As the new inclusions of a busy mid-season transfer window begin to settle into their new homes, it’s time to evaluate each NPL Victoria club’s shiny new acquisitions and whether the new crop will be sufficient to help their side march into the finals come August.
Yesterday we analysed one half of the clubs in NPL Victoria and the transfers they made in the mid-season window, and awarded them a high school-like report card grade accordingly.
Today we evaluate the second half of the competition and adjudicate just how well, or just how poorly they handled the window.
Melbourne Victory
Ins: Sebastian Pasquali (promoted)
Outs: Damien Miskulin, Joey Katebian, Christian Cavallo, Kieran Dover
There was obviously a reason why new Victory NPL manager, Gareth Naven, decided not to make a move at the trade table during the window.
Perhaps he believed – to borrow one of those horrendous Rich Cohen lines – Melbourne Victory’s season was so far gone in 2016 that it’d be almost pointless to restock a failing season, compounded by the recent six point deduction which all but sealed the side’s fate two months before the end of the season.
Or maybe he truly believed the current crop – sans Joey Katebian, sans Kieran Dover and sans Christian Cavallo – has it in them to play genuinely good football against the rest of the competition and weasel their way out of the drop zone, which is highly unlikely but was almost backed up last weekend with a very competitive 2-1 loss to reigning champions Bentleigh Greens.
The crux of the matter still stands: to lose their captain and key striker, their main attacking midfielder, a vital left-back and a defender who was a mainstay in 2015, and not replace any one of them, is an eyesore.
Fair enough, Damien Miskulin wasn’t much a part of the Victory’s defence this season since Matt Hennessey arrived, and James Xydias has looked impressive at fullback in place of Cavallo, but to leave such big holes in the final third points to the former philosophy.
The purpose of 2016 now is to develop the current batch in readiness for 2017 in the NPL2 unhindered by the arrival of new faces who’d subsequently create doubt amongst the current squad, who are all looking for minutes.
Naven’s philosophy is there, but given this is a transfer report card, and the side didn’t bring in any transfers, they’ll have to kindly settle for a low grade.
Final grade: D
Northcote City
Ins: Braedyn Crowley, Danny Charalambous, James Papadimitriou, Marcus Duncan, Cody Martindale, Anthony Bouzanis, Zachary Drake, Keenan Gibson, Todd Norris, Borbor Sam, Anthony Taranto, Alex Dao, Thomas Demelis (promoted)
Outs: Michael Cunningham, Jordan Wilkes, Aaron Ward, Nick Tzoulis, Calvin Mbarga, Philip Vaiopoulos, Nasr Said, Antthony Rizk, Zois Galanopoulos, Julius Davies, Evan Batsis, Luke Gavalas, Steve Sifinos
Removed due to long-term injury: Joshua Berrios
Behold! We’ve been blessed with the cathartic sight of a coach figuratively sweeping his arm across the dinner table, clearing everything off in a single frustration-meets-clarity moment. Goran Lozanovski wants to take this club back to the old days … of three years ago, and took complete ownership of this squad to do so.
Some of the names to leave may’ve come as a shock to a few fans, but thankfully (for their own sake) the likes of Aaron Ward, Jordan Wilkes, Luke Gavalas and Julius Davies have all gone on to comfortably find new homes around the league.
The new breed are an exciting band. Enthusiasm ripples through the group and a verve to just play football is evident.
Braedyn Crowley, Borbor Sam, Keenan Gibson and Todd Norris have lit up the league in their few weeks at the club, while the NPLV faithful will know of the skill Danny Charalambous and James Papadimitriou possess from their days at the Moreland Zebras.
Marcus Duncan is an impressive young defender, while the shrewd acquisition of Canadian Zachary Drake sees the fullback provide a level of experience which is otherwise scarce amongst the playing group. The rest – Martindale, Dao, Taranto – all fall into line with their knowledge of how Victoria works.
Smart recruiting from Loza, and it’s already turned the season around from a listless and unimpressive side to a batch of tyros many fans now have an interest in watching.
Final grade: A
Oakleigh Cannons
Ins: Anthony Rizk, Kostas Stratomitros, Sean Lovemore, Jacob Collard, Adrian Chiapetta (re-listed following injury), Emmani Kavalakis (promoted), Peter Kostopoulos (promoted)
Outs: Corey Slevin, Ross Frame, Thomas Lakic, Theo Papageorgiou, Alki Chronopoulos
Removed due to long-term injury: Johnny Black, Ali Hameed
There were a lot of faces to pass through the doors of Oakleigh during the window, which may or may not prove unsettling for a side clinging on to a spot in the top six.
Let’s look at the outs first: Corey Slevin, a solid contributor but outside factors prevented him from playing regularly. Ross Frame, a clinical finisher, but not enough to properly displace the likes of Dimitri Hatzimouratis and Dean Piemonte. Thomas Lakic, the one who played the most out of all the departing names, but whose position has been swiftly seized by a very capable Perry Lambropoulos.
Were they huge losses? Seeing those names leave won’t sting.
