Walter Pless on Football

By Walter Pless

The Tasmanian senior state men’s team will be in action for the first time in more than a decade when they take on a South Australian amateur representative side at KGV Park on Friday at 7.30pm and at Launceston’s Mitsubishi Park on Saturday at 2.30pm.

The Tasmanian side was chosen after the two recent north versus south intrastate representative games.

Tom Roach will captain the Tasmanians, who have worked a lot on set-pieces at training this week, as well as on fitness.

The home side is likely to line up in a 3-5-2 formation for Friday’s opening match and the team is likely to be in the care of assistant coach Tom McGinn as coach Eamonn Kelly is reported to be entering hospital for surgery.

Frank Mainella is likely to be in goal, while Nathan Pitchford is likely to get a start between the posts in Saturday’s match.

The back-three is likely to comprise Andrew Telega, Ryan Smith and Henry Fagg, while the midfield combination seems certain to be Roach, Bart Beecroft, Jonathon Ladic, Billy Gasparinatos and Jonathon Lo.

Aaron Brazendale and possibly Chris McKenna will lead the attack.

Northerners Alex Brownlie and Thataetsile Kakadumane are likely to get their chance on Saturday, while no-one seems certain whether Ben Crosswell will make an appearance as he has not attended training.

The South Australians do not represent the top tier of soccer in that State, although they have performed well at national amateur championships and won the Australian title four times since 2001.

Friday’s game will be the first time the team have played together in serious competition, although they have been training for six weeks and have played two practice matches.

The coach is Eric Norman, a former player with Adelaide Juventus. He also once played with Launceston Juventus.

The South Australians are due to arrive in Hobart on Thursday at 5.30pm and may have a light training session on Friday prior to the evening’s game.

Tasmania drew 0-0 with a top-flight South Australian State side at South Hobart in the early 1960s.

Tasmania’s most recent performances were in the early 1990s and included a 3-0 loss to J-League side Nagoya Grampus Eight at North Hobart in 1993, a 5-4 loss to New South Wales, coached by Rale Rasic, at South Hobart, and a 2-0 loss to Victoria at South Hobart.

The South Australian squad is: Brian Gale, Tyson Vickery (St Peter’s O/C), Robby Greenwood, Paul Jones (Ingle Farm), David Ironside (Stirling District), Drago Klajic (USC Lion), Martin Barber (Riverland), Tony Reeves, Roberto Fuda, Sean Butler, Matthew Andrews (Elizabeth Downs), Scott Wilson (Salisbury Inter), Tony Scalzi, Rick Cerrachio (Adelaide Villa), Trevor Elliott (Salisbury Florina), Michael Brooks (Elizabeth Vale); Eric Norman (Coach), Gary Collis (Assistant Coach), John Brown (Trainer), Hugh McGibbon (Manager).