Western United has reached another milestone in its short history, announcing its inaugural squad for the 2021 NPL3 Victoria season as well as the addition of two coaches.
The announced squad will make up the NPL3 Seniors’ and NPL3 Under 21’s teams for United’s upcoming campaigns, which are set to kick off on Sunday, 21 March.
NPL Seniors Head Coach Ante Moric is pleased with what he has seen from the squad so far and believes they have bought into the Club’s values.
“The first two weeks have been really positive,” Moric said.
“We’ve had a chat with the boys and the mindset and the culture that we’ve spoken about has been great.
“The boys don’t know each other which is hard, but they’ve come in and they’re believing, they’re working together.
“Most importantly there’s a togetherness here, I can see it already.
“That’s the framework of becoming a successful football club.”
United can also confirm that former New Zealand international Vaughan Coveny has been appointed Head Coach of the Under 21’s team, while Roy Hunter will be Goalkeeper Coach for both the Seniors and Under 21’s.
Coveny made over 300 national league appearances as a player across the National Soccer League and A-League, while also representing his country 64 times.
After a decorated playing career, Coveny has taken on a number of coaching and administration roles, including South Melbourne FC Head Coach, Melbourne Victory Youth Team Development Coach, and Essendon Royals Head of Football.
Hunter meanwhile has over a decade of experience as the Goalkeeper Coach of several Victorian NPL clubs, including South Melbourne, Bentleigh Greens, and Oakleigh Cannons.
Hunter was also Goalkeeper Coach of the Victorian Institute of Sport between 2009 and 2010 and for the Nike Football Academy Australia between 2014 and 2015.
United’s GM of Football Ante Kovacevic believes the NPL squads will be a breeding ground of future Western United footballers.
“Establishing our NPL teams is vitally important to the club. It will provide opportunities to the next generation of footballers to feed into our A-League team in the coming years,” Kovacevic said.
“We want to have these young players provided with an elite environment that help instill the values and expectations of a professional football club.
“We’d also like to thank the NPL clubs that have assisted in nurturing these players throughout their development, and hopefully we can share in the satisfaction of seeing the players go on to bigger and better things in their football careers.”
The Western United NPL program will be based out of City Vista Reserve in Caroline Springs with the squad’s training schedule aligning with the A-League program.
The Club plans to establish additional NPL teams from 2022.
2021 Western United NPL3 Squad
| Name | Suburb |
|
Manylauk Aguek |
Truganina |
| Jake Anagnostopoulos | Lalor |
| Alex Baker | Ocean Grove |
| Adisu Bayew | St Albans |
| Rhys Bozinovski | Taylors Lakes |
| Ben Collins | Rosanna |
| Ajak Deu | Hoppers Crossing |
| Nathan Dib | Sunbury |
| Charlie Emery | Werribee |
| Samuel Ghobrial | Kealba |
| Noah Holmes | Keysborough |
| Sabit James | Wyndham Vale |
| Eligian Kifle | Rockbank |
| Luka Krstevski | Mill Park |
| Leighton Lauton | Delacombe |
| Peter Lay | Meadown Heights |
| Lucas Makridis | Reservoir |
| Bryce Munro | Lower Plenty |
| Sebastian Neceski | Delahey |
| Xavier Norton | North Warrandyte |
| Jalil Regague | Wendouree |
| Luka Romic | Bulleen |
| Luka Rudan | Strathmore |
| Greg Siamoa | Malvern East |
| Giovanni Stellitano | Attword |
| William Thomason | Essendon |
| James Tountas | Doncaster |
| Kristian Tramontana | Reservoir |
| Abel Walatee | Caroline Springs |
