Following a preliminary final loss at the hands of South Melbourne, Green Gully is looking to go a step further this year and claim their first NPL Championships since 2011.
The Cavaliers finished last season in fourth spot with 14 wins from 26 matches, with the side's biggest wins coming in round one against eventual Champions Oakleigh Cannons (1-0) and in round 11 when they convincely defeated Heidelberg 4-0.
Head Coach Stephen Downes said the pre-season has gone “really well” for his side.
“There have been a lot of changes similar to last year which has its challenges, but challenges are good, and every one of us going in the right direction to push for another positive season.
“We finished fourth last year and in 2019, but we are looking to go further than that, last year was a positive year but not a successful year.
“We should be challenging for titles, and we want to be challenging for silverware this year.”
The men in green and white have been hard at work over the pre-season and have been able to fine-tune their game plan in five practice matches since the new year.
“The pre-season games have highlighted plenty of things that we need to work on but we still have time to work on these things,” Downes said.
“We have another 26 rounds to improve on them and challenge everyone to improve and be better week in and week out.”
“If we continue to improve hopefully, we are knocking the door down and we are in the finals.”
Downes explained there the club has implemented a targeted approach when recruiting players in recent seasons with this off-season no exception.
“There is a real good vibe around the club because we identified good people and good personalities first and foremost,” he said.
“Their football is a secondary attribute but it is something that we can work with, they can all play football but we have made sure to bring in good people which creates a good environment.
“Green Gully is a good family club and we want people to believe in that idea.”
Downes was confident his squad was strong enough to be able to contend this season with the additions of some handy recruits from rival clubs.
“All of the signings we hope will make an impact, that’s why we brought them in,” he said.
“We have brought in Pierce Waring from Bentleigh Greens; he is a very good player, and we are expecting positive things from Pierce.
“We have also brought in Thierry Iradukunda from the Melbourne Knights who is a defensive midfielder. We think he is a fantastic player if we challenge and help him, we expect big things from him.
The Club has also announced the services of right-wing Tyler Vecchio from Perth Glory who at the age of 20 still has plenty of upside, along with former Central Coast Mariner goalkeeper Reef Murfet and Somalia international Ismail Haki.
Green Gully was strong defensively last season, however, they were ranked last for goals amongst the finalists. The addition of the experienced Pierce Waring should provide another attacking threat up forward.
The Club is spoiled for young talent with Downes expecting a young midfielder/centre-back to have a breakout year.
“We are a young squad our average age was just over 24 last year so I hope most of our young players take that next step this season,” he said.
“We have a young lad called Justin Spiteri who has had a really good pre-season we are hoping we had a big bright future ahead of him.
“He has been with the club since a junior and it's always good to have a product go all the way through the ranks. He had a couple of experiences in the senior squad last year but we were hoping he could make himself a regular fixture in the squad.”
To start the season Green Gully once again hit the road to take on Oakleigh Cannons, after claiming a 1-0 victory in the same fixture last season.
“It’s (Oakleigh) going to be a great challenge,” Downes said.
“To go over to Oakleigh with a young squad there is no bigger challenge at the moment, this is the third season in a row we are going to Oakleigh in round one, but this is the first time we are going to the home of the champions.
“You want to test yourself against the best and hopefully we will show a good account for ourselves in round one.”
OPENING FIXTURES
Round 1: Oakleigh Cannons v Green Gully
Round 2: Green Gully v South Melbourne
Round 3: Bentleigh Greens v Green Gully