The draw for the men’s metro cup competition was made today and here are the games featuring our local sides.

Mindarie (Div 4) v Warnbro Strikers (South Div 4)

AFC Rockingham (Div 1) v Kalamunda United (South Div 3)

Baldivis (Div 1) v Fremantle City

Peel United v Queens Park (South Div 3)

Baldivis (Div 3) v Kalgoorlie College

Yanchep United v Baldivis (Div 2)

Murray District Rangers v Leeming Strikers (Div 1)

Kingsley Westside (Div 1) v AFC Rockingham (Div 3)

Tuart Hill (Div 5) v Port Kennedy

Games to be played on Sunday 2nd April 2023

The 4th round draw of the Australia Cup was made today and our two remaining clubs now know who they are going to face.

Rockingham City are at home to NPL side Cockburn City

Mandurah City are away to fellow state league side Western Knights

Games to be played on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd April

An early look at the weekend’s games due to football being played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday, the State League season kicks off as Mandurah City host newly promoted Gosnells City. Mandurah, fresh from the night series win, should be regarded as hot favourites for this game, but Gosnells may still have the momentum from their promotion for last year. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.

Saturday is a busy day for football. At 11am, Mandurah City play Gosnells City in the State League Under 18’s at home, while Rockingham City travel to Forrestfield United. Both games kick off at 11am.

At 1pm, the same fixtures happen, but in the State League Reserves League, while at 3pm, Rockingham City kick off their State League program at Forrestfield United. Forrestfield United didn’t have the best night series this year and were knocked out by division 2 side Swan United in the Australia Cup last week, so Rockingham must feel they have a great chance of winning this game.

There are also two other games that kick off at 3pm on Saturday. At Kelly Park, Kwinana, Peel United play Port Kennedy for a place in the semi-final of the Men’s Amateur Night series competition. Peel need win to progress while Port Kennedy just need a point. as announced earlier in the week, there will always be action at Lark Hill on Saturday as the Perth Glory NPL side are using the venue as its base for the season and on Saturday, they host Armadale in the NPL.

Sunday only has the one game of note and what an important game it is. Port Kennedy’s Womens League side are in the semi-final of the Night Series and take on UWA Nedlands. Kick off for this game is at 5pm and is being played at the home of UWA Nedlands.

As ever, we wish all our teams the best of luck.

Mandurah City vice captain, Georgia Aiesi is hoping to represent Samoa in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in the sport of Judo.

Speaking to the Absolutely famous website, the 23 year-old from Perth in Western Australia a champion soccer player, she’s now chasing an Olympic dream in a totally different sport, Judo.

That’s she’s even competing in any sport shows the remarkable resilience and determination this hugely talented athlete has because even at her young age she has endured three ankle and a shoulder reconstruction and after the third ankle one her surgeon told her she wouldn’t play sport again.

Georgia is a talented soccer star having taken up the sport as a four year-old and going on to represent Western Australia internationally on three tours, winning the golden boot on all three for most goals and named MVP on two of them.

She recently captained Hammersley Rovers and her team won their league three season in a row. Georgia now plays for Mandurah City and is vice-captain of that side.

After her third surgery she began the long road to recovery yet again and making it back to competitive soccer was a tough road.

During her rehab she started judo in 2021 and immediately shone in that sport. Despite her massive injury set backs, Georgie is fiercely competitive and the disciplines learnt in judo gave her extra strength of mind and body to rehab and be able to compete again.

Her judo career began with an upset win in an international competition in Perth and she went on to win a silver medal. Her second competition was the Australian nationals where she won gold at her first attempt.

Also from 2021 when as he took up judo she shed 30kg through a carefully managed process supported by coaches and personal trainers, a nutritionist and a physiotherapist.

Sport runs in the family genes, her dad Simon played rugby for the Balmain Tigers and her mum Linda excelled at basketball. She has two siblings, brother Marcus and sister Emileka who are both also going down the sporting path.

The Aiesi family moved first from Samoa to New Zealand before migrating to Western Australia.

