For Mt Druitt Town Rangers defender Blake Thompson, the lockdown is the perfect opportunity to put in the extra effort to take his game to a new level.

After an impressive start to the NPL New South Wales Men’s season, Thompson and co showed the rest of the league what the Rangers were capable of doing.

“We had an unbelievable start,” he explained.

“I think that the boys that have come together to play this year are a really good group of boys.

“I think we have a good, good range of a few young boys that really aspire to get to a high level, a few boys, like myself and a few older boys, that have all played at a high level that they bring experience to the team.

“As football goes you can’t always continually win and we went through a bit of a rough patch, which I think was good – it tests your mentality.

“Just before COVID hit, we got a few good wins in a row and got back up the ladder so hopefully all the boys have been doing quite a bit of work in this lockdown individually so when the season starts again, we’re just firing like we were.”

The positive mindset of the experienced defender is proving invaluable as the Sydney lockdown continues to be extended with fitness and improvement at the forefront of his mind.

“I’ve been working pretty hard off the pitch to be fair, doing quite a lot of work by myself in the gym… it’s been really, really helping on the pitch.

“My body probably hasn’t felt any better than it has my entire career.

“Even when I was playing overseas, I probably wasn’t in the shape, or felt the shape, I am now so it’s been super, the body feels really good.

“I do four sessions by myself on the pitch, getting some good kilometres in the legs doing some beach runs and some grass sprints and kind of just keeping the legs at full fitness.

“I’m just yeah trying to do as much as I can to keep stimulated, I’m not one to kind of sit around the house it’s very hard for me to stay still there.

“It’s been a bit tough in that sense you can only do so much in one day but a lot of going to the beach, a lot of training, a lot of coffees – I’ve had that many coffees it’s ridiculous just to get myself out of the house.”

The tight-knit Mt Druitt group have been keeping spirits high with plenty of entertainment coming from the group chat.

“We have a WhatsApp group that goes off quite a lot.

“We’re very close and there is a lot of banter thrown about.

“In my session today, I just filmed about three minutes of it, and I’ll just send it in the group… I’ll get ripped by half the boys but it’s just banter.

“I think what’s been really good is everyone still has super, super high positive vibes, which I think you need.

“As a team sport, you really need to keep the positivity high, especially when you’re not seeing each other and you’re not playing which is essentially what we love to do, so I think that’s been a really good thing.

“There’s never really a day where we don’t hear from someone in the group, which is good.

“Even for the future, too, I think everyone feels really, really positive about these next five or six games, and we’re still in the FA Cup, which we feel super positive about too, so for the team, there’s a lot for us to still look forward to and I think that plays a big part as well.”

-By Madeline Riley

Mt Druitt Town Rangers were sitting rather pretty as this year’s National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition reached its midway point.

Eleven rounds in and fronting a peloton in touching distance of a lead pack occupied by Sydney United 58, Rockdale Ilinden and Blacktown City, you wouldn’t have found many complaints coming out of the Rangers’ spiritual home ground namely Popondetta Park.

Frustratingly, six rounds down track, they now find themselves tussling for the right to play in this year’s finals.

It would be fair to assume that the wheels have fallen off in Mt Druitt however, a charge into this season’s edition of the FFA Cup has seen the smiles return to all those involved with the club after a tough run of results.

For midfielder Jack Stewart, he admits that dropping points of late have hurt, although he believes if they can muster a run of victory’s when we say goodbye to lockdown, they can enter the finals as serious contenders.

“If you look at our results this year, you’ll find we’ve performed really well against those above us. If we can get into the finals, which I believe we can, we can go far and be a real dark horse.”

After gaining entry into the FFA Cup as a club for just the second time, Stewart was quick to find the silver lining from the current lockdown situation, thankful for being part of a club that he says is really there for one another.

“Qualifying for the cup was a major personal goal of mine this year. I want to go to the next level and play in that arena and competitions like this give you a chance to prove yourself.

“We want to play the best teams and go as far as we can so when lockdown came it was nice to have a break as we were about to head into a really busy period of games.

“Of course it still isn’t easy and many of us have jobs and families outside of playing but the club has been really supportive. We’ve been given programs and have trained together in very small groups where we can. The club is in constant contact, checking in on us to see how we’re doing which has been great.”

For an aspiring player like Stewart, chances such as those in the FFA Cup won’t come around often as we’ve seen in the past.

For the Western Sydney local, he is dreaming of coming up against the likes of Sydney FC or Western Sydney Wanderers at home, going up against some of the very best in the country.

“Drawing Sydney FC or the Wanderers at home would be great. I’m looking forward to the pressure of it all. Playing under those lights, against those players and hopefully showing that both I and the club can really compete.

“As I mentioned, I’m a part of a great club in Mt Druitt. We’ll stick together, be there for each and get through this. And once the time comes to play again, we’ll be ready to go as we’re eager to finish the season strong.”

-By Joseph Esposito