Cholakian chasing Championship success
Rockdale Ilinden and Brendan Cholakian will be looking to secure a historic double on Saturday evening, with the aim of adding a Grand Final win to the Premiership they’ve secured in 2024.
Cholakian has been crucial to Rockdale’s attacking output and style of play with his dribbling ability and creative passing, able to receive and hold the ball all over the field and play a range of passes to create chances for his side.
The attacking midfielder was crucial for Rockdale in their Semi-final against Sydney United 58, threatening with his movement, sharp shots, and technique.
Reflecting on the match, Cholakian said, “It was a really tough game in some tough conditions.
“Credit to United 58, they made it difficult for us, but we had a lot of confidence in the squad coming into the match that we’d get the job done.
“It was a really good feeling to come from behind and secure a pretty emphatic win in the end.”
It was a deserved conclusion for the Premiers, who once more demonstrated their quality, determination and mental resilience; three key reasons why they finished first on the ladder.
Heading into the Grand Final, Cholakian believes that their season will spur them on, rather than hinder them as they look to turn a stellar campaign into NPL Men’s NSW history.
“I don’t think we’re feeling nervous at all, I think it’s actually a positive that we’re playing such a good brand of football and that we’ve been dominant over the year,” he said.
“That’s filling us with confidence in comparison to adding any nerves.
“We believe that if we go and play our best brand of football, we can beat any team and that’s what we’re going to be focus on going into Saturday.”
Rockdale will be taking on their bogey team of the campaign, with Marconi being the only NPL Men’s NSW side they have failed to beat so far in 2024.
There was also their infamous 9-0 defeat to Marconi, but for Cholakian and Rockdale, they believe and know they wlil have what it takes to get the job done at CommBank Stadium in the Grand Final.
“What we’ve sort of been focusing on all year is not playing the opponent, not playing the scoreline, not playing the time on the clock but just sticking to our principles,” said Cholakian.
“Whether they’ve beaten us this year or haven’t beaten us, it doesn’t change our approach.
“I know the boys are really excited to be playing Marconi again because we’ve been proving a lot of people wrong this season and I think this is another opportunity to do that again.”
Rockdale Ilinden will be looking to add another piece of silverware to their cabinet after breaking their 40 year drought, and for Cholakian, the Championship would be just reward for the effort his side has put in over a memorable campaign.
“We’ve got an extremely special group and we’ve already brought a trophy to the club this year,” he said.
“As I’ve said to the boys throughout the course of the season, you can’t take these opportunities for granted.
“When you’ve got such a special group of players and a team morale as strong as ours, it’s an opportunity you don’t want to pass up.
“We’ve got a chance to win the double here, and not only would it mean the world to the club, but to this group of players that have been working so hard over the course of the year, it would just be the due reward that I feel like we’ve earnt.
“We want to finish off the season with another trophy and another win.”
Tickets for the NPL NSW Women’s and Men’s double header Grand Final are currently on sale here, while the match will be broadcast live and free on Football NSW’s YouTube channel, with commentary from Tony Tannous and Alex Molchanoff.
Match details:
Teams: Rockdale Ilinden FC vs Marconi Stallions FC
Date: Saturday 7 September
Venue: CommBank Stadium
Time: 6:00pm