By Greg Blake
“We’ll go out to win the game, just like we always do”, declared Alexander’s Director of Football, Nick Deligiannis. There’s a hint of impatience in his voice in responding to a question of how Heidelberg United might approach this coming Sunday’s final Australian Championship Group B clash against South Hobart.
Or possibly slightly snippy and indignant at the mere suggestion that this 2025 Warriors team might approach any game without a laser focus on winning. “This will be our 45th game of the season – I believe that’s an Australian club record – and we’ve gone out intending to win every one of them”, Deligiannis told me this week.
Despite Alexander having already secured a quarter final place in this inaugural Championship season, there will be no taking the foot off the accelerator against a still winless South Hobart team. Reverting to upbeat and affable, Deligiannis pointed out the critical nature of winning Sunday’s 1pm game down at South Hobart Oval.
“Winning the game gets us a home quarter final”, he pointed out. It would also ensure finishing top of the group and a quarter final against Group D runner-up. An upset in Tassie and potentially falling to second would mean an away round of eight, against the Group D winner.
Group D’s top two – Wests Apia and Bayswater City – clash this Sunday and third-placed North Eastern Metro Stars are only a game behind the leading pair going into the final round-robin weekend of the Championship. Even if the Warrtiors win, their final eight fate won’t be clear until the the Group D games are also completed.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a very pleasant 17 degrees and sunny for Hobart on Sunday, which will actually an improvement on Melbourne earlier this week, with temperatures plummeting to 10 degrees and seemingly perpetual rain. But I’ve a feeling South Hobart won’t be quite as welcoming on the paddock.
The mid-competition South Hobart coaching change may be a factor, as form would indicate, and you’d reckon the Tassie side would love to go out of the competition all guns blazing, with no fear and nothing to lose. Alexander has uncharacteristically fallen behind in successive games, against both Marconi and Wollongong. They mightn’t want to give South Hobart an early sniff.
I’ve heard a bit of hopeful boasting from Alexander fans, urging the team to smash South Hobart this weekend, with Bul Juach still chasing down Bobby Despotovski’s single season club goalscoring record. The team total of 101 goals in a season is also edging towards club record territory. Much of the bullishness is based on Heidelberg’s six-goal first half smashing of South Hobart a few weeks back.
But form guide details are in the small print. The Tasmanian side ‘won’ the second half of that game 1-0 and have had much improved showings in return games against Marconi and Wollongong. In fact since half time against Heidelberg in round three South Hobart’s goals for and against record stacks up very well, scoring three and conceding five. In that same period the Warriors have only scored three themselves, while conceding four. This Sunday’s game match may be much closer than expected.
And following on from the Kosta Kanakaris connection I wrote about a couple of week’s back, another Heidelberg link to South Hobart – and including another Group B club in Wollongong – is Ken Morton. Morton was the original coach of Wollongong when the Wolves were admitted to an expanded 16-team NSL in 1981. He coached the Wolves until round 22, 1982, when he was replaced despite Wollongong finishing the year in a very impressive third place.
Morton moved on to coach Heidelberg United in 1983, but exactly 22 rounds into that season he was replaced, even though Alexander finished the season in a very respectable fifth place. Morton went on to join South Hobart and coached for sixteen massively successful years, including one spell of topping the ladder for six straight years. Morton is a South Hobart legend and has continued his involvement a club level with South Hobart’s woman’s team.
