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Blacktown City, Sydney Olympic or Manly United for the 2022 NPL NSW Men’s Premiership?

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As the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition goes into its final round there are three teams in contention for the Premiership title.

Blacktown City, Sydney Olympic and Manly United all have a chance to get their hands on the silverware and here’s what needs to happen for them to secure the top prize.

 

Blacktown City

Blacktown City have the advantage heading into Round 22, with two points more than their competitors.

As they face up against Sydney Olympic, a win would see them take the easy route to glory as they would secure the Premiership.

If they come away with a draw, they have a much stronger goal difference of 20 that should keep them ahead of Manly United if the Northern Beaches outfit secure a win.

A loss would see them out of contention as Olympic would jump them on the ladder, leaving either Olympic and Manly as the winners.

 

Sydney Olympic

If there was a must-win game of the whole season, this is it for Olympic.

As the last winners of the Premiership amongst the top 3, Olympic would relish the opportunity to get another to add to their 2018 title, particularly among their loyal fans at Belmore Sportsground.

Olympic will need to secure a win over Blacktown City if they want the top honours – a draw won’t be enough.

Not only will they need to get the win against one of the league’s most dangerous sides, they will also need to hold onto a superior goal difference over Manly in case they also win their match, which would see them on even points.

 

Manly United

Manly United will have the tough situation of not knowing whether they win the Premiership until after the game.

The Northern Beaches boys need to win their match and hope for an Olympic win. They’ll need to score as many goals as possible to ensure they have a strong enough goal difference to get on top of Olympic

If there is a draw between Blacktown and Olympic, Manly have the uphill battle of scoring a huge number of goals to get in line with Blacktown’s goal difference which is currently double their own.

With Manly facing a hungry Rockdale side that will be fighting for finals their Premiership fight has the most hurdles, but it is still possible and will be an incredible feat if they can pull it off.

 

 

Round 21 NPL NSW Men’s ‘Team Of The Week’

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With one more NPL NSW Men’s match remaining the drama continues to unfold on the quest to see who will be crowned our Premiers, Finals Series sides as well as our ‘Team of the Year’ for 2022.

This round saw a few new faces enter the fold while some seasoned campaigners in Alec Urosevski and Roy O’Donovan grabbed mentions.

Youngsters Diego Bonilla, Kristian Santich, Lachlan Macdonald and Alex Robinson all featured in a huge weekend of action from our promising stars of the future while it was huge to see APIA back in it with Yianni Nicolaou and Themba Muata Marlow flying the flag.

Congrats to all players for their inclusions in this week’s Round 21 NPL NSW Men’s ‘Team of the Week’.

Round 20 NPL NSW Men’s ‘Team of the Week’

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With Premiership and Finals Series positions heating up with two matches remaining so is the race to be part of the 2022 NPL NSW Men’s ‘Team of the Year’.

In what was a cracking Round 20, a few new faces along with some familiar ones were present in what was a huge weekend of NPL NSW Men’s football action.

Leading the charge we had Sydney United 58 striker Kyle Cimenti come to life with a notable performance in the club’s 1-0 win over Sydney FC where the attacker grabbed a late winner.

Manly United’s Tom Fay had a match he won’t forget in a long time scoring a brace pushing his name in the 11 while Travis Major has simply been “The Man” of the moment since returning from overseas, has hit been in lethal form for Blacktown City.

We had some exciting mentions in midfield with Stallions’ Domenic Costanzo, Ilinden’s Peter Kekeris, Sydney Olympic’s Sammy McIllhatton and Manly’s Finn Ashton grab spots.

Nathan Dimou celebrated his second successive ‘Team of the Week’ mention while Sharks’ James  Baldacchino and Manly’s Jimmy Oates got in on the act also.

Finally, Blacktown City’s young gun keeper Alex Robinson starred and kept his team in the Premiership with a great display over the weekend at Seymour Shaw.

Congrats to all players for their inclusions in this week’s Round 20 NPL NSW Men’s ‘Team of the Week’.

Pavlesic playing for keeps at Sydney FC

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Sydney FC goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic has made a name for himself in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Competition as the custodian for the young Sky Blues in one of their most impressive NPL campaigns to date.

