The Examiner’s Rob Shaw and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to another edition
00:10 of the Press Box episode 24.
00:11 I'm Ben Hand, this is Rob Shaw.
00:14 We are missing once again, Brian Allen
00:16 and Josh Partridge from the cast,
00:19 but we're usually carrying the sports team anyway.
00:22 So Rob, today we've got a bit of a special episode,
00:25 the soccer special.
00:27 I think it's a soccer review of the season.
00:30 We're going from everything
00:31 from your local NPL Tasmania leagues,
00:34 where Devonport and South Hobart have had such great years,
00:37 all the way through to the mighty Ange Pasterkoglu
00:41 and your flying seagull.
00:42 So it'll be a very soccer heavy episode today.
00:46 We'll start off with NPL though, Rob.
00:49 Devonport obviously won both the league
00:51 and the, if I get this right,
00:53 LaColsiac.
00:54 - LaColsiac.
00:55 - LaColsiac Cup, thank you very much.
00:58 With South Hobart, you know, not far behind,
01:00 but Devonport were the best team.
01:03 It was a different case South Hobart though,
01:05 and the WSL, they were clearly the best team
01:07 taking out the league and cup double.
01:10 Talk to me through how the Launceston teams fared.
01:14 Obviously it wasn't as successful a year for them.
01:17 How did they all go?
01:18 - Yep, so we've got three Northern teams in the,
01:21 when I say Northern, I mean regional.
01:23 We've got three Launceston teams
01:24 in the men's statewide competition
01:26 and one Launceston team
01:27 in the women's statewide competition.
01:28 So we'll just go through the men's.
01:30 So the best side in the men's competition
01:33 by a country mile was Devonport.
01:34 They dominated the competition.
01:36 They won the league and cup double.
01:37 They didn't actually win the post-season finals.
01:39 They got knocked off in the final by South Hobart,
01:41 but they were comfortably the benchmark side
01:43 and did a good job representing the state
01:45 in the national cup.
01:46 The three Launceston teams in the eight team competition
01:50 finished fifth, sorry, sixth, seventh, and eighth.
01:53 So we were the bottom three sides.
01:55 But there's a positive sign for all three.
01:58 I'll just talk through each side.
01:59 So Launceston City finished fifth,
02:01 coached by Daniel Syson.
02:02 They've got, I think all three Northern sides
02:05 have got a nice balance at the moment
02:06 between locals and the import players.
02:09 Imports are very important to the statewide competitions,
02:12 men's and women's.
02:13 And I think all three clubs,
02:14 all three clubs and four teams
02:17 have got a good balance between them.
02:20 So City have got, their side is pretty much dominated
02:24 by Joel Stone, who's the captain,
02:26 and I still think he's one of the best players
02:27 in the competition.
02:28 He runs everything in the middle of the park.
02:31 Previous state league best player,
02:33 I think two or three times.
02:34 They've got a very strong goalkeeper in Lucky Clark.
02:38 They've got a nice spine to the side
02:39 because they've got the goalkeeper in Lucky Clark.
02:42 Will Humphrey is a rock at the center of defense
02:45 alongside Alex Jacobs, one of their imports.
02:48 Joel Stone dominates midfield.
02:50 And I think Steph Dantari is one of their most exciting
02:52 strikers in the competition.
02:53 So they've got good grounds for optimism for the future.
02:56 They also finished third in the under 21s competition.
03:00 So I think they're gonna have a good year next year.
03:03 Riverside Olympic finished sixth of the eighth,
03:05 coached by Helder Dos Santos Silva.
03:08 They had the complication this season
03:10 that Helder got suspended midway through the season.
03:13 So it meant he wasn't able to coach for the rest of the year
03:15 after an incident at the junior soccer tournament
03:17 in Devonport.
03:18 And that really hampered them.
03:20 Mid-season they got Geddy Kruiser in from Launceston City
03:23 and that brought a lot of experience.
03:25 So they've now got the same sort of blend.
03:27 They've got some very good imports in Andre Chomuska,
03:30 especially, and so they've got a nice balance
03:33 between the imports, Geddy,
03:35 and then all the juniors coming through.
03:37 All sides, it's a very young competition.
03:40 So all sides have got a lot of youngsters
03:41 and I think Riverside are fairly well placed.
03:43 Launceston United finished last.
03:46 It was their first season in statewide competition
03:49 and it's very hard coming into a statewide competition
03:52 as any team would find.
