Closer than ever, Phoenix raring to go
The newlook Wellington Phoenix finally kicks off its ALeague campaign against defending champion Sydney FC today. Felicity Reid, of RNZ, looks at the side’s prospects for the season.
WHEN times get tough during the 202021 ALeague season, the Wellington Phoenix can call on the close bonds developed during a unique preseason to reassure and reprimand each other, assistant coach Chris Greenacre says.
The Phoenix, which plays defending champion Sydney FC today, was scheduled to play the Brisbane Roar on December 29, but a Covid19 outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches in December forced the ALeague to rethink the draw as state borders closed.
In total, five Phoenix fixtures were affected by the changes; games against Victorian sides Western United on January 12, Melbourne Victory on January 16 and Melbourne City on January 22, as well as Perth Glory on January 27 were all postponed until later in the season.
Greenacre said the changing Covid19 situation and protocols were something the squad had become accustomed to.
‘‘We’ve all been very aware of what’s going on, the players have been very cautious in their habits and what they’re doing and where they’re going but it hasn’t affected our preparation whatsoever,’’ Greenacre said.
One added Covid19 complication was the delayed arrival of the club’s marquee signing, Israeli international Tomer Hemed, who has only trained with his new teammates for a short period of time.
On his arrival in Australia, Hemed said he wanted to score goals and be a positive influence in the dressing room.
Those are two things the Phoenix squad needed after the exit of several players in the offseason.
Before joining the Phoenix, Hemed was working on his fitness with a private coach in London to make sure he showed up in Australia in top shape.
However, after the required two weeks in quarantine it is unlikely the former English Premier League and La Liga player will be playing against Sydney FC, and he said he expected to be ready for the Phoenix’s second game on January 9.
Greenacre said Hemed was a good fit for the club.
‘‘He’s come in and adds a vital piece of the jigsaw with lots of valuable experience that will rub off on the players that haven’t got that experience,’’ Greenacre said.
‘‘Often that’s quite a good ingredient that you have within squads that the experienced players are passing on that detail to the younger players and is often a recipe for success.’’
Keeping quiet about expectations
Greenacre stopped short of publicly stating what was expected of the players this season, but he suggested a plan mapped out behind closed doors forced players to take personal responsibility for their performances and had a touch of an us against them mentality.
‘‘We’ve had a private meeting with the squad and they’ve set out their expectations of where they want to be. It’s not something I probably want to divulge with anyone, but we’ve really put the lines on the players and the demands that they want to put on each other and ultimately if they’re willing to work hard enough to achieve those goals there is no reason why they can’t.
‘‘They’re really going to drive each other to those standards and those goals and that’s something we’d probably keep pretty private because you don’t always get what you probably deserve, but we are capable of doing well this year and showing teams what we are about.’’
Despite achieving the club’s best ALeague finish — third place — last season, Greenacre said the Phoenix still were not among the pundits’ top picks.
‘‘Other people within the game don’t give us any credit and it’s something we can certainly use to go under the radar and really make an impact on the season.’’
New club captain Ulises Davila came into the 202021 season with an additional layer of responsibility.
The Mexican midfielder arrived at the club in 2019 and was its leading goalscorer with 12 goals last season.
When he was named as captain, he said he would lead by example.
‘‘I’ve told the players that this is our season and our time, so we all need to work as hard as possible and to be better than we were last season — but we also need to enjoy ourselves out on the pitch each match and just appreciate each moment as it comes,’’ Davila said.
Greenacre, who scored 19 goals in 84 appearances for the Phoenix as a player, acknowledged the need to spread the scoring load if the team was going to be successful this season, but was confident Davila would cope with the responsibility.
‘‘He’s well and truly aware of what it means to lead this team and if it means he’s got that weight on his shoulders to provide the goals he’s more than capable of doing that,’’ Greenacre said.
‘‘He’s scored a lot of goals for us last year, but also it’s not just about Uli scoring goals, there is a responsibility for other players in the team, the other attacking midfield players, the other strikers, even the defenders to contribute to that goalscoring tally.
‘‘He did a lot of it on his own last year but everyone will be working really hard to try and supplement that and score the goals that he did and if we can get more people scoring goals throughout the team it’s less of a burden on Uli.’’
The arrival of Hemed should provide the Phoenix with another goalscoring option once he takes the field, and the 33yearold said the team’s dualstriker role appealed to him.
‘‘I want to be the guy that scores the goals that maybe the team missed last season,’’ Hemed said.
Englishman David Ball is also back for his second season with the Phoenix and the experienced striker, who was the second most prolific in front of goal last season, will again be joined by Jaushua Sotirio up front, but the team will be missing the goal scoring abilities of Gary Hooper and Liberato Cacace who left the club during the offseason.
Advantage of an Australian preseason
While based in New South Wales, the Phoenix have had four preseason games against ALeague opposition.
Greenacre said this preseason opposition was a step up, and the club was better prepared for the expanded competition which now included new club Macarthur FC, which the Phoenix lost 10 to in a friendly at the beginning of December.
‘‘For us it is always difficult getting quality opposition, and that’s not a case of the quality of the teams we are playing in New Zealand, often in our offseason it’s a time where the national league and the other leagues are in their offseasons as well, so you don’t often get a lot of teams that are actually fully fit or up to scratch and ready to give you the tough games that we need.
‘‘But here you’ve got other teams in the same boat as us probably on a level playing field, or have if they’ve been in preseason longer than us they’ve got a bit more distance in their legs than our players have.
‘‘The preparation is better here, so that’s something we’ve been able to take advantage of. Although it has been a lot shorter than it normally is in the ALeague our preparation has been very successful.’’
Greenacre said the planned moved to Wollongong and four different groups of players living together for months had created a bond unlike any other season.
‘‘Spending the time last season together it brought a real bond between the group but this time officially moving here on a fulltime basis it’s made everyone settle pretty quickly.’’
He said the setup had proven to be a good way to get the younger, new or returning, players to fit in with the group, and knowing what to expect this time had helped those who had been through it before.
Homecoming on the horizon
Just how long the club will remain the ‘‘Wollongong Phoenix’’ is not clear.
The Phoenix moved to the city in southern New South Wales in November and are scheduled to play ‘‘home’’ games there for the foreseeable future.
Phoenix general manager David Dome last week said he was hopeful of playing some games in Wellington late in the season once there was a transtasman bubble.
‘‘We have identified games at the end of April that we could play here in New Zealand — that’s still quite some time away. We are still planning on that happening but again it depends on how long this Covid cluster lasts,’’ Dome said.
After moving to Australia to complete the 201920 season, the Phoenix played seven straight games across the Tasman, meaning it will be more than a year between games played in Wellington.