Welcome back for another season of the McDonald’s NPL Tasmania. I’m Andrew Cooling and this is the Friday Forecast, a weekly preview column I will be writing for the Football Tasmania website each week throughout the 2023 season. In it, I will preview all the upcoming weekend matches and provide my thoughts on any major news that may develop throughout the season.
I will also be producing a review piece each Monday morning that will recap all the action from the weekend’s games and which you will also be able to find here in the McDonald’s NPL Tasmania News Hub. I will be doing likewise for the MyState Bank Women’s Super League, which you can read over on the MyState Bank WSL Hub.
Start Your Engines!
After a long off-season and an entertaining Summer Cup tournament, we are finally at the starting line and ready to go in the 2023 League campaign. It should be an interesting season as everyone begins in the familiar position of trying to catch the Devonport Strikers, who were simply on another level to anyone last season and will start as red-hot favourites to repeat.
It’s very much a new-look league this season, with Launceston United replacing the Olympia Warriors leaving us with a 4/4 South/North split for the first time. Alongside it will be a new Under 21’s NPL competition to act as a reserves/development league whilst concluding the season will be the return of a finals series which we haven’t seen for several years now.
Previously I was opposed to the concept of a finals series. It always felt to me like it was tacked on and undercut the League champions who had earned their title over 21 games. But after the past few seasons, my view has shifted and I think it’s a welcome addition to the fixture. Giving those sides who may have fallen outside the title race something tangible to play for in the form of a finals position should keep the stakes up in those later rounds where motivation has potentially waned in previous years. It means far more meaningful games ‘til much later in the season for more sides and gives those sides who realistically were never going to win the title an achievable goal to shoot for. The League title will remain the major prize on offer and the side who finishes on top will be the side considered Champions, as well they should, but this is just more silverware to play for and will provide a couple of weeks of exciting knockout games to make sure the season ends with a real buzz. So a positive addition to the season in my books, even if it will likely perturb a few of the traditionalists.
Season Launches Under Friday Night Lights
Fittingly given the Northern shift the league has undergone over the Summer months, the season will begin with a Launceston Derby as Riverside Olympic and Launceston City clash at Buckby Motors Park. The pair have built up a healthy animosity on the pitch over the past few seasons and these are usually physical affairs as most derbies tend to be.
City will enter as the favourites to get their season off and running following a busy off-season that has seen them make some headline-grabbing moves. Former NPL stalwart, Daniel Syson, takes the helm as the manager and he is joined in the coaching staff by another NPL TAS luminaire in Nathan Pitchford. Another former Striker, Joel Stone, has been lured across in a playing capacity and should play a key role on the pitch after finding himself on the periphery at the Strikers last season. It’s not that long ago he won multiple league MVP awards and may well have a point to prove here. Add in a pair of American imports, some promising young local talent like William Humphrey from their Northern rivals and expectations are understandably raised at Buckby Park. They should be in the mix for a top-four finish and will eye this match as the ideal chance to get off to the perfect start.
With Riverside Olympic rooted to the foot of the table in 2022, the only way is up for the boys from Windsor Park. They too are under new management with Portuguese boss Helder Dos Santos Silva taking the reins. The addition of another side in the region will undoubtedly have made recruiting tough for the Roos and the former professional player has suggested developing the younger players and building to something for future years was the main aim this year. It may lead to another tough season on the pitch, but as he told The Examiner’s Rob Shaw: "You only get great wine when the grapes have two or three years to age and it is the same with the youth here at Riverside.” It’s an accurate assessment but does suggest it could be another tough year results-wise.
Whilst Riverside have struggled for results, the old adage that form goes out the window in a derby has been reasonably applicable to this match-up in prior years and some of Riverside Olympic’s best performances since being promoted have come against their neighbours. They earned their only positive result of the Summer Cup against City with a 0-0 draw and a similar score would be a positive start, though for the fans sake let’s hope for a few more goals in our season opener.
South Look to Start Strong Against Sleeping Lions
To Saturday and the afternoon’s action will kick off at Darcy Street with South Hobart taking on the Kingborough Lions. The two sides fought tooth and nail for second spot in the league last season, with South eventually edging out the Lions late in the season to claim it. As such, they do appear to be the most obvious candidates to try and dethrone the Strikers this year and South’s progression to the Summer Cup final, and eventual 2-1 defeat suggests they are the side currently nearest to the mark.
Coach Ken Morton has been developing a young core for a few seasons now and they continue to improve. The likes of Berezansky, Lancaster, Lakoseljac are all now experienced players in the league and South will be banking on them to take further strides this season. Canadian winger Isky Van Doorne returns to bolster their attack and Nick O’Connell is a strong addition between the sticks, but is there enough improvement in the squad to win the league? That’s the big question. Last season they had the better of the Strikers in a couple of their early meetings but couldn’t convert their chances and were made to pay for it. If they are to topple the Strikers they will need to be better in those decisive moments in 2023. This presents as a winnable game first up and is probably an optimal time to play the Lions given they are also under new management and are learning a new system under Freddy Hess.
