Soccer ROSEBUD v Mornington and Peninsula Strikers v Banyule City are the marquee match-ups in this weekend’s second preliminary round of the 2025 Australia Cup. Rosebud and Strikers go in to these sudden-death ties as underdogs but they won’t make life easy for their more-fancied opponents.Many Rosebud players have ties with Mornington having come through the club’s juniors and played in the reserves and in most instances they have moved on in order to gain senior playing time. What an opportunity this clash presents to showcase their talent to their former club. Remarkably 18 of Rosebud’s senior squad have been…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER ALANA Murphy, 19, last week became the second Langwarrin junior to achieve senior national team recognition when called up to the Matildas squad for the looming SheBelievesCup.The event starts later this week and features teams from host nation US, Japan, Colombia and Australia with matches played in Houston, Glendale and San Diego.First featured in these pages over seven years ago when she was 12 her potential to go all the way in the sport was encapsulated by our headline “Is Alana Murphy a Matilda in waiting?” Back then the pre-teen Murphy named Steph Catley and Sam Kerr as her…
SOCCER PENINSULA Strikers added a State 1 scalp to their pre-season haul with an impressive 2-1 win over Old Scotch at Centenary Park on Saturday. Scott Morrison’s men are flying right now. Figuratively and literally. No local side is as quick and precise in transition with an abundance of extreme pace and rapid-fire ball movement that is breathtaking at times.Strikers dominated most of this contest and you had to keep reminding yourself that they were the State 2 side taking on an opponent of higher status. The versatility at Morrison’s disposal – especially in the attacking third – is scary.…
SOCCER LANGWARRIN gets its 2025 VPL1 season underway in Saturday’s Lawton Park clash with Caroline Springs George Cross at 7pm. Last season Langwarrin finished ninth and a season review identified concerns that head coach Jamie Skelly believes have been addressed. “We started well last season but once winter came and we lost a few players through injury or players moving on the depth of the squad was tested,” he said. “We felt for us to improve we had to bring in different types of players and improve right across the squad and we feel that we’ve done that. “We’ve improved…
Soccer DAVID Stirton, Hayden Taylor, Matt Harrington, Conor Mcfall, Tristen Stass and Daniel Bancroft are some of the names that fell under the local spotlight last week.Stirton and Taylor have joined Mornington’s coaching staff with “Stirts” assisting senior coach Adam Jamieson and “Hados” assisting reserves coach Kyle Johnson. This is Stirton’s first foray into senior coaching ranks after a playing career that took him to A-League youth and senior NPL levels. Recently plagued by injury the 33-year-old reluctantly stepped away from playing and has been considering taking up coaching for some time.Jamieson rang Stirton over a week ago and discussed…