03:55 Also, they were further hampered by the fact
03:56 that they weren't told that they were
03:58 in the statewide competition
04:00 until every other team had already prepared.
04:03 So they had all their squads ready.
04:05 United were always behind the eight ball.
04:07 So don't judge them too harshly on their final result.
04:10 So they didn't win a game all season.
04:11 They got two draws in their last three games,
04:13 which means they were starting
04:15 to find their feet towards the end.
04:17 Fernando Munoz has done a great job coaching that side.
04:19 They've again got the strength of imports
04:22 like David Owusu and Jadon McCure,
04:25 who are two very explosive forward players
04:29 with a combination of their youngsters.
04:30 And I think they've done a really good job.
04:32 Connor Redding's been their captain
04:34 in Rocket Central defence all season.
04:36 So I think they're well placed.
04:38 - Yes, obviously you mentioned there are three teams now
04:42 in the state league that hasn't happened until now.
04:44 Like, do you think that works?
04:48 Is that sustainable for NPL Tasmania going forward?
04:51 - Yes, it's a good question.
04:53 I think so, yes.
04:55 The geographical split is that you've got four in Hobart,
04:57 three in the Northeast and one in the Northwest.
05:00 Devonport have got this wonderful monopoly on the Northwest
05:02 and they use it very well.
05:05 They're a very well organised club, Devonport.
05:07 So they're the strongest male side
05:09 and they're probably the second strongest female side.
05:11 So I think the question was asked at the start of the season,
05:16 can Launceston sustain three men's teams?
05:19 And if you look at the table,
05:20 you'd think, well, no, they can't.
05:22 But all three are growing
05:24 and I think they're in a good position
05:25 to build on that next year.
05:27 - And now moving over to the women in the WSL.
05:29 You know, it was a great year last year for Launceston,
05:32 not quite as much this year with South Hobart
05:35 proving to be just a bit too strong.
05:37 What about this South Hobart team, I should say,
05:40 has just been so imperious?
05:43 - That again, they've made good use of import players
05:46 and very, very strong local players as well.
05:49 I thought their best player every time I saw them
05:51 was Pishon Choi.
05:52 So Launceston United won the League Cup double last year
05:56 in their second year in statewide competition.
05:59 Weren't quite as strong this year.
06:02 They made good use of import players.
06:04 They had Courtney Martin was a very good player
06:06 at the start of the year
06:07 and Angel Aikido towards the back end of the year.
06:10 But each time they came up against either South Hobart
06:14 or Devonport, I don't think they scored against either
06:17 all season until the last game in the season.
06:19 So they just could not break them down.
06:21 They're too strong and United finished third.
06:24 Nick Rawlinson was a coach.
06:25 He's a lovely guy, Nick.
06:26 I think he gets the best out of his players.
06:30 He's not a ranter and raver on the touchlines,
06:33 but he's always good for his post-match opinions.
06:37 And I think he's doing a really good job there.
06:39 And again, they've got really good juniors coming through,
06:42 people who have been at the club for years
06:44 and I think they're well-placed for next year.
06:46 - Yeah, absolutely.
06:47 And I feel like with everything that's sort of gone on
06:50 with football in Australia this year,
06:52 I should probably say soccer, shouldn't I?
06:54 So in Australia this sort of past year,
06:57 where do you feel like the sport is at in Tasmania,
07:00 especially with the background of a potentially
07:03 an A-League team being mooted, whatever.
07:05 Do you feel like it's in a good spot right now?
07:07 - I think it's in an excellent spot
07:09 and you can't underestimate the Matildas factor.
07:11 I recently went along and covered
07:15 the Launceston tournament in town
07:17 and there were nearly 100 teams.
07:18 It's a junior soccer tournament held at Churchill Park.
07:21 Churchill Park is the best venue in Tasmania
07:24 for anything like that, multiple pitches.
07:27 Of the 100 teams, there were 32, I think,
07:30 I've got my numbers right, were female.
07:33 It's never been anywhere near that in the past.
07:35 It shows how many young female players
07:37 are getting involved in soccer now,
07:40 which never used to be the case in the past.
07:41 And it's great to see, and I think a lot of that
07:44 is off the back of the Matildas.
07:45 We all got behind them.
07:47 I think to get to the semifinals was,
07:52 I hate to say overachieved,
07:53 but I think it was a magnificent performance.
