Ballarat City
Coach: Danny Gnjidic
2016 Finish: 6th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (4-1 loss to Altona Magic)
Summary: With James Robinson off to Queensland, it was former Moreland Zebras mentor Danny Gnjidic taking the helm, and his focus has been on squad retention, with key names Trigger, Karras, Salvatore, Romein (minus Aaron, who is replaced by 2m-tall Josh Dorron from Alice Springs), King, Swinton all still at the club. Meanwhile, youngster Brandon Lauton gets his chance at Victory. It’s a squad that can knock off any team in the West, but can it do it consistently?
Squad: Alex Antonelli, Carl Frankson, Charlie King, Daniel Tinker, David King, Dom Swinton, Ibrahum Ghulahmi, Isaac Ellis, Jake Francis, Josh De Voogel, Josh Dorron, Josh Romein, Liam Harding, Michael Mullins, Michael Trigger, Miles Baker, Nelson Salvatore, Pat Karras, Shaun Romein, Will Georgiou
Bendigo City
Coach: Srecko Baresic-Nikic
2016 Finish: 10th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (5-2 loss to Mooroolbark SC)
Summary: The task won’t get any easier to improve on last year’s bottom finish, especially with the departure of two of last year’s best players in Younan and McHeileh. But Srecko Baresic-Nikic has firmly entrusted locals and youth that may not have much previous NPL experience – a different direction to the same club that once had the likes of Slefendorfas, Blumgart, Slevin, Shaper, Mattei and Breeze on its books – but his commitment to the region may pay dividends.
Squad: Abraham Lokiru, Adam Tesfeye, Ahmed Badawy, Bosco Abbasmoi, Charlie Mccormick, Daniel Purdy, Donte Thomas, Irineu Cutrim Mota Junior, Isaac Commadeur, Jack Kelly, Jarrod Styles, Lachlan Beever, Matthew Sporle, Robert Munday, Sam Farr, Sam Mangelsdorf, Sam Scoble, Scott Dunn, Timo Schick, Vinicius Branco
Brunswick City
Coach: George Karkaletsis
2016 Finish: 5th in NPL2 East, FFA Cup Round Four (1-0 loss to Hume City)
Summary: George Karkaletsis came in from Clifton Hill last year, bringing a number of Clifton Hill players with him, and along with the backroom team helped transform Brunswick from cellar dwellers into a mid-table team (did that say more about the quality of SL1 or NPL2?). He’ll look to build on that momentum with key men retained – including Augello, Cunningham, Fox, Principato, Kanjo, Le Page, Turgut, and club golden boot Wright – and strengthening with the additions of Neales, McHeileh and Mattei. Dimi Vithoulkas however is one name that won’t be there after retiring.
Squad: Adam Wright, Ali Turgut, Andrew Le Page, Cameron Neales, Daniel Koutoulogenis, Dean Romas, Frank Serratore, George Mcheileh, Gregory Lascaris, Hayden Kanjo, Jason Principato, Juan Portillo, Kristian Grillo, Liam Newman, Matthew Augello, Matthew Murphy, Michael Cunningham, Nathan Fox, Peter Papadopoulos, Sebastian Mattei
Melbourne Victory
Coach: Gareth Naven
2016 Finish: 14th in NPL
Summary: It’s certainly not the halcyon days of promotion featuring the likes of Katebian, Deng, Glavan, Dover, Miskulin, Maclean, Duzel etc. Relegation in 2016 came following many of their departures, but also saw Seb Pasquali earn an Ajax gig. Some familiar faces (Howard, Nigro, Spinella) are still registered, but how will the rest of Gareth Naven’s crop perform this season in NPL2?
Squad: Aaron Anderson, Aleksandar Stanisavljevic, Andrew Visciglio, Benjamin Carrigan, Brady Quinn, Brandon Jansz, Brandon Lauton, Callum Goulding, Cameron McGilp, Christian Theoharous, George Howard, James Xydias, Jonathan Vakirtzis, Josh Hope, Joshua Kelic, Lucas Spinella, Matthew Hennessey, Nicholas Hatzigeorgiou, Nicholas Sette, Pierce Waring, Stefan Nigro, Stephen Hatzikourtis
Moreland City
Coach: Adrian Mathers
2016 Finish: 7th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (2-1 loss to Murray United)
Summary: Adrian Mathers takes another year at the helm and quickly secured the re-signing of the prolific Ukuno, alongside other core names from last year in Corey Thomas (Casey is still in Wales), Rixon, Kose, Paz, Sahin, McDowell, Kurucu to name a few. Defensively they’ve been bolstered with experienced centre-back Felix Rosman, former Manchester United youth Keil O’Brien, and youngster Tyler James, and further depth all over the park in Jay Kelly, Osei-Safo, Seeto, Sacco. City were in the promotion hunt in just their first year in NPL in 2015, and despite a few hurdles in 2016, they could be back in the upper echelons in 2017.
Squad: Apai Ukuno, Benjamin Osei-Safo, Corey Thomas, Felix Rosman, Finn Huzzey, Huw Porter, Ioannis Avramidis, Jacob Stenson, Jay Kelly, Jordan Seeto, Joshua Hanna, Keil O’Brien, Kieran Mcdowell, Lisandro Paz, Nejdet Sahin, Osman Kose, Sean Sacco, Stefan Wojcik, Trent Rixon, Tyler James
Moreland Zebras
Coach: Fausto de Amicis
2016 Finish: 5th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (1-0 loss to Geelong SC)
Summary: Many of the familiar faces are gone at the Zebras, both in coaching and playing ranks. Most interesting will be to see how Fausto de Amicis’ new strikeforce of Amir Osmancevic and Nic Niagioran compare to the Papdimitriou, Charalambous, Yousif trio of years gone by. And while the likes of Brad Murray, Milos Tosic, Rinor Muriqi and James Kelly are also gone, Nejc Kolman and Daniel Petrov remain, while a number of faces from Richmond also followed de Amicis to CB Smith Reserve.
