With the NPL kicking off around the country, two men in particular will be aiming to replicate previous successes in the revamped second tier.
With the National Premier Leagues kicking off around the country, and rolled out throughout the next two seasons, two men in particular will be taking charge of clubs that achieved greatness in the NSL and will again go looking for glory in the revamped second tier.
Damian Mori is heading the charge at Adelaide City, while former Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic is back at his old club, South Melbourne. Their approaches to the new competitions might differ slightly but both are craving success and believe young players will reap the benefits.
“We are trying all the way from the juniors to the seniors to be as professional as we can,” Durakovic tells footballaustralia.com.au.
“It-s all about the youngsters coming through; you still need the older boys but if you have a balance it will be fantastic the reason we have set up the junior program is to get our juniors promoted to the seniors.
“The junior set-up is 10 hours of training a week all year round and I-m loving my time here.
“The set-up was done four or five months before I arrived, they want to follow the national curriculum I have gone in, talked to the coaches and everyone is on the same page.
“I think it-s the way to go forward we want to be as professional as we can and the next best thing to the A-League is the NPL, there is a structure in place and luckily we have another year to work out how we do things and try out a few things and hopefully we will be in that.”
Mori agrees that the NPL will showcase youth, but is concerned the new competition structure might mean that the talent drain from his club would only get greater.
“It-s a great system that they are trying to promote the youngsters, but it-s going to affect the senior team, if they play good football they will go to A-league clubs and it can disadvantage the club in some respects,” Mori says.
“You-re not going to be able to produce players year-in-year-out, you will go through quiet spells. We lost Stefan Mauk to Heart, Stefan Garrucio to Heart and Dylan Smith to AIS, you-re producing kids but it-s difficult to bring them through the senior ranks.”
Of course both South Melbourne and Adelaide City had proud records in the old NSL and their respective leaders believe they can continue that trend in the new NPL, even if City-s start to the season has been a bit of a roller-coaster.
“We have started off alright, have won three, lost two, you get a bit more inconsistency with younger players but that-s to be expected,” Mori says.
In Melbourne the season is yet to kick off but Durakovic is confident the club can jump out of the blocks and prove themselves to be a force. In short he wants to be a front-runner and sees success with South Melbourne as an eventual road to his way back to the A-League.
“We are setting the benchmark in standards going forward to the National Premier League,” Durakovic says.
“It is one of the biggest clubs in the VPL and was one of those in the NSL and it-s important that we set the standards in the APL. We have two full time directors, managers and the coaches are full-time as well.
“I-d love to get back into the A-League, I left Victory and we shook hands and I-ve left that door open, you never know where a door might open but at the moment I am in Victoria, but I-m happy with this job I have now, but would I love another chance? Yes. When? I don-t know but I-m quite happy at the moment at my old club.”
Image courtesy Jason Beatrice/FFSA