Englishman Luke Byles says National Premier League clubs endure the longest pre-season anywhere in the football world, just like their A-League counterparts — about three months long.

His Heidelberg United side usually trains three times a week, if not four depending on when its matches are. The players are required to look after their bodies both in structured recovery sessions and while away from the club.

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They do in depth analysis of opposition teams and coaches go to scout their upcoming opponents.

But while A-League players generally train in the morning and are at home at night, NPL players like those at Heidelberg most often run around on weeknights after a long day at work.

Byles, a junior coach and Heidelberg’s captain, said among his teammates are tilers, removalists, baristas, painters, hairdressers, car salesmen and full-time students.

And so Tuesday night’s FFA Cup clash with A-League side Perth Glory at Olympic Village in Heidelberg is that David versus Goliath proposition where the part-timers have their crack at the professionals in the sport’s great leveller — 90 minutes on the same pitch, 11 v 11.

With talk of the need for a second division, it will be clubs like Heidelberg — if not Heidelberg themselves, the current NPL Victoria ladder leader — that will be jostling for a place in the nationwide second tier competition if and when it comes to fruition.

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Heidelberg star Adrian Zahra, who has played at Melbourne Heart and Tuesday night’s opponent Perth, is adamant that plenty of his young teammates are more than capable of stepping up to the A-League level.

Again, like Byles, Zahra said the main difference between his current teammates and those with which he played with in his previous professional life is the gift of time.

“We’re playing 30-35 games a season and the scheduling is very tight,” Zahra said.

“It’s very professional in terms of the way we go about our training, the way our bodies are prepared and tactically it is as well.

“But I guess one of the main differences is that we need to find that time in between people working and not working.

“A lot of these young boys are putting in that extra work because they’ve got those aspirations of playing at the highest level they can.

“Realistically, good NPL teams can match it with A-League teams. And so then if individual players on those NPL teams get that extra time to train and play full-time, the sky is the limit for them.

“There are so many players out there who can go to the extra level with that little bit more investment of time in them.”

Heidelberg will have the chance to net some extra cash on Tuesday night, with the NAB Golden Goals program donating $2500 to grassroots clubs for every goal they score against A-League sides during the FFA Cup.

FFA Cup Heidelberg v Perth Glory: A-League team faces players who also have full-time jobs and that’s the only difference | Herald Sun

The reigning FFA Gold Medal winner had been sidelined with an ankle injury, but returned as an 88th-minute substitute in Hume’s 1-1 draw with Oakleigh.

The Hume skipper has been appointed coach until at least the end of the 2017 campaign and will steer the club through the knockout rounds of the national competition.

Hegarty said he would make a decision on whether to make his return to the starting side against Bentleigh next Wednesday after a friendly against Melbourne City on tomorrow night.

“There will be a few of us play that game and see how we go,” Hegarty said.

“Just to give myself (time and) Kris Kioussis, coming back from injury as well.

“We will give them a run out and a couple of guys who need game time as well.

“We will get a few people through some minutes to give ourselves a fully fit and available squad for the Bentleigh game.”

Hegarty said he expected to have at least 16 players to choose from as the club prepares to host NPL top flight rival Bentleigh in the Round of 32.

Hume is out of contention for NPL finals, sitting six points behind Avondale FC with two rounds to play.

The club will be aiming to replicate its 2015 FFA Cup run, when it progressed to the semi-final stage before being bundled out by Melbourne Victory.

“Over the last four or five weeks, the 13-14 players that have been involved have been doing fantastically well,” Hegarty said.

“They have been doing brilliantly so they should probably be given the chance to play.

“Me and the staff will put a plan together for how we are going to tackle Bentleigh.

“Whether that includes myself of Kris, that is something that will be decided further down the line.”

Hume City’s next National Premier League fixture is on Saturday, August 12 against Green Gully.