The 19-year-old made his A-League debut this year in the Sydney Derby after making his professional debut in the AFC Champions League in 2020.

Despite the taste of professional football, Pavlesic still has his feet planted firmly on the ground as part of the Under 20s outfit and is enjoying the 2022 campaign with his teammates.

“Collectively our boys have had a pretty good season, especially as we started off really strong,” Pavlesic explained.

“We hit a bit of a steady road in the middle when we hit five draws in a row.

“With the win on the weekend, hopefully we can get back to winning ways and end the season on a strong note and push for the finals and maybe cause a few upsets in the finals.”

Discussing the success his team has experienced this season, Pavlesic has attributed the chemistry of the team and the quality of coaching and support to their performance.

“I think what’s good is that we’ve been together for a lot of years now and I think all the boys have got that chemistry now that we didn’t have a few seasons back,” he said.

“We’ve all sort of just gelled together and everyone’s been playing NPL for a couple of seasons now and we’ve just all clicked in.”

After an incredible experience of making his A-League debut in the Sydney Derby, Pavlesic was elated to have the opportunity to develop with Sydney FC.

“You don’t get the opportunity to make your A-League debut often so I just wanted to go out there and enjoy it, especially being in the Sydney Derby,” he explained.

“I had the backing from my A-League coach, Steve Corica, my keeper coach, Matt Nash, and even the NPL boys and NPL coaches all sent me messages before and after the game.

“I had a lot of good support around the club and I just wanted to go out there and enjoy it and I found it really, really fun, it was just one of those days that I’ll never forget.

“Making your elite debut is just something every kid strives for and for me to do it on that occasion unexpectedly was just something I’ll never forget.”

Along with his A-League debut, Pavlesic has had the honour of playing for Australia in the Under 17s World Cup and playing for his club in the AFC Champions League.

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to play for my country at the Under 17s World Cup, and also the opportunity that Sydney FC has given me as well,” he said.

“I made my initial professional debut in the Asian Champions League at the back end of 2020 and that’s something that I’ll never forget.”

With some exceptional experiences at a young age, Pavlesic has plenty of time to excel in his football career and has high hopes of what he can achieve.

“I’m obviously still young and I want to take it step by step,” he explained.

“I’m enjoying my time now at Sydney and I want to continue to develop, hopefully continue to make more A-League appearances as the next season or two go by, but my ultimate goal is to be playing at a high level in Europe – that’s something I’ve always strived for as a kid.

“Sydney FC has taken us to the likes of Amsterdam and we got to go and experience playing in the Future Cup and we got to play against the likes of Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, PSG, the J-League All Stars side and Juventus.

“Playing against these types of players who have gone on to play in the first team for these clubs, and gone on to do bigger and better things, I’ve always strived to play alongside them so hopefully I’ll play in a top European competition one day.”

While his aspirations in professional football are high, Pavlesic has his eyes on the prize for the NPL NSW Men’s competition, hoping his side can take out the top prize in 2022.

“To make finals is the first goal,” he said.

“It’s a really tight competition this year and it’s really unpredictable – anyone can beat anyone on any given day.

“The first goal now is to make finals and hopefully go on to make the grand final and to win it is our ultimate goal.

“I think it would be surprising to a lot of people, but I think we’ll just show how good of a group we’ve got at the moment and the  quality we have and how well the club has done in giving us opportunities to go on and really establish ourselves.

“We want to show you know the whole country, not just NPL NSW, what the Sydney FC Academy can really do.”

Tomoki Wada Indonesia bound

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One of Rockdale Ilinden and the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s star Japanese imports Tomoki Wada has said farewell to his teammates this week after penning a deal with Indonesian Liga 1 side Persikabo 1973.

The 27-year-old, who also represented NSW in the 2020 State of Origin clash against Queensland at Parry Park, was a key player in Ilinden’s run into the 2020 NPL NSW Men’s Final against Sydney United 58.

“Whilst we are saddened to see Tomoki go, we wish him all the best as he embarks on this exciting next chapter of his football journey,” the club stated in its official press statement.

“Tomoki has been a revelation in the NPL NSW Mens competition.

“Whilst his creativity will be missed, the Club could not deny him the opportunity to pursue this chance in a full-time environment.

“All the best Tomoki from everyone at Rockdale.”