The ins? A handy bunch. Anthony Rizk, one of the Northcote off-cuts, comes in to provide depth down the left side of the formation which lost Johnny Black. Jacob Collard is versatile through defence and midfield, as is the well-seasoned Kostas Stratomitros who was arguably South Springvale’s best player, while Sean Lovemore has a very impressive goal scoring record in New Zealand over a number of season and is a like-for-like swap for Frame. And welcome back Adrian Chiapetta.
Overall it was a strong window for the Cannons, but it was largely re-stocking the backend of the squad
Final grade: B+
Pascoe Vale
Ins: Marinos Gasparis, Turhan Sumbul, Gonzalo Munoz, Quaynor Mustapha, Andrew Miano (promoted), Mathew Conversano (promoted)
Outs: Aaron Cohen, Nathen Megic, Yusei Kitade, Erik Pryce, Jake Nakic
On the face of it, a perfectly good window for Paco. The loss of Yusei Kitade and Jake Nakic hurt them up front – Kitade was one of the more technically gifted players in the league and was a forward-thinker, while Nakic provided another scoring outlet. In their place come three-time VPL champion Marino Gasparis and unknown quantity Turhun Sumbul.
Nathen Megic is another regular contributor to part ways with Pascoe Vale, but again Vitale Ferrante has gone with a simple one-for-one swap with Gonzalo Munoz who, although may not have the versatility Megic had, the rest of the back four certainly do and appropriate shuffling will help refill the merchandise.
From those, there wasn’t much gained and not much lost, but the interesting move was Quaynor Mustapha – a central midfielder who’d previously signed with St Albans a fortnight earlier before Ferrante swooped. The Ghanaian has experience in Europe with clubs in Cyprus and could add another dimension to the centre of the park at CB Smith Reserve.
Final grade: B
Port Melbourne
Ins: Tyler James, Luke Gavalas, James Goulopoulos, Erhan Yalaz (promoted)
Outs: Alan Mulcahy, Lambros Honos, Stjepan Gal
Removed due to long-term injury: George Krommidas
On the park, Port Melbourne will be hurt by this window. To lose so much experience in the form of Alan Mulcahy and Lambros Honos – although in keeping with Eric Vassiliadis’ ideal of playing the youth – will have an effect on the playing group in one way or another.
Tyler James and James Goulopoulos come in; both relatively untried but with youth experience in both Australia and Europe respectively, yet on paper neither are being tipped to make huge waves in a horribly out of form Port Melbourne outfit.
One of Port’s biggest problems this season is defence and, although James is capable down back, the Sharks coaching staff really needed to push for a top defender to shore things up at the back. Right now it looks unsettled and is conceding too often.
Of the sides above the bottom four on the ladder, Port Melbourne have the second worst defence, conceding 28 times in 19 games, and have lost the most times, going down 10 times in total. Even Bulleen, who sit below them on the standings, have lost on three fewer occasions in 2016.
Final grade: C
Richmond
Ins: Berkan Yurdakul, Tony Foglia, Alan Mulcahy, Jakob Williams, Sergio Azagane, Ratip Cileli, Ajak Panek, Kasar Scheiber (promoted)
Outs: Christian Rossi, Jorda Seeto, Samuel Catherine, Travis Chalk-Hatton, Jay Kelly, Josh Valadon, Nikola Popovich, Christopher Davis, Andrew Goff, Liam Higgins, Brendan Gonano
Now this is what you call an upgrade. Plenty of the names departing Kevin Bartlett Reserve were those who had a profound impact on the side’s success in 2015 – Jordan Seeto, goalkeepers Chris Davis and Christian Rossi, and 2015 club MVP place-getters Samuel Catherine and Andrew Goff, all gone.
Rick Mensink has cottoned on quick to what’s required at the top level in Victoria, and the high demand of players wanting to get in at Richmond has paid off in spades, with the experienced Alan Mulcahy and highly talented Jakob Williams, Sergio Azagane and Ratip Cileli all coming across and having an immediate impact on the starting eleven.
Tony Foglia is an interesting one; a 25-year-old French goalkeeper who’s had plenty of experience in the lower leagues of the current EURO 2016 hosts, how hard will he push Gian Tapia to take the number one spot at the club? A point of interest.
Final grade: B+
South Melbourne
Ins: Manolo
Outs: Philtzgerald M’baka, Cody Martindale
An unusually quiet period for the 2015 runners-up has seen them take a minimalistic approach to the mid-season transfer window.
Touted early on to snare former Melbourne City captain Patrick Kisnorbo – only to be scuppered by the defender’s ambitions as a youth coach – meant the only significant move to be made was one Spanish league player for another.
Philtzgerald M’baka, a Frenchman who arrived at the Lakeside with so much hope, has already departed and will pursue options in Kuwait, while forward Manolo arrives to help bolster the final third.
It was somewhat befuddling that M’baka wasn’t given more game time under Chris Taylor, especially given one of his few performances against Oakleigh he dazzled with his technical ability, but his time at the club was short-lived and the heavy central midfield troop marches on without a worry.
Manolo is a good signing. With only Milos Lujic and Andy Kecojevic as options at the top of the formation, he provides plenty of talent an experience to help “CT” tweak his formation when needed.
Final grade: C+