IRYMPLE Knights are “buzzing” with the return of premiership coach John Mihaljevic ahead of the 2021 S-League season.
Senior striker and multiple league golden boot winner Chris Romeo said Mihaljevic, who steered the team to the 2016-17 Football Federation Sunraysia senior men’s titles, would be a “huge boost” for the side as it enters pre-season training.
“We all trust him and know what he can do with the group, so everyone is happy to have him back,” Romeo said.
“They (the players) look up to John as a coach, but they also look up to him as a friend and it’s important to have that sort of a relationship.
“He’s also very open to other opinions. Everyone has different egos and ways of dealing with things and John knows how to manage everybody, which is great. You only want one person calling the shots.”
As momentum builds for the coming season, the Knights have also been working on keeping the club going.
“Keeping money turning over through the club and keeping the squad as a tight unit,” Romeo said.
“We trained all the way up until April (last year) in the hope we’d get some kind of a season in but when we found out the season wasn’t going ahead we still tried to stick together once a week to try to keep everybody together and fit for this season.”
Player numbers across the club were stronger than ever, Romeo said.
“Everybody is buzzing at the moment. We just started officially training a week ago and everyone has hit the ground running,” he said.
“No one can wait. We’ve been getting good numbers and everyone is so excited to have a kick.
“Because of COVID there’s probably some kids and players we thought would have moved away for work or for university who may have stayed here due to COVID … it may work in our favour.
Romeo said backpackers also normally “blow into the club” each year to boost playing stocks.
In preparation for the season, the side is focused on getting the players fit and reacquainted on the field.
“Because we had last year off, it’s time to pick up from where we left off two years ago and build on that,” Romeo said.
Financially rebuilding after a lost season is also a challenge for the club as it seeks to find new sponsors and revenue avenues.
“We’ll get our old clubrooms up and running again and use them as function rooms; so that’s one way to make money,” Romeo said.
“Hopefully there’s no COVID and we can get a season under way.”
