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Rangers’ star Jack Stewart tackles lockdown and targets FFA Cup glory

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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 

Kmet Keeping Busy During Tough Lockdown Times

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With a fighting mentality instilled in them by coach Adam Griffiths, the Northern Beaches side has been a force to be reckoned with throughout the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 2021 season, and Luca Kmet has been instrumental in their efforts.

Despite being disappointed that the stay-at-home restrictions have halted his team’s fight for finals football, Kmet is doing his best to keep a positive mindset and stay occupied during the lockdown, using the strength and conditioning plan provided by Manly United as a good chance to keep a clear mind.

“It can be a pretty difficult time, so just trying to keep busy and occupied… getting to the park and doing some running is a good start because it’s going to be hard just staying at home all day,” he said.

“We got a program from the strength and conditioning staff, and it just involves a bit of running and some ball work at the park. It doesn’t compare to match fitness, which is obviously the best type of fitness you can get, but it’s that type of running and time trial stuff that will keep us ticking over for this period.”

Touching on the importance of having a strong support system around you during tough times, Kmet emphasised the importance of keeping in touch with friends and family during the lockdown.

“I’ve got my brother back from America on his summer break, so I’ll probably get to spend a bit more time with him,” he explained.

“It’s hard to interact with people face-to-face, but technology is a pretty good thing so I’m getting calls on with my mates and there’s always that type of thing, you have text messages and can catch up with them over the phone and see how they’re all going and that type of stuff.

“I think that’s pretty important, keeping in contact with people so that’s a pretty good start.”

While he’s not able to get on to the pitch himself, he’s still filling his time with the world game, getting up early in the morning to watch the Euro 2020 tournament.

“I watched the Italy game at 5.00am, I woke up for that, so that was a good game and a good result for the Italians. Definitely getting up to watch those games now because I don’t have too many more commitments during the day.”

While the Euros are filling the football-shaped hole missing in his life, the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition can’t return soon enough.

“Hopefully it [the lockdown] doesn’t last for too long, only two weeks for now, so hopefully we can get back into football as soon as possible.”

“For us as a squad at Manly, we’ve sort of shown everyone that we’re definitely finals contenders and we can actually win the comp, so I think when we get back playing, we’re going to pick back up where we left off I guess and push for finals football.

“We’ve got a good opportunity to push higher up on the ladder and get into finals football and from the start of the season we knew we were capable of being able to do that too, so the last few games going into the finals we definitely want to push for a finals spot, and I think we can win it too.”

-By Madeline Riley

Chipping Away – Chris Lindsay’s Lockdown Survival Kit

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As we enter the beginnings of a two week Greater Sydney lockdown, Sutherland Sharks Chris Lindsay will turn to the golf course and the new cat as a way to pass the time. We were lucky enough to chat to Chris over the phone this week to chat about lockdown and the season so far.

It would be easy, if not understandable, for one to look at this years National Premier League NSW Men’s top tier competition and make rash assumptions about the Sutherland Sharks and their position on the ladder. However, many keen followers would be quick to make note of the youth the side possesses and how on more than one occasion this season, they have played brilliantly with the ball not bouncing their way when it matters most.

And Chris Lindsay for one, would agree.

For Chris, in the midst of just his second in the top division, he admits that making the jump has been a big learning curve.

“I felt that my time spent under Joe Haywood in the NPL 2 tactically prepared me for the jump and I was confident that my ability would allow me to be competitive each week, however I really had to work on my fitness for this level.

“Along with that, you’re definitely coming up against more individually brilliant players every week but that’s how it should be in the top division, which is a challenge I love.”

As an older head in what is a young Sutherland outfit, Chris feels that this season has been all about the team coming together and gaining experience. He acknowledges some of the great individual talent the team has on offer and believes that off the back of lockdown, they can finish the season strong.

“We’ve set ourselves the target of winning every game when we come back from the break. If we can finish the season on a high and climb higher up the ladder we’ll put ourselves in a position where competing for the finals should be a reasonable goal.

“We’ve had some great performances of late and were unlucky not to take points off Blacktown City in our last match. It’s been bad timing with the lockdown, but the gaffer has sorted the team with individual training programs so we’ll be ready to fire when we’re allowed back on the pitch.”

For Chris, he’s never taken life too seriously. It what will be a difficult time for us all, he believes it’s good to change things up, use the time at home to be around loved ones and in his case, spend every minute he can away from training working on his golf and relaxing with his Fiancé and cat.

