Tara Murray
St Albans Saints have locked in their coach and are starting to put together a squad for next year’s National Premier League season.
Cameron Watson took over as coach part way through the season and managed to do enough to secure the club’s spot in the top flight.
The club recently announced his re-signing and a revamped coaching group.
Watson said it was good to be locked in with plenty of work underway.
“It got done not long after the season,” he said. “I’ve now been changing the squad and making a lot of progress ahead of what is a competitive 2025.
“I think the competition is going to be a lot stronger.”
Joining Watson in the coaching group is Billy Celeski, who has re-signed, goalkeeper coach Tony Belica and Tom Pondeljak, who will be an assistant coach.
Watson said it was a no-brainer to bring Belica and Pondeljak into the coaching group.
“Tommy is a well known person at the club and the career he has had as well,” he said. “He’s a good friend of mine.
“Tony has been with the Western United women’s team. They’re two good appointments and add a lot of value to the team.”
As for the squad, Watson is putting his imprint on the list. He said there would be a number of changes.
“So far we’ve got seven new faces and we’ll leave one or two spots for the pre-season,” he said. “We’ll look a little bit different.”
Watson said he was looking forward to the pre-season and getting to work with the squad and put it all together.
“With so many new players coming in it’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”
The club will start pre-season on November 15. After having done a lot of work since the 2024 season finished, Watson said he was hoping to take it a little bit easier the next few weeks.
He said the club was in a good position going forward.
“We’ve got some new players and a lot of things going on at the club,” he said. “Everyone is going in the same direction.
“There’s a lot going on in the background.”