07:57 It would have been lovely to have seen them
07:59 if they'd had Sam Kerr for the whole tournament
08:01 instead of the last couple of games.
08:02 But they showed how strong they were
08:04 to get to the semis effectively without their best player.
08:07 So I think a lot of people got behind them
08:10 and thought, I could play this sport,
08:11 and it's great to see.
08:12 And there were so many running around
08:16 at Churchill Park last week,
08:17 and a lot of Matilda Stewart's
08:19 and a lot had the word Kerr on the back.
08:21 - Absolutely, and just lastly to touch on
08:23 in Tasmanian football is Northern Rangers
08:28 obviously had quite a great year this year
08:31 in the Northern Championship.
08:32 Talk to me about how it all went down for them
08:34 and why that was so successful.
08:36 - So whilst the other three sides
08:38 have committed to the State League,
08:40 Rangers made the decision a few years back
08:42 to withdraw from the State League.
08:43 They had a team in the men's competition,
08:46 decided to just focus on Northern Championship,
08:48 and it's been a very successful decision
08:50 because they finished second
08:51 in both the Northern Championship men's and women's,
08:54 both competitions won by Northwest sides.
08:56 But Rangers are strong across the Northern Championship
08:58 because they haven't got a side above that
09:00 in the State League competition.
09:02 So both the men's and women's,
09:04 two very good strong teams,
09:06 and they won the reserve competition.
09:08 So they're in a good position, Rangers.
09:10 They've got, in Mo Chamberlain,
09:12 they've got the golden boot winner
09:13 in the women's competition.
09:16 And in Pat Lanow-Atkinson,
09:17 I think they've got the best player
09:19 in the Northern Championship men's competition.
09:21 So they've gone down a different road,
09:23 and it's been successful for them.
09:25 It does mean, Launceston's got four very strong clubs.
09:30 That play in Northern Championship
09:32 and statewide competitions.
09:33 And I think the future's bright for Northern soccer,
09:37 but people looking at the finishing NPL table would say,
09:41 "Well, no, it's not.
09:41 "Look, they're at the bottom three sides."
09:42 I think there's more to it than that.
09:44 It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic works
09:46 next season now that London United
09:48 have had that first season.
09:50 They've got a whole year now to prepare
09:52 for another statewide competition.
09:54 There's talk that Riverside might be putting their hand up
09:57 for the women's Super League,
09:59 potentially even Lonely City as well.
10:00 We don't know yet.
10:02 So at the moment, there is only one Launceston side
10:04 in the statewide women's competition
10:06 that could be more next year.
10:08 Again, that completely changes the dynamic.
10:10 And if one or two do come up,
10:14 they obviously draw the best players,
10:15 and that then weakens the Northern Championship sides.
10:18 So even though Northern Rangers haven't got a team
10:21 in the statewide competition,
10:22 it could have an impact on them.
10:23 So the landscape is changing radically,
10:27 and it'll be interesting to see how next season shapes up.
10:30 - Absolutely.
10:31 Now, we'll pivot.
10:32 You did mention before,
10:33 we'll pivot quickly over to the Matildas.
10:36 It was such an awe-inspiring World Cup run.
10:39 It wasn't a losing battle,
10:41 and I know you were devastated to see England
10:43 beat Australia in that semifinal match,
10:47 but no one remembers you guys winning that game.
10:49 You only remember Sam Kerr scoring that goal.
10:52 For me, I actually preferred the penalty shootout,
10:56 just for sheer drama.
10:57 I mean, if anyone doesn't like soccer,
10:59 I don't care if you think soccer's the worst sport
11:01 in the world, watching that,
11:02 you cannot help but just be completely enthralled
11:05 by that scenario.
11:07 How did you see Football Australia's handling
11:11 of that World Cup?
11:12 Do you feel like, you know,
11:13 they've not been praised too often
11:16 the last sort of 10, 20 years.
11:18 Do you feel like they did a good job
11:20 of handling that World Cup?
11:21 - I thought it was a magnificent tournament.
11:23 And I look back on,
11:26 FIFA have taken the decision in the last couple of decades
11:28 to try and take tournaments to markets
11:32 that don't traditionally host it.
11:34 So we had World Cups in South Africa and Russia and Qatar.
11:38 Not necessarily that successfully,
11:41 but I thought the Australian, maybe I'm biased,
11:43 but I thought the Australian World Cup was magnificent.
11:45 And I watched that Australia-England semifinal.
11:49 As you know, I'm from England, but I live in Australia.