The club’s FFA Cup match kicks off at 7.30pm on Wednesday, August 9, at Broadmeadows Valley Park.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north-west/sport/hume-city-captain-nick-hegarty-out-to-prove-fitness-before-ffa-cup-round-of-32-clash-with-bentleigh-greens/news-story/7f479478368a9110364f8fa32644b505

Sydney FC’s captain Alex Brosque is the only major doubt among the Sky Blues, with the birth of his third child yesterday likely to keep him in the harbour city.

More than 4000 fans are expected to fill Darwin Football Stadium at Marrara for Territory soccer’s third attempt at advancing past the national competition’s Round of 32.

Darwin Olympic in 2015 and the Rovers last year were on the wrong end of some big losses to interstate clubs.

“This is a massive opportunity for us to highlight the best of our game,’’ Stalder told the NT News last night.

“You always want to test yourself against the best and we’ve got the very best up here this week.’’

“When you have the national champions in Darwin against our local tradies who have done it hard, it’s a great result for football.

“It also gives us a chance to profile these superstars from Sydney FC among our junior players, those weekend warriors who play our game with all their heart and soul.’’ More than 120 children will fill various roles in tomorrow night’s game, including playing Mini Roos games at halftime, ball persons and mascots.

“Basically we want to share this experience among as many of our football family up here in the NT as possible,’’ Stalder said.

“On the pitch it should be a great occasion. Sydney is bringing up a very strong side with their coach (Graham Arnold) indicating he wants to put some time into the legs of his marquee players.

Stalder has guaranteed the Sky Blues a sublime playing surface, unlike many of the grounds they play on through the A-League season.

“The surface at Darwin Football Stadium is as good as anywhere,’’ he said. “It’s a credit to our groundsman who has done a fantastic job getting it up to scratch.’’

Meanwhile, Stalder has advised football fans to book their tickets online or purchase them at the Football Federation’s head office at the Italian Club at Marrara to avoid long queues at the gate.

Fans can also save money by pre-purchasing up until 1pm today, with savings of up to 30 per cent for a family grandstand pass – $65 down to $52.

Individual grandstand tickets can be purchased for $20 online or over the counter.

FFA Cup: Darwin Rovers v Sydney FC clash to help grow game in Territory | NT News

United is flying this season, locked in a titanic struggle with longtime rival South Melbourne for NPLV honours while a fortnight ago it claimed its very first Dockerty Cup after a penalty shootout thriller against the Bentleigh Greens.

Two years ago, in front of 11,000 fans, Heidelberg entertained Melbourne City in the quarter-finals of the cup, losing 5-0. A-League opposition will again be challenging, but Katsakis said his team has quite few cards falling in its favour.

“They’re going to fly, I would imagine overnight, and they’re in the very early stages of their pre-season,” he said. “I’m hoping they can’t adjust to these conditions and, hopefully, we can get a better start than that game against Melbourne City.

“They’re used to a better pitch, probably used to a ground not so open and enclosed to some degree. It’s definitely not going to suit them, we know our pitch like the back of our hands. So, hopefully, that plays some sort of a significant role.”

Katsakis said he sees advantages and disadvantages in the A-League and NPL not being played at the same time and feels momentum could well favour Heidelberg.

“We just fulfilled our Dockerty Cup commitments, we’re striving for top spot (NPLV), we’re in a comfortable position at the moment and we want to retain that,” he said.

“We’ve got six games in the matter of five weeks, we’re going to have to rotate correctly, freshen up bodies and definitely our conditioning is going to come to a test.”

Katsakis said Heidelberg players will not be getting carried away with the strength of the opposition and added interest in the game.

“I’m an experienced campaigner, I’ve been going for too long,” he said. “We’re going to treat this as just another game and we don’t want to get over confident or feel underdogs, I think it’s very important.

“We need to go out there and play to our strengths and not worry so much about what their strengths are and, hopefully, we can expose some of their weaknesses during the game.”

What: FFA Cup round of 32

Who: Heidelberg United v Perth Glory

Where: Olympic Village (Catalina St, Heidelberg Heights)

When: Tuesday, August 1 (7.30pm kick-off)

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