She is currently working closely with the Oceania Federation to secure a place in the Samoan national team. She has Samoan heritage through her dad who was born in Samoa and competing at the Pacific Games next year is her next goal.

Her ultimate goal is to represent Samoa at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles but first she needs to attain a black belt which she’s well on the way to doing.

Sport isn’t her only focus. Georgia works full-time for a disability support company as Human Resources manager as well as being a receptionist at a martial arts gymnasium.

She trains most days and is studying for a double degree in primary teaching and behavioural science, specialising in disability at the university of Notre Dame in Perth.

Before we start our weekly look as to what has been happening around our grounds, there is a fixture update for this Sunday.

The Women’s Night Series Semi Final draw has been made and Port Kennedy will face UWA Nedlands on Sunday 26th March at the home of UWA Nedlands with a kick off at 5pm. The winners will play either Fremantle City or Hyundai NTC in the final. Good luck to Port Kennedy!

Continuing on with Port Kennedy, their Div 3 Women are seeking a few additional players to strengthen their squad for the upcoming season. In what’s been a great preseason for the squad, they’re hoping to gain a few additional players to ensure numbers are strong throughout the season. If interested, please pop down to training on Mondays and Thursdays at Shoalwater Oval from 6.30pm. The 2nd u12s girls and our u10s girls squads are seeking a few extra players to complete their team for 2023. After a successful season in 2022 for both our Junior Girls and our Women’s teams, PKSC are thrilled to offer these opportunities for our Junior Girls. The 2nd u12s girls and the u10s girls squads are seeking a few extra players to complete their team for 2023.

Rockingham City are hosting a skills acquisition session. Regardless of their club or skill level, all girls are welcome to join and learn valuable techniques that will enhance their football development. This is an exciting opportunity for girls aged 11-16 to participate. All girls, regardless of club are welcome to attend the session on the 29th March.

AFC Rockingham are saying there is still time to lace your boots and get into football. The club range from social football teams over 18s to over 35’s and 45’s, those who want to keep fit and have a kick, and others want to win the champions league, or something more in their league. Please if your keen hit them up with a message, or email them at afcrockingham@gmail.com for more info. Training is mainly on Thursday nights from 6.30pm so come on down.

Baldivis Soccer Club are holding an open day on the 26th March and as well as games being played, the Bar open and a BBQ going on, Derek Minett the new 18s coach is a retired NPL referee and referees coach. He has agreed to host a session during our open day for all parents and juniors who would like to get a better understanding of the rules of the junior game with a view to getting volunteers who will be willing to referee at some of their home games as well as other games.

Mandurah City have continued to improve things off the field by installing new external speakers to enhance the match day experience. Additionally, the club now has 3 new tv screens, and a new projector for the club house and hope this will make the match day experience even better for all that attend.

Rockingham United are looking for players for their Under 13s Mixed team. They require Girls born in 2009, 2010 or 2011 and Boys born in 2010 or 2011. They are a family-friendly club based at the Paul Garnett Reserve in Cooloongup. Training times are Tuesday & Thursday 5:30pm-6:30pm. The football season runs from mid-April to end of September. If your child would like to have a go, just come along to a training session and speak to one of our friendly Committee members at the registration desk. All details are on the clubs new website, please check it out at https://rockinghamunitedfc.com.au

We have had a great response to our prediction league with 20 participants entering. With a real mixed bag of predictions.

It’s great to see members from different clubs having a go.

As far as Esperance soccer club and including members clubs out of the area. It’s good to see 90% of local clubs having a go in this fun competition.

Members from the following clubs have entered.

Rockingham City FC

AFC Rockingham

Peel Utd

FC Shoalwater

Port Kennedy

Balcatta Etna

Gosnells 

Olympic Kingsway

Floreat

Esperance Soccer Club

and of course from the  Next Goal Wins Podcast

With 20 participants

Prizes will be

Winner $650

2nd $250

3rd $100

Last – A football shirt of choice from football tops, kits and boots Australia.

