A League Ins and Outs

WHILE most A-League players were on holiday during April, there has been plenty of movement among the clubs as they all look to revamp their squads for next season.

Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory have had to delay their off-season break due to their participation in the AFC Champions League, but that has not stopped them adjusting their player rosters accordingly. Adelaide United have re-signed Nathan Burns (2 years), Lucas Pantelis (2 years), Michael Valkanis (1 year), Angelo Costanzo (1 year) and Daniel Beltrame (1 year) as well as adding Sasa Ognenovski from Queensland Roar (2 years) and Daniel Mullen from the AIS (1 year), with Bobby Petta, Dez Giraldi, Shaun Ontong, Robert Bajic and Milan Susak released by the club.

Melbourne Victory bolstered their squad for the AFC Champions League with the resigning of Daniel Vasilevski (2 years), Steven Pace (2 years) and Nick Ward (1 year) as well as adding Billy Celeski (Perth Glory – 1 year) and Tom Pondeljak (Central Coast Mariners – 2 years), with youngster Nathan Elasi and goalkeeper Steve Mautone on board as a short-term signings to provide cover during Asia’s premier club competition. The Victory released Adrian Caceres and Ljubo Milicevic.

Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Finalists, the Central Coast Mariners, have had to rebuild following the departure of John Aloisi (end of contract), Tom Pondeljak (Melbourne Victory), Alvin Ceccoli (released) and the retirement of Tony Vidmar. Coach Lawrie McKinna has rewarded loyalty and performance by offering revised contracts to Nigel Boogaard (2 years), John Hutchinson (2 years), Mile Jedinak (2 years), Brad Porter (2 years), Matt Simon (2 years) and has also added Adrian Caceres from Melbourne Victory (2 years), Ahmad Elrich (Wellington Phoenix – 2 years) and former Australian Youth international Dylan Macallister from Norwegian club FC Lyn Norway (2 years).

Hyundai A-League 2008 Champions, the Newcastle Jets, will see a very different squad at pre-season training compared with the one that held the Championship trophy aloft at the Sydney Football Stadium in February. Gary Van Egmond has shown faith in his younger players and re-signed Tarek Elrich (2 years), Adam D'Apuzzo (2 years) and goalkeeper Ben Kennedy (2 years), whilst recently adding former Adelaide United Shaun Ontong (2 years) and young AIS striker Jason Naidovski (2 years). Leaving EnergyAustralia Stadium are Andrew Durante (Wellington Phoenix), Mark Bridge (Sydney FC), Denni (released), Jorge Drovandi (released), Steve Eagleton (retired), Troy Hearfield (Wellington Phoenix), Mario Jardel (released), Paul Kohler (released), Stuart Musialik (Sydney FC), Scott Tunbridge (released). With plenty of room left in the roster, Van Egmond is about to embark on a European scouting trip to eye potential signings. On his return to Australia, he will detour via Japan to assess the form of his star striker Joel Griffiths who is currently on loan at Avispa Fukuoka in the J-League Division 2.

David Mitchell begins his first full season as the Head Coach of Perth Glory and has the opportunity to construct a squad of his own. Jamie Harnwell (2 years), Jamie Coyne (2 years), James Robinson (1 year), David Tarka (1 year), Jimmy Downey (2 years)and Naum Sekulovski (1 year) have been re-signed and local Western Australian Josip Magdic and Ivorian Eugene Dadi have also been added to the club. The departure of Simon Colosimo (Sydney FC), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Billy Celeski (Melbourne Victory) and Stan Lazaridis (released) will still leave Mitchell with a number of positions to full before the season starts.

Queensland Roar coach Frank Farina has travelled to Brazil during the off-season to visit Atletico Mineiro on a fact finding mission and will also be looking to add some new names to his team sheet after losing Sasa Ognenovski (Adelaide United), Reinaldo (Busan I'Park, Korea Republic), Simon Lynch (released) and Marcinho (released). Local favourites Josh McLoughan and Griffin McMaster have both been rewarded with 2 year contracts each. Young Queenslanders Tim Smits (Rochedale Rovers - QLD, 2 years) and David Dodd (Palm Beach - QLD, 2 years) along with AIS pair of Luke Devere and Isaka Cernak the have also recently joined the club for pre-season training.

Sydney FC has signed Qantas Socceroo John Aloisi (2 years) as the club’s new marquee player along with Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory – 2 years), Stuart Musialik (Newcastle Jets – 2 years) and Mark Bridge (Newcastle Jets – 3 years). Leaving Sydney are former club captain Mark Rudan (Avispa Fukuoka, Japan), Ufuk Talay (Avispa Fukuoka, Japan), David Zdrilic (released), Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County, England), Patrick (released) and Ben Vidaic (released), whilst Adam Biddle (to Blacktown City, NSW), Ivan Necevski (to Blacktown City, NSW), Nick Tsattlios (to Penrith Nepean, NSW) are all keeping sharp with a stint in the NSW Premier League.Although any deal to bring Juninho back to Sydney under the salary cap is understood to have fallen through, the club has yet to formally notify the FFA that he has been released ahead of next season.

After their inaugural season in the Hyundai A-League competition, the Wellington Phoenix has resigned Vince Lia (2 years) and added New Zealand International and Wellington local Leo Bertos from Perth Glory (2 years) and fellow Kiwi Ben Sigmund (Auckland City, NZ - 1 year) . Australians’ Andrew Durante (2 years - Newcastle Jets), Troy Hearfield (2 years - Newcastle Jets) and Jon McKain (2 years - from Politechnica Timisoara, Romania*) as well as Chinese import Lei lei Gao (MyPa, Finland) have also taken up new contracts in the New Zealand capital. Leaving the Phoenix are the foundation captain Ross Aloisi (retired), Steven O’Dor (released), Cleberson (released), George Paladini (released), Ahmad Elrich (Central Coast Mariners), Felipe (released), Kristian Rees (short-term player, released), Jacob Spoonley (released) and Steven Old (Macarthur Rams, NSW Premier League).

With still around three and half months to the kick-off of the Hyundai A-League 2008-09 season, Football Federation Australia will provide further updates at the end of May and June and again at the start of the season in August.