“Yuki (the cat) has been a new addition to the household and one I purchased for my fiancé recently. I I’m sure she wants me home as much as possible but I really enjoy my golf and my chipping needs some work so I can carry on wiping the floor with my mates on the course.

“However, If I’m honest, I will really miss being around the boys and the football pitch. Growing up back home in Cambridge football’s been in my life since day one. I get a real buzz being out on the pitch and around the club.

“They’ve been fantastic to me since I made the move last year and on the pitch I really feel we can become a contending team. In tough times like these, It’s great to have the club there and the extended football family.

“I can’t wait to get back at it with the boys although they probably won’t enjoy it when I’m singing about England bringing home the Euros.”

Football’s coming home? Lindsay is hoping so.

-By Joseph Esposito 

Team Mentality the Key for Patrick Antelmi

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As the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition takes a break to comply with the New South Wales government stay-at-home orders, it’s basically business as usual for the league’s leading goal-scorer Patrick Antelmi, just without the goals.

Speaking about the season so far for Sydney United 58, Antlemi explained that while he is happy with their performance in 2021, he thinks they should be comfortably sitting at the top of the table, surprisingly taking a lot of the blame for not seizing every opportunity for points, even after netting 14 goals so far this season.

Despite leading the race for the golden boot, Antelmi has an incredible team-first attitude that is surely part of the reason the Sydney United outfit have been so strong across the entire field this season.

“This year I’m having a lot of fun and enjoying myself,” he explained.

“A few games haven’t gone our way and there were a few games when we didn’t bury our chances when we should have, which is partly my fault.”

“As a team, I can’t fault the boys at all, all of them put in 110 per cent. The best thing is the change room environment that we have… honestly without them I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing”

While grateful for continuing to work through the restrictions, the Sydney United striker was disappointed that the timing fractured the momentum his team were building heading into finals football, however, he highlighted that there are more important things than football during these challenging times.

“Of course, it’s quite annoying that football has to be on a pause at the moment, but I know that these two weeks are probably the only two weeks that we have to wait until we get back,” he said.

“I think outside of football is more important in terms of mindset and mental health…I think if I was struggling it would be different.”

“I used to go through tough times and think that you just have to suck it up and keep going, to a certain degree that’s true but in other aspects, it’s where you need to go find help. You have to go speak to people that are the closest to you, so whether that’s family, whether that’s one of your best mates, just pick up the phone and say ‘hey, I need to have a chat.’”

“With mental health, us athletes and coaches, the whole league, we’re quite blessed to be in a football community where everyone knows everyone, everyone is quite close and if there are people who are struggling you can just call someone in your football team, your coach or whoever it is.

“It’s just a matter of, I guess, putting your pride down and to stop thinking that you can do it by yourself because sometimes you just can’t, especially when the load is quite heavy.

“Honestly, the best thing would be just reaching out to loved ones or people who are close to you, and if you can’t go to them then turn to the people you share the dressing room with.”

Looking forward to the remainder of the season post-lockdown, Antlemi has high ambitions for his team, but more importantly for the tight-knit club.

“If you’re not part of the Club I don’t think you’ll really understand how much the community has an impact on the Club and makes it more of a family than anything else, so that’s the biggest thing, obviously bringing back a title with the boys.

“If I do finish up being top goal scorer that’s just a bonus really because at the end of the day if the boys aren’t doing their job starting from the keeper, the ball doesn’t get to me, so I have to give a lot of credit to the boys that keep clean sheets, and the midfielders that do all the hard work, and then, of course, I’ve got my striker partner Chris Payne who has been setting me up quite a bit this year.”

-By Madeline Riley

APIA part company with Paul Dee

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National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s club APIA Leichhardt FC and Head Coach Paul Dee have mutually agreed that Paul will step down from his coaching role for the rest of the 2021 season.

Paul has guided the club to the FFA Cup Round of 32, a Waratah Cup Elimination Semi-Final and contention for the NPL NSW Men’s Finals Series.

“We thank Paul for his commitment, hard work and dedication this season,” APIA Leichhardt FC said in its official club statement.

The club has appointed former player and coach Danial Cummins, who guided the club to an NPL NSW Men’s Premiership in 2017, to take control of the squad till the end of the NPL NSW Men’s season.

Cummins’ first assignment is the 2021 Waratah Cup Elimination Final where APIA face the Wollongong Wolves at Macedonia Park tonight with kick-off set for 7:30pm. The match will be shown LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on Football NSW’s Facebook and YouTube page.