A changing of the guard will take place at Green Gully Cavaliers in the National Premier League next season.
The Cavs, back-to-back champions of the Victorian Premier League in 2011 and ’12 and 2013 Dockerty Cup winners, have undergone a significant makeover to usher in a new era.
The only notable returnees from last year’s squad at this stage are goalkeeper Kieran Gonzales, defender Rodrigo Vargas and striker Mathew Sanders.
Otherwise the line-up is all new.
Cavs general manager Raymond Mamo told Star Weekly drastic changes were long overdue.
“The recruiting has been pretty busy this year,” Mamo said. “We’ve had to look at a new playing group basically.
“Every year you should turn players over, which we haven’t done for quite a while now.
“Having said that, the teams that we did have for those number of years were successful, so that made it hard.
“It was time that the club brought in some new faces.”
Coach Slobode Stojcevski has almost a blank canvas to work from.
Stojcevski was reappointed to the role after impressing as caretaker coach towards the back end of last season. He will be assisted again by Nick Radecki.
The disassembling of last year’s squad has reinvigorated the dressing room and positions that veterans previously occupied are up for grabs and some of the new faces are generating a buzz of excitement.
Nikola Markovski, a striker with professional experience in Macedonia and Greece, has been training the house down. He was brought into the Cavs with a view to scoring goals – and plenty of them.
“I’m pretty excited with this signing,” Mamo said.
“He’s played at a very good level overseas and it would be equivalent to A-League.
“He looks very good on the training track, so I’m hoping that he’ll bring a few goals to the club.”
The Cavs have brought in exciting young imports Matthew Breeze and Vitaka Rodriguez to bolster the attack.
The pair both played with FC Bendigo in NPL1 last season.
Breeze, a one-time professional with Peterborough United and Worcester City in England, is a hard-working winger with a keen eye for a goal.
Rodriguez, a Spaniard who was once a youth team player at La Liga club Real Betis and played senior football for Tenerife, will excite with his skill and vision in the attacking midfield position.
The Cavs have also brought in goalkeeper Rani Dowisha, once on the books at Melbourne Victory; midfielder Tom Murphy, the young player of the year for Far North Queensland FC in the NPLQ; versatile defender Amadu Koroma out of nearby Port Melbourne Sharks; and Alon Blumgart, a former Melbourne Heart youth player from Bendigo. Blumgart is rated so highly that he is seen as the likely replacement in a defensive midfield post for outgoing veteran Jeffrey Fleming.
It is just over a month until Green Gully fans get to see their new boys in action.
The Cavs will kick off the NPL season in a Monday night showdown with Northcote City at Green Gully Reserve on February 23.
