National Premier League set to kick off in Victoria
South Melbourne will travel to the Olympic village to play rivals Heidelberg United for the inaugural match of the Victorian National Premier League. Heidelberg, who finished first in state league one will be looking for a solid start against the best known club, South Melbourne.
Fourteen teams will contest the first season of the NPL, with Ballarat and the Goulburn Valley representing country areas of the state. Whilst club expectations will vary across the board, teams will want to avoid a bottom two finishes and relegation to NPL1. The format is the traditional home and away fixture played over 26 rounds.
South Melbourne, Bentleigh, Northcote and the Melbourne Knights are all strong title contenders, but with the wealth of young talent on display across the league results will be hard earned and home ground advantage will be best maintained.
Relegation is a realistic prospect for most clubs so an important start to the season is necessary. Ballarat will be in the gun early with player manager James Robinson sidelined for the first six weeks of the season. This combined with not hosting a game until Round seven could see the Red Devils facing an uphill battle from the start. Their country counterpart Goulburn Valley will be looking towards new signing Kristian Sarkies who had stints with both Melbourne A-League clubs.
For those familiar to reading my predictions will be keen to stay away from them, but I’m predicting Chris Taylor’s South Melbourne to finish top after twenty six rounds of great football. Bentleigh, Melbourne Knights, Northcote and Dandenong will fill the remaining places in the top five. Relegation will be a flip of the coin and will come down to injury, player availability and a slice of luck throughout the season. Ballarat, Werribee, Pascoe Vale and Hume will be striving for a top ten finish. Keep an eye out for Oakleigh Cannons with Miron Blieberg at the helm, this team could be the surprise packet of the competition and will provide plenty of highlights.
Week One (Hardsy’s tips in bold)
Heidelberg United v South Melbourne – Thursday 7:15pm Olympic Village
Port Melbourne Sharks v Dandenong Thunder – Friday 8:30pm JL Murphy Reserve
Melbourne Knights v Northcote City – Friday 8:30pm Knights Stadium
Bentleigh Greens v Ballarat Red Devils – Saturday 7:00pm Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Goulburn Valley Suns v Oakleigh Cannons – Saturday 7:30pm McEwan Reserve
Hume City v Pascoe Vale – Sunday 3:00pm Broadmeadows Valley Park
Green Gully v Werribee City – Sunday 3:00pm Green Gully Reserve
If you want to write match reports from any of the state leagues please get in touch with us at ‘From The Stands’.
From The Stands has been nominated in the FFDU Awards in the following categories: Football Website of the Year, Football Podcast of the Year (Amateur), Young Writer of the Year (U25): Daniel Palmer and Chris Gouw and Twitter Character of the Year: @gligs10.
Click here to register your vote. We love the support you, the fans, have shown us.
Google+
