THE SEASON STARTS NOW!
25.2.2011

The smoke and mirrors of pre-season football have been put away as the 2011 Premier League season bursts into life this weekend. The pick of the action is the local derby between Stirling Lions and a new-look Balcatta at Macedonia Park (3.00pm) on Sunday. "Balcatta have recruited really well over the break and have put together a strong team. The game will be a tight contest, the supporters will be entertained for the full 90 minutes,” Stirling coach Paul Lincoln said. “We want to make the Lion’s Den a fortress this season so we need to ensure we get off to a good start.”

There’s been a total overhaul of the Balcatta squad under new boss Michael Roki, who is looking forward to the season proper. “The Lions are always a difficult opponent and our new squad is still in the early stages of gelling, which is not ideal. All excuses aside, we hope to set some standards for ourselves from Round One and the three points will be enthusiastically chased,” Roki said. “I’m sure Paul Lincoln will have his team well drilled and the pressure will be on us to deliver a knockout blow if we are up to it.”

The remainder of the round is played on Saturday, starting with Sorrento and Western Knghts at Percy Doyle Reserve (3.00pm). Gulls coach Paul Price left Nash Field in controversial circumstances last season and he’d love nothing more than to get one over his former club. Adam Luca and David Price have been looking good in midfield, while Jamie Harnwell brings a wealth of experience to Sorrento’s backline. The Knights have won on three of their last four visits to Sorrento and for that trend to continue captain David Annall, Glen Thomas and Branimir Mikulic need to be on top of their games.

Newly crowned Night Series champions Floreat Athena head south to Dalmatinac Park where they take on Cockburn City (3.00pm). Liam Boland had no problems finding the net in pre-season and his partnership with veteran Garin Collins is important to a Floreat line-up missing goalkeeper Alex Dunn and James Isaia due to injury. One-time New Zealand international Adrian Webster and 2010 Gold Medal winner Marc Anthony will be pulling out all the stops in midfield to provide Johny Mirco as many opportunities as possible to score against his former club.

Inglewood United have home ground advantage over ECU Joondalup (3.00pm) in what’s shaping to be an intriguing contest. The home side picked up David McNally, Brendan Craig, James Sammut and Ndumba Makeche over the summer and each will need to be firing if Inglewood is to get anything out of the afternoon. Joondalup will be one of the teams to watch in 2011, Oliver McGee and Ross Edwards provide the team a solid defensive foundation with the developing partnership between John Thornley and Jake Benson-Cooper likely to produce a good number of goals over the coming months.

Scott Miller’s first game in charge of Armadale is against newly promoted Bayswater City at Alfred Skeet Oval. Miller, who took over as coach from Brad Hassell a couple of weeks back, will be tempted to bring attack-minded pair Craig Young and Anthony Campbell into his first eleven with Steve McDonald and Cyril Sharrock the key figures in defence. Damian Catalano, Anthony McStea, Gustavo Marulanda and goalkeeper Gianni Papalia have big roles to play as Bayswater embark on their first season in the top flight since 2006.

There’ll also be new faces in charge when Perth SC and Mandurah City meet under lights at Dorrien Gardens (6.30pm). Ronnie Campbell was pleased with Perth’s pre-season efforts and will be pushing his side to open the home and away series with a bang. Adam Bachiller has slotted neatly into the defence while the return from long-term injury of Greg Sharland and Robert Sciascia provides the Blues options in the final third. Mandurah have never won a league game at Perth and recently appointed coach Mike Brazil will need big efforts from Andy Brown, newcomer Matt Stares and Ivan Zuvela.

All credit to http://footballwa.net



With the introduction of the WA NTC team into the Premier League and a bye in place (NTC get it this week) there will be a 2-down, 1-up promotion/relegation system for this year. As NTC can't be relegated as none of their matches are for points, there might be a few nervous fans come second half of the season...

Edited by f1dave: 26/2/2011 02:07:59 AM

With the introduction of the WA NTC team into the Premier League and a bye in place (NTC get it this week) there will be a 2-down, 1-up promotion/relegation system for this year. As NTC can't be relegated as none of their matches are for points, there might be a few nervous fans come second half of the season...

Edited by f1dave: 26/2/2011 02:07:59 AM

So what is the point of the NTC?
Where do they draw their player from?
I've never heard of any league which contains a team whose matches are all "friendlies" and they can't get relegated.