SOCCER
GETTING the gang back together could be the underlying theme of the return to the coaching helm of one of Peninsula Strikers’ favourite sons in Scott Morrison.
In just one season what were highly competitive senior and reserve programs at Centenary Park collapsed this year with the seniors being relegated to State 3 South-East and the reserves finishing last.
Morrison had taken a year-long sabbatical to concentrate on family matters and could only watch despairingly as the club lurched towards an unhappy season finale.
As soon as he decided to return to football and specifically to Strikers his successors’ days were numbered.
In the blink of an eye this year’s head coach Ross Walliss and assistant Ben Sharland were thanked for their services and Morrison was back where he belongs.
Since then Strikers have been involved in a signing flurry with Wayne “Buzzer’ Gordon, Stevie Elliott, Ben Caballero, Jai Power, Jamie Davidson, Matt Harrington, Josh Botha, Danny Brooks, Jacob Pay, Jordy May, Hayden Schreck and Max Civil all agreeing terms for next season with many more to come.
Morrison’s assistants are Jason Symonds with veteran Gordon a playing assistant and as the club gears up for next year’s 60th anniversary celebrations the onfield outlook is positive.
We sat down with the Strikers’ gaffer to talk about the job ahead and he also gave us an insight into how he evaluates players and the qualities he looks for.
Q1: You are involved in a major rebuild of the senior and reserves squads. How did that need come about?
SM: Obviously at the end of the 2025 season my leaving contributed to players moving on. I can’t speak about how things transpired in the off-season or how players were handled leading into 2026. Just let’s say that there was a massive number of players that came through the club last season, boys that were only there for a week or so and then gone again and that’s not a good situation. Like any coach going in you assess what’s there and the situation the club is in. I’ve already said that the club getting relegated and the reserves finishing last is unacceptable so there needs to be change and there needs to be a strong focus on getting both squads back to where they need to be. That means a big rebuild is required across the whole club. We need to get Strikers’ people back – both players and supporters – to help the club and that’s what we are doing with some of our recruiting by talking to boys who love the club and want to come back. That’s a major part of the rebuild and the boys that want to come back so far are the ones that enjoyed the culture that we had created within the group which is really important.
Q2. Explain the way you go about signing the players you want. Do you make the initial contact then arrange a meeting with player and club with you in attendance? Do you talk about next season’s goals and the part you see the player can play in achieving them?
SM: Yes, that’s pretty close to what happens but we don’t always initiate contact. You often have boys who contact the club or myself and we’ve had quite a few in the off-season reach out to us, boys we want too, ones in the right age bracket coming out of NPL 20s or 23s because they know they will get a crack with us. But of course there are targets that we go after, boys we identified early that we wanted to bring back to the club or bring to the club for the first time. I will normally speak to them first as we have a strong emphasis on signing good people and that has contributed massively to the culture we had and plan to rebuild. I will indicate why we want them to join us, how I see them fitting in, also what they are looking for or hoping to achieve. If our thoughts align we will then set up a meeting at the club with the coaching staff and Adrian (Scialpi, club president) and go into further details. We have so many boys that have fallen out of love with the game, or come through that NPL system or other clubs and it hasn’t worked out the way they thought it would. We love getting those boys in because age isn’t a barrier for us. Quite simply if you are good enough you will play and you will get the opportunity to develop into a senior player. If in a few years’ time a club like Langwarrin or some other higher club comes calling for one of our players then we consider that a win for us. It validates our program and the work we have put in to help that player be the best they can. I imagine it’s similar across the board with clubs in the way they sign players but one thing we do is our homework on the person not just the player. As I’ve said previously we sign good people over good players. Yes they obviously can play but they’ve got to fit into what we are doing. Signing guys who don’t want a bar of the club or its people doesn’t interest me. If you’re coming to Strikers you’re coming to represent the people behind the badge on your shirt because they will back you in all day long.
Q3. Have you locked in a reserves coaching staff and how important is it for the club to have a strong reserves squad?
SM: We’re very close to having the reserves coaches sorted, hopefully we can announce something next week. The reserves are just as important as anyone else and I take a very keen interest in them. In fact we will mix in together at training quite a bit at times so there is no us and them. They share a changeroom and they are treated as equals with the senior team. They know they have to earn their stripes but there’s no egos with us. Quite often you will see a Brooksy, Stevie, ‘Buzzer’ working with the young boys, offering advice etc and that’s what we want. We have to have a strong reserves side because we want boys in there really putting the pressure on the senior players and helping to drive standards because they want a spot. We want our juniors coming through to be aiming for the reserves not looking elsewhere because the reserves aren’t what they should be. So a big part of the work being done is making sure our reserves side is strong and so far we’ve had plenty of interest which is exciting.
Q4. I know you expect to bounce back and be in the promotion race again but how strong is State 3 and who are the sides to watch out for at this early stage?
SM: We won’t be fixating on promotion as it’s too easy to get bogged down on that. Yes we want to win games and get the club back on track but we need to make sure we get things right first. We have to build for the future in a sustainable fashion. I believe we will do that and the results will then look after themselves. I don’t want to sound cliched but it will be a tough league as there are plenty of big clubs in there and tough teams. The likes of Hampton Park, Endeavour United, Springvale City plus many others will be up there so I’m expecting a close comp.
Q5. Last off-season the reserves weren’t involved in pre-season preparations before Christmas. Will you involve the reserves in any pre-Christmas sessions?
SM: Yes the reserves will 100% be involved from the first night back on 19th November. As I said above they are just as important and there is plenty of work to be done there so yes the whole playing group will be on the track before Christmas. I can’t comment on why that didn’t happen last year but even if we didn’t have reserves coaches they would be there and we would make it work. Our young players need to feel the love just as much as the older ones. But we will have reserves coaches and I expect good numbers.
Q6. Finally when you are assessing players what different attributes do you look for in goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards?
SM: I think for goalkeepers you want confidence, someone who commands the box and communicates clearly. Someone who is comfortable with what’s ahead of him and we are lucky to have back some experienced defenders who will help with that. Also keepers have to be good with the ball at their feet. Benny (Caballero) ticks all those boxes for me and I’m expecting a big year from him. I think with defenders these days there’s almost more of a focus on how they play out with the ball rather than what their actual job is and that’s to defend. Our defensive record in 2024 and 2025 was outstanding and that’s because we had very good defenders, tough, brave and who read the game well. I like fullbacks who can get up and down and support the forward players and be creative too. We do a lot of work on our defensive structure, different scenarios if we are caught out of shape and how we cover it, important roles for different players and what’s most important in those situations. All our defenders can play good football, it’s making sure the decision making is correct in when to do it and when not to. Our midfielders need to be hard workers, have quality with the ball and a bit of mongrel about them. They’ve got to be brave with the football. We don’t want to play backwards, we want to get forward and hurt teams, work hard to get on the ball and use it well.
Our forwards will have a good mix with speed and quality in front of goal. Their movement and positioning has to be good and something we work a lot on as there needs to be an understanding across the whole side of how we want to get forward. We don’t want players to be robots, we want them to make good decisions with the football and be brave with it, but there is a lot of work that goes into making sure we have an understanding of the movements and timing as we get out and up the pitch. Sometimes less is more for attackers. Just do your thing, use your strengths whether that’s speed, dropping in and getting out, but we make sure they understand each other’s strengths and hopefully utilise them.
