Illawarra Mercury Premier League First Grade Grand Final

This season’s Illawarra Mercury Premier League Grand Final has all the elements needed for a feast of footballing talent in the region.

Some may have been surprised at Wollongong United’s victory over Bulli in the Preliminary Final last weekend, but actually United and today’s opponents Dapto Dandaloo Fury are the two in-form teams based on results from the last ten weeks.

United’s 2-0 defeat to Bulli in the Qualifying Final was its only loss in 16 competitive matches, a run that has included two wins over Dapto Dandaloo in both the League and the Bert Bampton Cup Final.

Since its two successive home defeats in June (including the 2-3 loss to Wollongong Utd), the Fury has been on an extraordinary run of its own, with nine league wins out of ten, and it took the Premier League title by a comfortable margin of nine points.

Confidence will be high in both camps, though potentially United will go into this game feeling they have the psychological advantage, having defeated the Fury 2-0 the last time the two teams played out a Final in August.

By reversing their defeat to Bulli in the Qualifying Final, though, United themselves showed that past results are not necessarily a guide for future performance.

These two sides have the stingiest defences in this season’s Premier League, conceding only 23 and 24 goals respectively through the regular season. The difference between the two teams may come in attack, where Dapto Dandaloo have amassed 78 goals, almost twice the number scored by United, at 40 for the 22-match league season.

Key Players

Mitchell Blowes, Sam Munro and Vaughan Patterson have appeared in every Fury game this season, with Patterson scoring both goals in the Fury’s win at United back in April. Ex A-League star Alvin Ceccoli can win a game single-handedly, with his precision passing and superb set-piece play all over the park. And with 15 goals from 15 starts, striker Robbie Shields is a threat to any defence at this level .

Japanese pairing Moto Kinjo and Daisuke Yuzawa, along with Dan Chapman, are United’s threesome not to miss a game this term. Yuzawa scored one of United’s goals in their 3-2 win at the Fury in June, though it’s Johnny Martinoski who seems to have caused the Fury defence most problems, with goals in both the League and Cup wins. Karouna Michael in midfield and Matt Floro up front are always likely to create something. But possibly the most important player in United’s eleven will be centre-back Brendan Reilly. How he squares up to Shields could decide this game.

 

 

 

Youth Grade

Like last season, Bulli’s Youth Grade team ran away with the League Championship, finishing, just as in 2014, eleven points clear of the second placed team. Bulli will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s Grand Final, when they lost to Wollongong United 3-2.

With three wins already this season against today’s opponents Dapto Dandaloo Fury, Bulli will start this Grand Final with confidence.

Bulli’s Semi Final win over the Fury was a close-run affair, though, with just Lewis Clements’ goal separating the two sides. And the Fury find themselves in the Grand Final thanks to wins over Albion Park in the Qualifying Final and Port Kembla in last weekend’s Preliminary Final.

Although eleven points separated the two teams in the final Youth Grade ladder, they actually have very similar goalscoring ability (83 for Bulli to Dapto Dandaloo’s 82) and equally solid defences (23 goals conceded by the Fury; 20 by Bulli).

Some of Dapto Dandaloo’s wins this season have seen extraordinary scorelines of 14-0 or 10-0. Bulli have one 9-0 victory to their name in the regular season, but tend to do the job without demolishing their opponents. That said, they have won 15 games on the trot and have to go into this one as favourites.

Key players

With his hat-trick in last weekend’s Preliminary Final win over Port Kembla and his two goals in the 3-2 Qualifying Final win over Albion Park, Lee Kizi showed he is the man to watch up front for the Fury. He now has 22 goals to his name at Youth Grade this season. Ethan Kambisiosis is the Fury’s second top scorer, with eleven goals, one of which also came in the Albion Park Finals match.

Dylan Lewis scored 24 goals in just 13 Youth Grade matches before transferring to Bulli’s First Grade. He’s available for this Youth Grade Grand Final so will certainly bolster Bulli’s attack. Brendan Pattman with 15 goals and Bradley Strudwick with 12 are Bulli’s other names to watch up front.

Under 18s

It’s first against fourth from the final Ladder in the Under-18s League.

Dapto Dandaloo ran out easy winners of the League Title and have won their last six matches, including booking their place in this Grand Final with a win over Wollongong Olympic 2-1.

Tarrawanna Blueys got here the hard way, first beating Port Kembla 2-1 to start their Finals run, and then overcoming Wollongong Olympic on penalties after the two sides fought out a 2-2 draw in the Preliminary Final.

Many would mark Dapto Dandaloo as the clear favourites for this one given their form over the course of the whole season, but the one team they have failed to beat in the regular season was Tarrawanna Blueys, who managed a draw in both home and away fixtures.

- Simon Duffin -

- Picture courtesy of Fotosportz -