Squad: Amir Osmancevic, Andre Jannese, Beau Summers, Daniel Marcolin, Daniel Petrov, Gai Gai, Jarrad Mezzadra, Javier Marangos, Joshua McMonagle-Ihasz, Lucas Ruffino, Mile Medjedovic, Mohamed Habib, Nejc Kolman, Nicolas Niagioran, Peter Deng, Regsan Watkins, Stefaan Sardelic, Tiziano Slongo, Vani Shamoon, Zak Brattan
Northcote City
Coach: Zeljko Kuzman
2016 Finish: 13th in NPL, FFA Cup Round Four (1-0 loss to St Albans Saints)
Summary: North Geelong bounced back up with a largely unchanged squad in 2016, will Northcote’s approach on the opposite end of the spectrum also work in 2017? Zeljko Kuzman has rung in the changes to try make that happen, building his own squad from scratch. Josh Knight will captain a club he hasn’t played a competitive game for, but he’s joined by some handy names in McMaster, Papadimitriou, Yousif, Sawan, Flynn, Maclean, etc etc. Quality names, many of whom have worked previously with Kuzman, will they gel successfully?
Squad: Aaron Turner, Alec Goodwin, Anthony Ramzy, Anthony Taranto, Baggio Yousif, Evan Panagopoulos, George Nanos, George Stavridis, Griffin McMaster, Jacob Papatheodorou, James Papadimitriou, John Maclean, Josh Knight, Liam Flynn, Matthew Whatley, Nathan Cook, Nicholas Bavcar, Noah Mihailidis, Peter Sawan, Tremayne Sadler
Sunshine George Cross
Coach: Tony Ciantar
2016 Finish: 9th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Five (6-1 loss to Port Melbourne Sharks)
Summary: The bad news for Sunshine is that the trio who led their mid-season revival in 2016 –Arredondo, Kitade and Gonzalez – are all gone, while Grossman has retired. The good news is Tony Cinatar has brought in some proven names: Devlin, Tsiakalakis, Younan, Yabio, and taken the notion of international signings by its literal meaning – Darryl Roach has caps for Montserrat and Jagajeet Shrestha is a Nepalese international. Their impact could go a long way in determining the club’s fortunes in 2017.
Squad: Adam Hodor, Adrian Logozzo, Barry Devlin, Brandon Scerri, Christopher Dib, Darryl Roach, David Younan, Dominic Fella, Faycal Bouzidi, George Tsiakalakis, Jagjeet Shrestha,James Micevski, Johnathon Brooks, Lachlan Grech, Liam O’Connell, Matthew Jones, Robert Santilli, Samuel McCall, Souheil Msahli, Tedros Yabio
Werribee City
Coach: Serge Sabbadini
2016 Finish: 8th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (3-0 loss to Dandenong Thunder)
Summary: They were the form side in the latter half of 2016, will they carry that form over in 2017? Goalscoring import Shaun Weaver is gone, while custodian Marko Stevanja and Bobby Vidanoski moved to the top tier with North Geelong. The goalkeeping situation took an interesting turn as Alex Baird departed to NSW on the eve of transfer deadline, replaced by Luke Gavalas. The in-form Jonathan Voulgaris is still there, joined by Moreland Zebras’ Brad Murray, while some well-regarded state league names also make the step up to NPL2 amongst other signings. Werribee might just make a play for the top-flight again.
Squad: Aki Machiyama, Angus Martin, Benjamin Mammone, Bradley Murray, Cameron Davies, Cameron Markie, Cameron Williams, Christian Rossi, Damien Peters, Darcey Den Ouden, Djordje Aleksic, Domenico Marafioti, Dylan Tate, Ibrahim Mohamed, Jonathan Voulgaris, Julien Cassano, Luke Gavalas, Maselas Lian Bawi Thang, Matko Budimir, Nemanja Govedarica, Robert Naumoski, Zachariah Ahmad
Whittlesea Ranges
Coach: Vinko Buljubasic
2016 Finish: 4th in NPL2 West, FFA Cup Round Four (3-0 loss to Heidelberg United)
Summary: Vinko Buljubasic’s squad came agonisingly close to promotion last year before just missing out. With that territory comes a lot of interest for its higher performing squad members, and goal machine Atilla Ofli is the biggest departure, to Hume City. Others to depart were Slefendorfas, Haegele, Cundari, Milicevic, Yabio and both goalkeepers Gallo and Koc. Conversano comes in from Pascoe Vale to prove himself in front of goal, and other signings include Frame, Talajic, Centofanti, Charalambous, Cassar and custodian Petrovski. There are also big wraps on Brazilian import Janiel Silva, who will play at the heart of defence and could be one of the NPL surprise packets after signing from Moreland United. Will Whittlesea go one better in 2017?
Squad: Adam Centofanti, Adam Mustedanagic, Anthony Cassar, Aydin Mustedanagic, Christopher Talajic, Daniel Peluso, Danny Charalambous, Janiel Silva, Jasdip Singh Dosanjh, Mario Piriano, Matthew Conversano, Naum Sekulovki, Nick Tzoulis, Pavle Durkic, Phil Petrovski, Rocco Luizzi, Ross Frame, Stefan Baricevic, Stefan Rankovic, Tommy Barforosh