SOCCER
IT’S taken six years but Langwarrin head coach Jamie Skelly hopes it’s going to be well worth the wait. Wind the clock back to 2018 and Skelly is coaching at State 1 level. “That’s when we first started talking,” Skelly said. “I was at Comets and he was returning to the UK after playing in America. “I actually had signed him then he got an offer from Concord Rangers (in England) and he decided to go back there.”
The player in question is Tosan Popo, now 32 years old, and one of three new signings at Lawton Park as the local club gears up for its 2025 VPL1 campaign. “He reached out to me at the start of this year but we had signed all our visa players so I put him touch with Steve (Voursoukis) at Nunawading and he won their best and fairest this year.
“He’s very versatile. He can play in midfield, he can play out wide and he can play at full-back.”
Popo completes Langwarrin’s quota of visa players joining Rogan McGeorge, Tommy Youngs and Ryo Takahashi.
Popo featured in all of Nunawading’s 22 VPL2 games this year and he’ll be joined at Lawton Park by Kingston City duo Cooper Legrand and Kosta Apostolopoulos. The Kingston duo were mainstays of the Grange Reserve outfit’s 2024 campaign with 25-year-old Legrand featuring in all but one game while 24-year-old Apostolopoulos was ever present.
“Cooper’s been on our radar for a while in fact we’ve been speaking to him for a few years,” Skelly said. “He’s a proven goalscorer at this level having scored 12 goals this year and he generally scores 10 plus goals a season. “He’s played at NPL level with Dandy City and when things fell into place this year we were delighted to bring him in. “He knows a few people in our dressing room, he can see the trajectory that we’re on and he can have an impact on getting us to where we want to be. “He’s another versatile player who can play anywhere across the front three and can play as an attacking midfielder as well.”
Langwarrin also has had Apostolopoulos in its sights for some time. The midfielder was with Northcote City before switching to Kingston City midway through the 2023 season. “He’s a box-to-box type who plays a bit deeper than the other two,” Skelly said. “He can play as the first receiver but he can also link up and he’s an aggressive player.”
Langy also has had three departures from last season’s squad – goalkeeper Griffin Bambach, forward James Kelly and young midfielder Marcus Di Meo. Bambach is from Byron Bay but was signed by Langy from Sunshine Coast Wanderers late last year. Bambach and his girlfriend have returned up north and from all reports are happy to no longer be facing the prospect of another winter in Melbourne.
James Burgess vied with Bambach for the number one spot in goal throughout the year and has been retained while Branten Kindler has been promoted to the number two spot. Kelly is rumoured to be heading to Mornington but that is yet to be verified. “It was a funny sort of season for James,” Skelly said. “He missed a fair chunk of pre-season for various reasons and then did really well off the bench early in the season but he got injured again. “When he came back he forced his way into the side and did well for around six or seven games. “Probably the main reason he moved on is that we couldn’t really guarantee him as much game time as he wanted and as he is moving into the end stage of his career it’s about getting as much game time as he can. “I totally understand that.”
While the bulk of last season’s squad has been retained Skelly won’t rule out the prospect of further signings.
“The squad still isn’t 100 per cent finalised,” he said. “There still are players interested in coming and we still are talking to them so we remain open to bringing players in.”
Langwarrin was due to hold its AGM as we went to press and it’s believed that James Bretnall would step down as president and be replaced by businessman Rob Vickery. It’s understood that Bretnall is keen to pursue a different role on the committee but despite the change at the top Skelly sees no change in the club’s commitment to its senior men’s program. “They are still very supportive,” he said. “Speaking to the people here now and who they expect will be coming in I don’t believe anything will change in terms of how we run the men’s program. “If anything we’ll be trying as hard as we can to push the senior program and grow the rest of the club.”
Skelly also released his retained players list which is:
GOALKEEPERS: James Burgess, Branten Kindler. DEFENDERS: Luke Goulding, Luke Adams, Jeremy Min Fa, Lucas Portelli, Charlie Fry, Ryo Takahashi, Owen Murphy, Kameel Khan. MIDFIELDERS: Rogan McGeorge, Barath Suresh, Cal Goulding, Dante Avian, Jacob Brito. FORWARDS: Tom Youngs, Brad Blumenthal, Archie Macphee.
In State 4 news reports that legendary goalscorer Dave Greening has retired may be premature. Greening capped a championship-winning season at Rosebud this year with the State 5 Golden Boot award, the 10th time he’s won league top scorer honours. He now combines his onfield success with winning gold medals in athletics in masters’ competitions and his fitness, pace and finishing ability continue to be a major weapon in Rosebud’s arsenal. The coaching staff are keen to see him continue and he is expected to make a decision in the next fortnight.
Another player rumoured to be in Rosebud’s thoughts is young forward Noah Musso who won the 2023 State 5 South best and fairest and league Golden Boot awards with the ’Buds before moving to Peninsula Strikers in the off-season. But clinching Musso’s signature will be no easy task according to Strikers’ gaffer Scott Morrison. “Noah will be back with us in pre-season and he just wants to see how it pans out and if he will be a regular senior player,” Morrison said. “I have big plans for him and with Tommy (Wood) going that gives him much more opportunity. “He came along heaps last year and proved against Hampton East in the last game that he is good enough so I’m excited to see him evolve even more. “He won’t go to Rosebud mate – he is too ambitious. “He’s told me that it doesn’t matter what money they throw at him he wants to play as high as he can and test himself.”
Rosebud’s State 4 rival Chelsea has “seven or eight” players in its sights according to head coach Gus Macleod.
“There’s nothing settled yet but all the boys we have been in contact with are from higher leagues,” he said.
Macleod will arrange two pre-Christmas practice matches and will announce the details next month.
In other news UK-based group Headsafe will send representative Nick Gates to Melbourne in November to conduct a series of seminars, club and school visits to highlight the latest research into the link between repeated head impacts (RHI) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Renowned Melbourne-based development coach Ian Greener is the man to contact for anyone interested in learning about Headsafe’s studies. “It’s important to note that Headsafe doesn’t want to ban heading rather they want to protect this part of our game by minimising the damage being done mainly in training activities,” Greener said.
In the UK Headsafe works with clubs from the EPL down to grassroots level and its guidelines for coaches and clubs are regarded as world’s best practice in this field. To register for any of the following free sessions contact Greener at greener_ian@yahoo.com.au indicating which session(s) you wish to attend (or simply to learn more about the visit from Headsafe):
Monday 25 November –7pm Zoom online session
Tuesday 26 November – 7pm Nunawading City Soccer Club
Wednesday 27 November – 7pm Zoom online session
Friday 29 November – 7pm Western Suburbs Soccer Club
Saturday 30 November – 9am Eastern Lions Soccer Club.
The Eastern Lions session will run for 90 minutes and will be held prior to the annual Billy Whiteside Cup.
Should any club wish to have its own personal session contact Greener to see if that can be arranged.
First published in the Frankston Times – 29 October 2024
