Morale is sky high at Corrimal going into the 2017 season. Having run away with the District League ladder last year and, having made it through to the Final of the pre-season Fraternity Cup, this is a team that has a bit of a winning habit. And that can propel teams to the top, even when they have just been promoted, as the Rangers have.

Coach John Fleming may not have many great expectations in the pre-season tournament, but for Corrimal to have reached the Final via victory over last season’s Grand Final winners, and a team that had just hammered last season’s Ladder title winners is an extraordinary achievement.

Picton Rangers showed last year what a newly-promoted side can do in the IPL. Corrimal will be looking to match that, at least.

Players to watch

Save Treneski and Mark Picciolini shared the District League Golden Boot award in 2016 with 26 goals apiece. They’ve already hit seven goals between them in the pre-season Cup so it doesn’t look as if there is any let-up there, and Mark’s brother Luke makes almost as many goals as he scores, also at this level.

Corrimal have signed up four players from South Coast United, including Robbie Brown at the back and Aden Wade and Oliver Carrasco in midfield, with gloveman Jason Bleakley making up the foursome. The other new keeper Alex Baird is another guy used to winning, having come up to NSW from St Albans Saints, who have just won the NPL 2 in Victoria. Tim Wylie is another new signing, from Wollongong United, but I wonder how many starting elevens he’ll appear in with the Treneski/Picciolini pairing doing so well.

Season expectation

Judging by pre-season results, the sky’s the limit for Corrimal, who may be sneakily hoping for a Leicester City-style ambush of the Premier League. The opening three Rounds of the season could tell us a lot about the Rangers will fare at this level: they start at home to Port Kembla, then take on Wollongong Olympic and Kemblawarra Fury. Get through those unscathed, and we could be looking at Finals contenders. I think Corrimal will settle well at this level, but I don’t expect them to end higher than seventh in the ladder at the end of the 22 Rounds.