Monday 9 November 2015

What will be of Melbourne Knights in 2016?

With pre season not too far away and clubs announcing their new arrivals, some might be asking how we are looking for next season. Seems like for whatever reason we like leaving it late or are just a lot more secretive than everyone else. Let's start with looking at last years side.

Goalkeeper of the year
2015 Keeper of the year Chris May (Photo: Melbourne Knights)

Chris May - Goalkeeper of the year for good reason, had his best season since joining us in 2013 and most will never forget South Melbourne at home. Should be retained.

Ben Surey - Been at the club longest together with Anthony Colosimo, over 100 games and still just as good as ever. Definitely worth retaining.

Milan Batur - Solid in the backline. Grew up with the club, wouldn't expect see him playing anywhere else.

Tomislav Uskok - Already in Sydney and returning in 2017, will be missed in the middle of the park. Do we look for a 1 year replacement? Probably.

Christopher Talajic - Struggled with injuries prior to this year, performed well enough. Should be pushing for a starting place every week if he can stay injury free.

James McGarry - Quality player. Recovered well after his injury in 2014. Will be useful in the middle of the park next year.

Marijan Cvitkovic - Has proven he can be the best player in the state when injury free. Will be an asset if he can stay fit for most of season.

Anthony Colosimo - Longest serving player with Ben. Been pretty consistent over the years. Doesn't belong anywhere else.

Ivan Grgic - Worked his way to the top pretty fast. Will be a long term player unless he takes the next step.

Rodrigo Covarrubias - Will unfortunately struggle to get a starting position with Stipo as the preferred lone striker. Good to have as a back up.

Alex Dao - Can't see him as a regular starter. With a few signings might not even make the bench if he is still around.

Rob Zadworny - Great mid season pick up and good replacement for Alinejad. Look forward to him running a muck next season.

Josh Brekalo - Did very well after the switch from the lower state leagues. Should be pushing for a starting place most weeks if he can keep the same form and injury free.

Michael O'Farrell - Don't get to see much of him, always hard with a second keeper. Not really a position I am too concerned about.

2015 Melbourne Knights B&F Stipo Andrijasevic (Photo: FFT)

Stipo Andrijasevic - Worthy winner of the club B&F. Took the piss most weeks and frequently found the back of the net after Barisic departed. Would definitely have him as number 1 striker for 2016.

From what I can gather everyone that we want to retain will more than likely be retained, which is a good start. 

There some to be a few disgruntled people down at North Geelong who are claiming that we have swooped for more than one of their players in the off season, which is fair enough considering we already snatched Zadworny mid season. But I guess it's better that they are coming to us rather than going to any other NPL side, especially if they have already spent some time at the club as juniors. Ideally we would send a couple of fringe players down to help them out, but it's not easy to convince someone to leave the Knights and head out to Geelong 3 or 4 times a week to play a division lower. But judging by the depth of the squad last year and the injury plague the year before, it doesn't seem like a luxury we can afford at the moment anyway.

And in coaching news, I would suggest Stabba and Frank are hanging around as I haven't heard otherwise.

Let's just hope we start seeing some good news popping up in our news feeds in the coming weeks, as with the addition of a couple of quality starting players, we should definitely be up there again in 2016.