’s brought in experienced 29-year-old English defender Tommy Matthews, who’ll help fill the loss of Steven Topalovic. In midfield he’s signed Iqbal Jawadi, who at 22 has already won titles with South Melbourne and Dandenong Thunder both under coach Chris Taylor. In Nate Foster, Tsolakis has signed a proven goalscorer of whom he says “will add a bit of spice to our strike force which was very, very good last year”.
Tsolakis has also signed another experienced NPL forward in pacey winger Shayan Alinejad, who has played for Melbourne Knights and most recently Bulleen Lions.
In addition to these four experienced signings, the Cannons have signed Melbourne City youth duo Pep Marafioti and Eddie Sawari. Marafioti can play anywhere in the top three, while Sawari is a utility midfielder. Tsolakis believes the depth of the squad in all areas of the park is stronger this year and the experience that the new signings bring to squad will benefit the side in high pressure, crunch games.
After reviewing last season, the Cannons coaching team decided that tightening up defensively was going to have to be a focus. “We’ve proven we can score goals and even in the grand final, I thought we created a few chances and maybe we were a bit stiff,” says Tsolakis.
“I think the one lesson is not to concede silly goals. That’s one focus that myself, Con (Tangalakis) and Mark (Tsiorlas) have spoken about, that we want to try and tighten up defensively. Because we’ve also got goals in us − and last year we conceded a lot of silly goals which could’ve been detrimental to us.”
The Cannons will host the NPL 1 season opener at Jack Edwards this Thursday evening when it plays newly-promoted neighbour Kingston City.