Round One of the NPLWA – Men’s competition begins on Friday night as Bayswater City and Sorrento meet at Frank Drago Reserve (7pm).
Both teams will want to hit the ground running after disappointing Night Series campaigns. However, recent history suggests the pair will be knocking on the door of the top four positions.
Sorrento are led by former Perth Glory midfielder Steven McGarry, who was unveiled as head coach in late February following a parting of ways between the club and former coach Trevor Morgan. The Gulls did win their first game of the pre-season competition, but collected just one more point in their other four outings, and McGarry will need to imprint his ideas quickly if they are to record a third-successive Top Four Cup appearance.
Despite winning the title in three of the first four editions of the competition, Bayswater will be aiming to win silverware for the first time since 2017, while a post-season spot has also eluded them since 2018.
Gareth Naven keeps a largely settled side with Samuel Dweh and Gustavo Catarcione joining an exciting list of attacking options which includes Ndumba Makeche, Jon Stynes, Gordon Smith, Teeboy Kamara and Kosta Sparta.
On paper, there are certainly going to be plenty of goals, but the possibilities don’t end there with regards to the finals contenders in season 2023.
Olympic Kingsway made a splash last weekend as they became the first promoted side to claim the top-flight Night Series competition after a penalty shoot-out win over Inglewood United. They travel to Macedonia Park on Saturday night for a 7pm kick-off against Stirling Macedonia in a fixture which has plenty of history to it.
David Tough has added the likes of Ollie Annis, Liam Murray and Sasa Njegic to a strong core, while another new signing Daniel Walsh looking to be forming a strong partnership with Shane Cassidy early doors. It will be the Green Machine’s first top flight fixture since 1999.
Opponents Stirling were in the thick of the title race right until the final day of 2022 and they will hope to go close once more.
Only the bottom two sides, Gwelup and Balcatta, and Inglewood scored fewer league goals than Stirling last year, but Ian Ferguson’s side did have the best defensive record in the division. They will hope a strong pre-season from Alex Tanevski will carry over, while the additions of Kingsley Eshun, Richard Howles and Daniel Zivkovic could give them more thrust in the final third.
Elsewhere, champions Floreat Athena begin their campaign at home to Night Series finalists Inglewood at 5pm on Saturday.
Athena will be without Robert Petkov for a while due to injury, but former striker Noah Shamaki returns to lead the line and add to a settled core group. Riley Woodcock will also make an impact down the left-hand side after missing most of 2022, as Vas Vujacic’s team aim to go back-to-back.
Inglewood are one of the other teams who could be competing at the pointy end of the league if their Night Series campaign is anything to go by. Andres Oliveira adds firepower to the ranks with former NPLWA Golden Boot winner Michael Domfeh arriving and making an impact already with seven pre-season goals. Shubham Mokala and Dylan White have also arrived, while Matthew Ntumenopoulos returns from the NPL Victoria competition and Ciaran Salinger adds to the defensive depth.
2022 Top Four Cup winners Perth RedStar will be in action at 3pm on Saturday when they travel to Dorrien Gardens to face Perth SC. Riley Warland returns to the campus after winning the league with ECU Joondalup in 2020, and while injury to club captain Ellis Healing is a bitter blow they still retain plenty of firepower via the likes of Chok Dau and reigning Gold Medal winner Daryl Nicol.
The Azzurri finished a commendable third in their Night Series group, despite having to deal with a few absentees in the pre-season. They will be hoping last season’s ninth-placed finish was merely a blip and that the young talent they have at the club can take a step forward to contend for the finals places again. Armadale duo Gordon Pekins and Abdul Osman are among the players to sign on, while Zayd Farah, Michael Scafetta and Archie Whitfield join another youthful Perth side which had Sam Cook among the goals in Night Series.
There’s a replay of the 2022 State Cup Final at Alfred Skeet Reserve at 3pm on Saturday when Armadale hosts Cockburn City. John O’Reilly has boosted his Armadale side with the return of former players Chris Jackson and Ali Gholami, while Cockburn’s cup hero from last season Daniel Robison will face his former side early on after signing from Dalmatinac Park. Imports Conor Walsh and Tim Berger add further intrigue as the Army try and continue to build on a solid past few seasons.
Cockburn, meanwhile, will have some former Armadale players in their squad at the weekend with Friday Zico, Luqman Sayyed and Cherno Bah joining the club. Sebastian Da Silva also returns after a year at Gwelup, with former Sorrento defender Steve McDonald leading this young side as head coach. The Cockerels did show last year they were capable of delivering in the big games, and they will look to captain Jesse Lazzaro for inspiration again after another strong campaign which saw him finish in the top three of the Gold Medal count.
Finally, Balcatta Etna will hope it is a fresh start for them in 2023 when they host Perth Glory at Grindleford Reserve (3pm).
A slow start to last year put the club in relegation danger but Glen Grostate’s arrival resulted in Etna winning three of their final five games to stay up. Despite a winless Night Series, Jack Allen and John Kearney will add experience to the squad, while Trent Kay and Ryan Pearson are retained after a good impact in the second half of last season. Imports Kotaro Yamamoto and Lionel Glorieux could help Balcatta stabilise in the top flight once more.
Etna face a Glory side whose last visit to Grindleford Reserve ended in a 3-0 defeat, but the youngsters can be pleased with their pre-season showing after winning their final three Night Series group games. It may not have yielded a semi-final but the latest generation of U18s and U20s stars have proven their worth already at that level, while Laat Mathiang (Floreat), Julian Kelly (Bayswater) and Luca Iovene arrive to add further depth.
All of this season’s games will be live streamed for free on the Streamer platform: https://streamer.com.au/
For all of the 2023 NPLM fixtures and results, visit Squadi here: https://bit.ly/3YRdM9y
Round One (3pm unless stated)
Friday 17 March
Bayswater City v Sorrento (7pm)
Saturday 18 March
Balcatta Etna v Perth Glory
Floreat Athena v Inglewood United (5pm)
Stirling Macedonia v Olympic Kingsway (7pm)