Football Season Guide

Won the NPL New South Wales recently. They finished second in a terrific battle for top spot between themselves and North West Sydney Spirit in the league phase but ultimately won the play-off final after the latter were surprisingly knocked out in an earlier round. APIA Leichhardt won the final 2-1 against Rockdale. It's all good news for them ahead of this campaign. In addition to having Muata-Marlow and Segreto back from bad injuries, the club has merged with Wests Ashfield (hence the new name of Wests APIA FC) with the goal of reaching national competition. There'll almost certainly be a replacement required from bankrupt Western United in the A-League - why not this new-look outfit? Their attack looks absolutely lethal right now. Ortiz scores a lot. Stewart is very dangerous out wide. Symons gets forward a lot from FB to support their attacks. It's arguably going to be the best in the Australian Championship, and it'll certainly give them a fighting chance of winning the competition. Defence is a worry though. Kelly and Ricciuto are dominant CBs, and both have had good campaigns. However, impressive performances from Joel Bertolissio (especially against Melbourne City in the Australian Cup) saw him plucked by Newcastle Jets recently. Whether deployed at RB or CDM, he'll be sorely missed in this squad. What determines the success or failure of this team will quite literally be how many goals they score. They're going to be less capable defensively for reasons already mentioned but they are going to do a lot of damage themselves. Entertainment should be guaranteed, especially with a derby against Sydney United looming in the group phase.