Hess has big shoes to fill with Jez Kenth’s tenure winding up though he will have a fairly similar group of players to call on. They still have a pair of the best players in the competition in reigning league MVP Kobe Kemp and striker Noah Mies who loom as the key men once more. Their form in the Summer Cup would be some cause for concern with heavy defeats to both Knights and South Hobart, though a bounce-back win over the Clarence Zebras to round out their campaign at least sends them into the season on a positive note. Overreacting to Summer Cup results is generally ill-advised, but the margin of those losses suggests there is still an adjustment period at the Lions and are potentially vulnerable to a slow start. If they are off their game, this is not the opponent you want to be facing. It’s been a sleepy start to the pre-season for the Lions and they will need to snap to action if they are to cause an upset here.
Strikers Begin Title Defence at the Portress
Shifting up the highway and the defending Champion Devonport Strikers will open up their title defence on home soil as they entertain the Clarence Zebras at Valley Road on Saturday afternoon.
The Strikers cake-walked the title race last season, finishing 13 points clear on top and they have wasted no time getting started in 2023 by winning the Summer Cup. Everyone starts equal at the beginning of the league season on points, but there is no doubt the Strikers are the side to stop and the clear title favourites once again. They have retained the majority of their group from their dominant 2023 campaign and with Tom Ballantyne once again steering the ship, a large amount of continuity will serve them well and should assuage any fears of a slow start. This should be a fairly comfortable three points first up barring any major surprises.
The Clarence Zebras were on an island in sixth place last season, finishing 8 points ahead of Olympia below them, but 12 points adrift of City up in fifth. As such the challenge for Zebras this season is an obvious one, they need to bridge the gap more to the sides above them than the sides below manage to close it to them. There are reasons to think they could improve in 2023, mainly built off their better second half of the 2022 season. They became harder to play against and played some more pragmatic football under Brett Pullen after he took over, and he will lead them once again. Import signing Pritchard Adjei should bolster the defence and with the likes of Riley Dillon and Sam Tooze in attack, they have players who can score the goals to win games. A top four finish appears a tough task, but will undoubtedly be the aim for this group. They should definitely improve this season, but whether it’s enough to close such a gap remains to be seen.
United Facing Tough Opening Act
In the final game of the round, competition newcomers Launceston United face a tough first-up task, as they travel down to take on the Glenorchy Knights at the recently resurfaced KGV. The newly-laid pitch is looking the goods and the long overdue upgrades to the Light Towers will be on show here with the twilight kick-off.
The Knights took a step back in 2022, failing to defend their 2021 League title as they dropped to fourth place on the table. They just never got going and fell too far behind their rivals early in the title race. It was well short of the expectations for this playing group, though injuries certainly played a role in it. They should be in the mix at the top end of the table once again in 2023 as this remains a very talented squad and if Jack Turner can produce anything like he did last time he graced the NPL, then he could provide the goals they lacked last year. Their defence is littered with star names and keeping sides out shouldn’t be an issue, but as we saw in their 1-0 loss to South Hobart in the Summer Cup, scoring them might again prove their issue.
The game represents a real baptism of fire for United, who start with a trip to Devonport and home game against South Hobart to follow in the next fortnight. It’s a brutal start and represents quite the step up from the Northern Championship, which they finished second in last season. There will certainly be no easing into the NPL for United.
They are another club who bring an international flavour to the management side of things, with Chilean Fernando Munoz the man charged with leading the side into the Statewide competition.
Expectations will be muted for United, this season is far more about establishing themselves in the top flight and building for future success than fighting for finals. We’ve seen how they’ve gone about building themselves into a powerhouse in the Women’s Super League, and with the resources/facilities at their disposal, they are well-positioned to do likewise in the NPL if they can get that initial foothold. A win over Riverside Olympic in the Summer Cup was a promising start and import Striker David Owusu is one to keep an eye on in the season ahead. If they can win a few games and remain competitive in their first season that will be a success as they lay the foundation for future success. This presents as a difficult game first up, but I am looking forward to seeing how the new side acquits themselves.
McDonald’s NPL Tasmania
Round 1
Friday 17 March
Launceston City v Riverside Olympic, Buckby Motors Park, 8:15pm
Saturday 18 March
South Hobart v Kingborough Lions, Darcy Street, 2:00pm
Devonport Strikers v Clarence Zebras, Valley Road, 2:30pm
Glenorchy Knights v Launceston United, KGV, 4:30pm