11:52 And I went into that game genuinely thinking,
11:54 well, one of these sides is gonna be in the final,
11:56 I can't lose.
11:57 When that Kerr goal went in,
12:00 it was one of those moments that your jaw just drops
12:02 and you think that is the moment of the tournament.
12:04 So although Australia lost that game,
12:07 that was the pivotal moment of the tournament for me.
12:08 It was just a golden moment.
12:10 In the end, I thought the final was a disappointment.
12:12 World Cup finals often are.
12:14 There's been some terrible ones in the past.
12:17 But all credit to Spain.
12:20 You could argue that England
12:21 might've been the best team in the tournament,
12:23 but they weren't the most savvy
12:24 and Spain outplayed them in the final.
12:26 And the best player on the pitch deserved to win.
12:30 So I thought it was a magnificent tournament.
12:33 - Yeah, and we'll finish off with the Premier League.
12:35 It's now six games into another season.
12:39 We'll start off with the Seagulls, I'll be kind.
12:42 Fresh off, perhaps your best ever year,
12:46 you're now starting where you left off.
12:49 Haven't lost, I knew you haven't lost one game
12:51 against West Ham.
12:52 It's quite a remarkable game, actually.
12:54 But you've put in a number of impressive performance again,
12:57 and you're now playing in Europe.
12:59 As someone who's been through all stages
13:02 of Brighton's history, it feels like,
13:03 how does it feel to be supporting this team
13:09 in the state it's in right now?
13:10 - I went to a game towards the end of the last century,
13:14 when if Brighton had lost that game,
13:15 they would've gone out of the league.
13:16 And it was a game at Hereford
13:18 that we had to just get a result in.
13:20 And you go to a game like that and think,
13:22 I just hope things improve.
13:23 And now you look at it, and we're third in the Premier League
13:28 and just absolutely flying.
13:30 It's what every club dreams of.
13:32 So I look at all those terrible games I went to
13:34 20 or 30 years ago, where we were losing 4-0
13:36 at Darlington and Doncaster and places like that.
13:39 And now we're going to Manchester United
13:41 and winning on a regular basis.
13:43 It's a pinch me moment.
13:44 And both my kids are Brighton supporters,
13:47 and I tell them it's not fair
13:48 because they think Brighton are always this good.
13:51 I feel they should've had 30 years of misery
13:53 to get to the enjoyment of what we've got.
13:55 But obviously I know you're a Spurs supporter,
13:57 and I never hear the last of how Ange is going.
14:00 Having been a Spurs supporter,
14:03 how did you feel when somebody,
14:05 when an Australian took charge?
14:07 He's the first Australian coach in the Premier League.
14:10 How did you feel when Ange joined?
14:11 - Yeah, so I've always been a massive lover
14:15 of Ange Postakoglu, even before his Spurs time.
14:19 The work he did at Brisbane Royal was fantastic.
14:22 Obviously went to Japan, found a lot of success.
14:25 I was watching Celtic games
14:26 when I had very little interest in the Scottish League
14:29 before and probably since he's left as well.
14:32 And the English media have found this
14:38 in the last sort of two months or so.
14:40 He's an excellent communicator,
14:43 and he's just a normal person.
14:46 So I think that's been the best part about it
14:48 is it's Tottenham, we've had, probably since Pochettino,
14:52 we've had some really negative managers
14:55 who always feel like it's them doing us a favor
14:59 by even gracing themselves with the club badge.
15:02 Whereas he is very unassuming and just plays,
15:07 look at him there, smiling away,
15:09 just plays this wonderful football.
15:11 You'd never feel so happy after drawing to Arsenal
15:16 than you would have seen me at 1 a.m. on Sunday night
15:21 or Monday morning even.
15:22 It was just fantastic the way he's got us playing,
15:25 the way he's sort of got the whole club around together
15:28 supporting the players when, you know,
15:31 this time last year, it was, you know, we're threatening,
15:34 I reckon there's some fans threatening to riot the club.
15:36 Like it was, the turnaround's been quite remarkable.
15:40 And I will continue banging on about this wonderful man
15:43 until the day he leaves, which I hope is never.
15:47 Anyway, that should probably do us for now.
15:50 I'll just chuck a little cheeky dig
15:52 at the Junior Sport Awards again.
15:54 Please keep putting your submissions in.
15:57 But other than that, keep reading the paper,
15:59 keep reading our stories online and see you next week.
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