SOCCER
A COMMITTEE meeting this week could decide whether president Adrian Scialpi and head coach Ross Walliss remain at Peninsula Strikers.
Scialpi will tell his committee that he needs help if he is to continue.
First though the dust must settle from last week’s 2-0 loss to Mooroolbark and relegation from State 2 South-East.
In a bitter blow to the local club that has flirted with promotion in most post-pandemic seasons it found itself fighting for and failing to save its league status this year.
Last Tuesday night Berwick City provided the neutral venue for the all-important catch-up game and although one of the best first-half chances fell to Oscar Colgate-Jones of Strikers he failed to capitalise.
The go-ahead goal came in the 62nd minute from a corner and a bullet-like header from Ryan Smith.
In the 82nd minute came the blow that sealed Strikers’ fate.
Appropriately it was the class act in this contest, Mooroolbark’s Ross Clark, that delivered the coup de grace.
He received the ball in midfield and played it wide to Daniel Aye on the left.
Clark then ran unchecked into a gaping hole in behind Strikers defence and Aye honoured the run.
Clark skipped past advancing Strikers’ keeper Sam Dabinett – signed on an emergency transfer from Waverley City – and from a tight angle curled the ball home to end Strikers’ chances.
It was the biggest crowd Strikers had played in front of this season and it should have been a home game for the local club.
The recent clash between these sides was a Strikers’ home game at Centenary Park but it had to be abandoned due to serious player injury.
FV forced last week’s rematch to be held at a neutral venue not only robbing Strikers of home ground advantage but of significant revenue.
But the damage has been done and Strikers now turn their eyes to the immediate future and how they can rebuild their senior and reserves programs.
“This is probably the hardest season I’ve had at the club with all the changes and player movement,” Scialpi said.
“At this stage I’m likely to continue as president if the members want me but I can’t continue to do what I’m doing right now.
“I’ll be asking for many hands to come in and help me out because I can no longer be president, order uniforms, do this, do that, do some secretarial and treasurer duties.
“In effect I need to step back a bit.”
When Scott Morrison stood down as head coach at the end of the 2025 season a player exodus followed but its extent caught Strikers off guard.
That exodus included Faraz Zenoozi, Jaiden Madafferi, Jamie Donaldson, Kyron Kerr, Ethan Goulding, Cooper Andrews, Campbell Steedman, Jacob Pay, Jordy May, Sam Maggs, Bailey Head and Michael Millar among others on an extensive departure list.
Stevie Elliott and Alex Whyte were both unavailable as they recovered from injury while Joel Bowen left during the season.
It was nigh on impossible for new joint coaches Ross Walliss and Steven Duffy to rebuild the senior squad with players of similar quality.
And some of the recruiting didn’t work out with James Parissis and Zac Palatsides joining from Kingston City on the last day of the mid-season transfer window only to walk out before season’s end.
“We knew we would be losing a few of our senior boys who were ambitious and wanted to play in higher leagues but we didn’t bank of losing those fringe players who were waiting for their opportunity and weren’t getting consistent senior football due to the strength of the squad,” Scialpi added.
“I think half a dozen joined Baxter and they were guys who probably would have been getting regular first-team football this year.
“We thought they were up to it but they became impatient and obviously Baxter came knocking and offered them money so they moved on.”
In just a single off-season Strikers’ senior and reserve squads were decimated and the Centenary Park outfit never fully recovered.
The seniors had been denied promotion in the final game of the 2025 season and in 2024 they finished third just a point away from promotion.
The reserves won the 2023 championship and finished third the following two seasons.
This year Strikers’ reserves were the worst team in their league and finished last as a result of the off-field disruption caused by player departures.
Strikers found themselves in the unusual position of advertising for a reserves coach a handful of weeks out from the start of this season.
As for the seniors the experiment of having joint head coaches failed miserably.
Not long into the season Duffy quit eventually joining his former club Skye United.
“Duffy felt he wasn’t being respected and his voice wasn’t being heard enough which came as a surprise to all of us.
“I think in the end there were a lot of things they couldn’t agree on tactically and with team selection and Duffy thought it was best to leave.
“We got Ben Sharman in and he’s been fantastic – a quality individual with great football knowledge and pedigree.
“Ben and Ross have worked extremely well together under really trying circumstances.
“Look it would be easy to say we got relegated and get rid of the coaches but I really have to take into consideration the circumstances they worked under and the lack of depth and player options they had.
“The thing no-one can explain is that apart from round one at home we never lost a home game but our away form was terrible which really cost us in the end.”
Another factor that could come into play at this week’s committee meeting is what one of the club’s favourite sons plans for next year.
Wayne “Buzzer” Gordon spoke to his teammates after last week’s Mooroolbark loss and the evergreen striker or midfielder is having time off right now to decide the direction he’ll take next season.
Despite rumours to the contrary he denies that he has retired and he already has received offers from other clubs some to become a player-coach.
If he feels the time is ripe to move into coaching then Strikers seem sure to listen to what he wants.
But Walliss and Gordon don’t share the view that Gordon’s first team days at Strikers are over which adds to the uncertainty over Walliss’s future.
“I’m a loyal person and I’ve told the club that I want to carry on,” Walliss said.
“But I’ve made it clear that certain things have to happen and that includes having the financial backing to do something in State 3.”
To that end Walliss has lured a family friend – a successful businessman from Mornington – to take on the role of sponsorship manager, an area Strikers are keen to bolster.
This year’s relegation is the fourth for Strikers from State 2 this century the others coming in 2008, 2014 and 2017.
In 2014 and 2017 the club was reinstated in the off-season when a vacancy emerged and it was offered the chance to fill it.
Fast forward to 2026 and no-one at the club expects Strikers to be so lucky a third time.
