Bayswater City President Oriano Colli has spoken of his pride as the club prepares to celebrate a record fifth NPL title success at Frank Drago Reserve on Saturday.
It had looked like the league was set for a three-way battle on the final day as Bayswater, Olympic Kingsway and Perth RedStar all took turns leading the New Balance NPL WA Men’s competition.
But it was Bayswater who lasted the distance for a second successive season, three points and, crucially, 15 goals better off than second-place Olympic.
“Super proud,” said Colli about the club’s fifth title since the NPL began in 2014.
“When I came to the club in 2013, if you’d told me we were going to win one title I’d have chewed your hand off. To be here with six titles [including one in the pre-NPL era] – four before 2020 with another coach and another group of lads and now creating a similar type of momentum … yeah, very proud for everyone at the club.”
Bayswater are finishing the season in style, scoring 13 times in their last two games. What might be overlooked is that they have also conceded the fewest goals in the competition. But it is the team’s ability to blow opposition away that has been a major part of their success, led by Chris Jackson with 14 goals.
Colli said: “We started the season well with a 7-0 win. And the last four of five rounds, we’ve probably got all our strike force back, and we’re on song. We’ve got a lot of options at the moment, and they’re all in form.
“But it’s not been straightforward. We played the [post-season] Australian Championships last year, and I think we suffered a little bit because of that this year. And we had a few big bodies that weren’t playing early on.
“Paddy (Loughrey) didn’t play the first few games, Stynesy (Daniel Stynes) got injured, we were missing Cam Teece until Round 12, then we lost Seany Mac (Sean McManus) for the second half of the season. So we suffered a little bit and had to play a bit of catch-up. But we’ve only lost one game since 28 March so it’s not a bad run.”
That defeat came in the Belt Up Regional Cup game in Albany against Perth Glory, the team Bayswater finish off the regular season against on Saturday. Glory are still to secure their safety and might be hoping Bayswater will take their foot off the gas with the league title already decided. Colli says not a chance.
“Last year when we’d already won the league, we sort of mucked around with the line-up a little bit. It was a funny game against Perth which we lost. That’s not the case this year. We want to finish the season off properly and to take momentum going into the State Cup final against Fremantle next week,” he said.
“We’re really pleased to be in the State Cup final. We haven’t won it since 2014, so it’s good to be back there, and it’s another trophy that we’d dearly love to put in the cabinet. But it’ll be a tough game against Freo.
“Then the Top Four Cup, which we won last year, and then the Aus Champs … I missed out last year I was away at my daughter’s wedding, so I’m really excited to be part of it.
“But right now, it’s all about tomorrow. It’s going to be a great day. We want to win the game, we want to finish the season off properly, then have a good party on Saturday and look after the boys.”
Basywater will receive the title trophy on the pitch after the full-time whistle.
The game is one of six New Balance NPL WA Men’s Round 22 games on Saturday, all of which kick off at 3pm and will be screened live and free on Streamer.com.au.
Glory will be safe if they match or better Armadale’s result against Perth RedStar. If they don’t, and Dianella win at Balcatta, then Glory will need to go through the play-offs to survive for the second time in three seasons.
Balcatta will be automatically relegated unless they beat Dianella by five goals. If that happens, then Dianella will go down and Balcatta will be in the play-offs.
Round 22 fixtures (all 3pm)
Armadale v Perth RedStar
Balcatta Etna v Dianella White Eagles
Bayswater City v Perth Glory
Olympic Kingsway v Fremantle City
Perth Azzurri v Sorrento FC
Stirling Macedonia v Western Knights
NPL title winners
2014 Bayswater City
2015 Bayswater City
2016 Perth SC
2017 Bayswater City
2018 Perth SC
2019 Perth SC
2020 ECU Joondalup
2021 Perth SC
2022 Floreat Athena
2023 Perth RedStar
2024 Olympic Kingsway
2025 Bayswater City
2026 Bayswater City
