This weekend marks the beginning of the Central League and the Southern League, and the captain of Wellington Olympic, shares his insights on the upcoming 2024 season.

- How’s the preparation going?

For ourselves, relative to Auckland City and Christchurch, we had the benefit of a shorter pre -season coming in, which meant playing some important games quite early on. So from that perspective it’s been quite a good place to be when preparing for the National League. We’ll start obviously in the Central League initially and then hopefully we can get the qualification to the National League.

As a team we're feeling good. We feel like we’re starting to hit our straps as much as we can at this point in the season and yeah, football is well and truly under way in our camp. We’ll look to build and continue to build on this as the season goes on.

- You started the season winning a title and scoring lot of goals again, do you think that’s the strongest part of the team?

Yeah, the core of the team has been together for a long time now (four or five years) and we’ve just been adding pieces sort of continuously throughout that period. Scoring goals is never really been an issue for us. As much as I hate to say it as a centre back, a lot of our focus has had to be on the other side of the coin - keeping goals out of our own net. But, scoring goals, that's definitely been a strength of ours. Naturally, we've got some really creative players and we play a very aggressive attacking style of football.

- After winning the league last year, what would you consider as a good year for WO?

 In the Central League edition we were the back to back to back champions last year - the first team to do that - and that was, of course, a really key motivator for us, being able to create history and have a stamp to be the first team to ever do it. Now the conversation has changed a bit in this season. We've got the record now, so we feel we have to go for four back to back wins and make it even harder to beat. That's where our sights are set in the regional league.

Obviously with the National League, we were ecstatic to be able to get that done last year. The goal this year is very simple, it's exactly the same. It's a long season and we have to continue to build. Undoubtedly there'll be roadblocks along the way, as there will be for every team, so we have to remain focused on overcoming those and continuing to grow. This will help to ensure that when we get into that National League season at the end of the competition we will know we’re making it to the final with a fighting chance of getting the business done.

 We're as hungry as ever - especially at the National League level. We've only done it once. Once is a sign of a good team, but if you do it again, twice, well that’s a great team.

- You’ve lost some good players this season, but you also have some exciting new talent in the squad and a new coach. How are you adapting to that as a team?

 We've definitely gone through quite a bit of change from the players' perspective, for example losing players like Gianni Bouzoukis over to Australia. But it's the nature of the game. If you score goals or you’re a golden boot for a National League winning team, you're going to turn some heads. It's sort of the negative of success for the team, if you'd like. It's going to happen year on year, but again on the other side is we now attract players that see a pathway to kick on out of the country. At the end of the day we're an amateur footballing club with a lot of people with very high ambitions. In terms of turnover we just take it on the chin and keep moving.

- The League hasn’t started yet, but in your opinion, what other teams do you see as contenders or as a good opposition for you to fight for the title?

Miramar Rangers – they have signed quite a few top players including Agustin Contratti from Manurewa AFC, who's a fantastic defender as well as a few others.

Napier City Rovers are the same - signed a lot of players so it's nearly a completely new outfit.

Looking to the National League level it's very difficult to not have Auckland City on the list. I think you can also look at Birkenhead United, they picked up quite a few good signings. Another one to watch that's always on the radar would be Auckland United. They always do well, they've got a great academy set up.

- Now looking at your team, who are the players the fans should keep an eye on?

 I think Jack Henry Sinclair obviously, I've never really understood how he's never had that opportunity to kick on at the professional level. But he’s not the only one. You can look at someone like Kailan Gould or Tor Davenport Petersen, who has really improved over the years playing in the midfield for us. In terms of the younger generation, I’d keep my eyes on Isa Prins, Oliver Davies, Oliver Callotty and Jesse Randall, who's come back from Charleston Battery.

- Who do you see as difficult players to play against as a defender?

There's a few and they definitely change every year depending on who's on form. Someone like Ryan De Vries for sure, I feel like we always have a good battle. Angus Kilkolly is another one who brings his own challenges as well. He's a very difficult player to play against.

- Is there anything you would like to shout out to your fans?

 We have a lot of fans from Wellington Olympic that aren't based in Wellington and can't make it to the games, so I think it's quite exciting that a lot more of our games are going to be streamed and that people can tune in regardless of where they are. It'll be awesome to be able to get that support from a larger level.

Article added: Wednesday 27 March 2024