PGFC Academy Head Coach Joe Heath is quietly confident that his young squad have what it takes to flourish in this year’s NPL WA competition which opens this Saturday with Glory taking on Sorrento FC at Percy Doyle Reserve.
The Academy NPL Team showed significant improvement last term, especially defensively and the likes of Seb Despotovski, Gio De Abreu, Tadi Kuzamba and Ryan Warner were all rewarded with call-ups to the ALM squad.
A new clutch of talented youngsters will be looking to emulate them this year and Heath is looking forward to seeing how they acquit themselves following an encouraging display in the pre-season Night Series tournament.
“It [the Night Series] was an opportunity to look at the players that we’ve just brought up from the lower age group and see how they adapted to playing against men,” he said.
“Last year they played a full season against Under-23s and it’s different when you step up and play against older, more experienced players.
“The team has changed a bit since last year, the dynamics of it and it takes a while to get used to each other
“Plus, of course, it was about trying to find some consistency before we go into the season.
“We were a little bit inconsistent with our performances in Night Series, but I feel I’ve seen enough from the group to know that they can pick up points throughout the season and push on up the table.”
Heath went on to reveal that greater defensive solidity is something the squad have been working on in the run up to Saturday’s season-opener.
“The more clean sheets you keep, the higher up the league you can push and we didn’t do that in Night Series,” he said.
“We conceded nine goals in five games which is not like us from last season, but it’s a work in progress.
“We went through each of those nine goals one by one the other night to see where we could have avoided some of them.”
The Head Coach also confirmed that he is expecting this year’s NPL to be highly-competitive.
“I think a lot of teams have improved this year from what I’ve seen in Night Series,” he said.
“Perth SC are looking good and [Olympic] Kingsway, of course, will be strong.
“Obviously I can only go off the teams that we played, but a lot of the teams are looking strong.
“Any opposition at NPL level is going to be difficult to play against.
“We’ve got a team full of 16 and 17-year-olds playing against men, so every game we go into is going to be a challenge and this one at Sorrento won’t be any different this weekend.”
The NPL Team’s fixture kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, following on from the younger age groups whose games start at 11am and 1pm respectively.
With the Sam Kerr Football Centre being used as an AFC Women’s Asian Cup training venue, Glory’s first six games of the season will all be played away from home.
Click HERE for the full PGFC Academy NPL Team season fixtures.
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NPL Season Preview: Heath backing new-look young squad to flourish
