By Dan De Nardi for Football NSW
The 2014 hummel F-League Mens Competition title is for Dural Warriors to give up as they took up a lethal position at the top of the table heading into the final two weekends of action.
Dural Warriors’ eight-game winning streak to start the season has them just ahead of East Coast Heat (21), Sydney Scorpions (19), Vic Vipers (16), St Albans Strikers (16) and Boomerangs FS (15) – and all the chasers have played more games to give Warriors a commanding advantage.
Having said that, the 2012 champions play Boomerangs FS this weekend and face last year’s winners Vic Vipers twice and cross-town rivals Sydney Scorpions in a testing run home – fixtures that have big implications on the final standings.
In fact nothing’s for certain in the closest top-four face in hummel F-League history as the top-six teams line-up in major match-ups in the remaining rounds – a delicious ten top-six clashes remain to be played.
As well as the positional tension, this year’s contest has featured the highest excitement levels of all the hummel F-League years (the 200th men’s match played last week between East Coast Heat and St Albans Strikers) and an exhilarating 9.2 goals per game exceeds 2013 (9.0), 2012 (8.6) and 2011 (8.1).
The average winning margin also underlines the closing gap in this year’s mix. The current 3.3 winning-goal standard (average margin of results) is markedly closer than 2013 (4.3) and 2012 (3.9), but well short of the tight 2.3 highlighted in the inaugural 2011 hummel F-League season.
In other stats, Dural Warriors are two results short of their 2012 record of 12 unbeaten games, and East Coast Heat is two new scorers away from establishing a new hummel F-League high – they’ve found 15 this season; Dural Warriors (2013), Sydney Scorpions (2013) and Dural Warriors (2012) all fielded 16 different strikers.
With all the numbers crunched, Dural Warriors coach Rob Varela knew the premiership was there’s to lose. “The ball’s in our court, but we still need to get the results and get on with it,” he said.
“We’re playing alright; we still have to get a team together for each weekend… but I think it’s a better competition this time around: St Albans have been better than previous years, East Coast are more consistent, Boomerangs are there again, and there’s a lot of good, young guys coming through the Scorpions, and that means we haven’t got the job done yet.”
Second-placed Heat coach Simon Keith agreed it had been a warm winter but felt the real measure would come next year with another national league season under their belt.
“Jamie [Amedolia], Peter [Spathis] and myself got together and talked about what we wanted to achieve and we believed a mix of young kids with some older guys would allow us to mould together a squad for the future and get them playing better Futsal,” he said.
“We’re getting better with each game and better as a squad. We want to qualify for the semis but the long-term view is to keep the squad together and develop them, so while the remaining games are important and you want to win, ultimately what we want to achieve is for the next few years to show. Over time East Coast will achieve their ultimate goal of getting into the AFC Futsal Club Championship.
Obviously we’re a little off winning this year’s premiership but we also want to give our players the opportunity of representing the national team and think we’re doing a good job of exposing them to that.
There is definitely a way past Dural; obviously they’re a strong side, but you have to bring your best game every time you play if you want to win the title.”
Vipers coach Milton Sakkos said his side was again well poised to strike late, they lost just one of their 13 games on the way to last year’s premiership-championship double.
“Our target was always to be around the top-two positions and see what happens from there and if things go according to plan we should be where we planned to be,” he said.
“This home-and-away system is perfect and the strong teams have been very similar over the past few years. It’s always hard to adjust to newer teams coming into it, but having a clear schedule makes the season a more strategic proposition.
“We’re still a little way off where the league should be, but we’re not far off, and it’s only a matter of time where we get into a settled league and that can only help in recruitment over the long-term. A good coaching structure and club plan is the most important thing, but it will always come down to consistency and putting in, in every individual game.”
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins said his club had put a nightmare four-game losing run behind them. “We’ve had a bit of a horror run due to injuries,” he said. “[Daniel] Bennett’s ankle hasn’t been right since the Brisbane game, Michael Reeve (ankle) and Trent Flannigan (heel) are also injured; but we’ve looked at the numbers and have to win three of the next four to make the finals.”
“Obviously Dural is the team to beat but the other three places are certainly achievable. We’ve got Daniel Fulton back and Robbie Cattanach has come out of retirement to put some depth on the list; ideally we’d like to finish second or third but six teams are still in it…”
St Albans coach Robert Lakovski is certainly optimistic. “If you’re a betting man you might overlook us because we’ve got tough games against Scorpions and Dural; but we’re close to a full strength squad for the first time this season and, speaking to the boys, they’re very confident of definitely picking up at least one win. If results go our way and we make the finals we feel we can beat any team on the day,” he said.
“[In regards to this season’s scheduling] It’s interesting to hear from people who think they really like previous models where you go to a central venue, but I prefer this home and away model; it makes more sense. If we can stick with similar fixtures and get the schedule out early so clubs can really plan, it’ll go a long way to making it easier for everyone.”
At the other end of the ladder South Brisbane still have plenty to play for. No team’s gone win-less nor conceded 100 goals in the hummel F-League and the Queenslander’s unenviable mark of 10 straight losses and 76 goals leaked with four games left suggests they may find it difficult to not make history. Capital FC sits just four points above them… but not beyond them.
There’s no doubting South Brisbane’s potential as a national identity and club coach Justin Morrison (in charge of the women’s side) understands the long-term belief. “[Men’s coach Amorim] Felipe’s philosophy is to get guys committed to the squad and training together for several seasons,” he said.
“We knew it would be a tough year, but we’re around for the future. There’s been some big scores as well as some close ones, and that’s purely down to a lack of experience… but now we’ve got a home and away series it’s been easier trying to promote the games and attract interest in the club, and this will work out better in developing the squad.”
Individually it’s very tight in the 2014 Golden Boot race with Jose Portillo (St Albans Strikers) the pacesetter on 16 goals, a couple strikes in front of Mark Symington (Sydney Scorpions) with Fernando De Moraes (Vic Vipers) one further back. Daniel Bennett (Boomerangs FS) and Daniel Martinez (Sydney Scorpions) both have 11 goals, Chris Zeballos (East Coast Heat) and Jarrod Basger (Dural Warriors) 10 each, Shervin Adeli (Sydney Scorpions) and Michael Rinaudo (Capital FC) nine.
There’s been 97 different scorers in this season’s F-League.
Veteran Symington is also just two hat-tricks shy of Basger’s high-five for Dural Warriors in 2012, while De Moraes and Portillo have accumulated five braces for the winter, two less than Daniel Fulton’s magnificent seven for Boomerangs FS in 2012.
-By Dan De Nardi