Ex-tigers ready to torment old team
THEY have both won premierships at Edge Hill United, but Zoe Haralampopoulos and Nicola Klink could be the reasons why the Tigers don’t win the Crad Evans Shield.
The duo won the North Queensland Football Premier Women’s league with Brothers Townsville this year, and will line up against their former club in tomorrow’s clash to determine the best team in North Queensland.
Both were part of the allconquering Tigers outfit of 2016, a team that scored 110 goals in 18 games to win the league, then added the grand final to their cabinet.
Haralampopoulos, who played at Edge Hill United in 2016-19, conceded it could be one of the most difficult games she’s played in some time. “It’s going to be tough emotionally,” she said.
“I’m really great friends with a lot of the girls – I won a grand final with them last year. I’m a lot more nervous for the Crad Evans than I was for the grand final.”
Haralampopoulos won the FNQ Premier League grand final at Edge Hill United last season, and joined Brothers midway through this year after COVID wreaked havoc with her university placement.
She was initially in Hobart, set to play for Olympia FC in the Football Tasmania Women’s Super League before placements were cancelled due to COVID, forcing a return to her home state of South Australia. A potential return to Cairns – and possibly Edge Hill United – was on the cards, but a late switch meant she landed in Townsville, where she linked with former Tigers teammate Klink at Brothers.
“It’s been really good; very different to Cairns,” Haralampopoulos said. “It’s a lot more physical in Townsville and I’ve been playing more of an attacking position.”
Klink played for Edge Hill United’s senior squads in 2015 and 2016, though the first year was largely spent in the first division side as he returned from an ACL injury.
In 2016, she was a junior member of an outfit with plenty of experience, managing five goals in 19 appearances ahead of her move to Townsville for university.
Living at Mount Louisa, she searched for her closest club in a quick Google search, and a few emails and training sessions later she joined the powerhouse Brothers club for the 2018 season, where she has won two Crad Evans titles on top of the three straight league premierships.
She said the family-oriented feel of the club made her feel welcome since day one, and on the field, she has settled into a key attacking role.
Klink said she could relate to the way Haralampopoulos was feeling ahead of the Crad Evans clash – her 2018 Brothers faced Edge Hill United in the same game that year.
“I was nervous when we played them as most of the older girls I played with in 2016 were in that squad,” Klink said.