Image: Smile for Peter
When Nick Stamatiou walked out onto the pristine Jack Edwards Reserve playing surface for Kingston City’s Round One fixture against rivals Oakleigh Cannons, it had been a long time between drinks for club and player alike.
His last top-flight game came nearly a decade ago when the then 20-year-old featured in City’s 2-0 defeat away to South Melbourne in September 2007, which confirmed their relegation from the VPL.
Back then his coach Nick Tolios was a teammate, with Stamatiou the emerging youngster for Leonidas which had won promotion to the top-flight in 2006 and enjoyed a two-year spell in the VPL.
Expected to battle against the drop, the young Kingston side has shown plenty of promise and potential in their opening two matches of the campaign having been involved in two highly entertaining draws against more illustrious Cannons and Green Gully.
“I think it’s been a pretty good start for us. If you had seen the fixture when it first came out at the start of the year I think we would’ve have taken two points from two games,” Stamatiou said.
“But in saying that, the way both games unfolded we are probably a little bit disappointed not to have picked up a point in at least one of the games. We’ve had ample opportunities in both games to get the win but over to next week,” he added.
The 29-year-old spent his junior career at the Clayton South-based side before making his senior breakthrough at a time when players such as Michael Curcija, Joe Spiteri, Alex Kiratzoglou, Marcus Stergiopoulos and Michael Turnbull called The Grange Reserve home.
“When I was last playing top-flight football there were a lot of ex-NSL players who were technically very good, a little bit older so the game wasn’t at the fastest pace.”
“These days there are a lot more athletes, so the games are much quicker and fast-paced but less of a technical-style possession game.”
Relegation in 2007 culminated in a slide down the State Leagues, with City experiencing two consecutive relegations and landing in the fourth tier of Victorian football in 2010.
Given the turbulence of that period, Stamatiou admits he did not believe neither himself nor the club would again feature in the top-flight but cites Leonidas’ entry into the NPL as being a catalyst for the rise up the divisions for both player and club alike.
“Definitely not. About five, six years ago I was playing State League Three with Kingston but then the club was accepted into the NPL and got a bit more professional and regained ambition.”
“However, I never thought I’d be playing in the top level again since I was about 19, 20 years old, so exciting times ahead,” said the 29-year-old.
The central midfielder has spent all but two years of his career at Kingston, with short spells at Bentleigh Greens and Malvern City in State League One preceding his return to City in 2011.
Having made nearly 200 league appearances for his childhood club, Stamatiou has captained City in the NPL2 era and has amassed 83 league games in Kingston colours since 2014, crediting the long, hard pre-seasons for maintaining his peak fitness over the subsequent few years.
‘Right now I feel the fittest I have been in a long time after getting three or four really strong pre-seasons under my belt. I’m feeling really good at the moment and am feeling up to the pace of the game so it’s good.”
With Stamatiou set to turn 30 this year, he knows coach Nick Tolios is counting on his experience this term to guide a number of young players through the grit and grind of the season.
“We’re pretty much a young team and there is no player over 30 years old. It is up to not only myself but the other experienced boys to show the way and do all the right things and hopefully they can follow in our footsteps.”