For the NPL, the most common predictions include: Balcatta to be relegated, Red Star to win the league, Cockburn to struggle and newly promoted Olympic Kingsway to finish mid table.

A full listing will be released once the state league predictions have been sorted out.

There was a mixed bag of results for our sides this weekend, who were playing in their respective cup tournaments.

The action started on Saturday morning when the State League Under 18’s cup kicked off as Mandurah City travelled to Joondalup United but by full time, were knock to of this years competition. Although scoreless at half time, Joondalup scored twice in 10 second half minutes through Pulitano and Lancaster and despite an goal in the 89th minute by Rory MacKenzie, Mandurah could not get that second goal to take the game to penalties.

Things didn’t get better for Mandurah’s reserves, who also played Joondalup United. The home side raced into a 3-0 lead by half time and although Jordan Callaghan got a goal back early in the second half, the home side scored twice again to make the final score 5-1.

Things got better for Mandurah in the Australia Cup as two late second half goals from Lydon Hodgkiss and Craig Barker meant they were in the hat for the draw for the next round.

Joining Mandurah in the next round are Rockingham CIty, who had to overcome an early scare in their game with Amateur side Noranda City. The visitors went 1 up with a goal from Marc Eldridge, but this just kicked Rockingham into gear and were 3-1 by half time with goals from Robert Duckmanton (2) and Jayden Leader. Leader went on to get his hat-trick by scoring two more in the second half, while Ryan Kennedy also got on the score sheet to make the final score 6-1 to Rockingham.

In the evening game, Peel United looked like they may have had a chance of a cup upset as they travelled to State League Division 2 side Curtin university, however, with players unavailable, it was a very inexperienced side who played and this showed in the 7-0 win for the home side.

Sunday’s action saw the remaining Australia Cup game featuring our local sides when Port Kennedy made the long trip to Busselton City. The game was played on a very narrow and short pitch and it was the home side who got the only goal on the half hour mark through Lewis McConnon. Despite Port Kennedy’s efforts, they just could not get the equalising goal to take the game further.

On Sunday night, we were at the Women’s League Night Series Game between Mandurah City and Gosnells City. In a game that Mandurah had to win and hope other results went their way, they completely dominated the possession and somehow still managed to lose 1-0, with Gosnells scoring from their only attack of the game. Mandurah must of known that it just wasn’t to be when in the 85th minute a shot came in, hit the left post, rolled along the goal line, hit the right post and was then cleared to safety.

This result meant that Port Kennedy had already qualified for the semi finals stage and they took to the field against Armadale knowing this. There was no sign of complacency as Port Kennedy came away with an easy 5-0 victory. The draw for the semi final is in the next couple of days but we do know that the semi final will be played at the home of UWA Nedlands.

The Next Goal Wins team have partnered up with Nathan Jones to produce a competition to predict the league placings form the NPL, State League Division 1 and Division 2, as well as the amateur competitions.

Time is tight to get your entries in, so please hurry up!

To enter this competition, it will cost $50 to enter but with 70% of all entry fees going to the winner and the remaining 30% to the runner up. The more that enter, the more money you could win!

So what do you have to do?

There are 12 teams in each division. Just select where you predict each team will finish.

Every correct placing gives you 12 points.

If you were 1 place off (You selected 3rd but they came 2nd) you get 11points

2 places off 9 points

3 places off 7 points

4 places off 5 points

5 places off 4 points

6 places off 3 points

7 places off 2 points

8 places off 1 point

If you are 9, 10, 11 or 12 places off, then nil points!

There are also bonus points available, of rate team that scores the most points in the NPL, State League Division 1 and State League Division 2.

Here are you teams and divisions.

NPL	State League Division 1	State League Division 2
ARMADALE	GWELUP	QUINNS
PERTH RED STAR	ROCKINGHAM CITY	CANNING
STIRLING	MANDURAH CITY	WANNEROO
SORRENTO	WESTERN KNIGHTS	KINGSLEY
INGLEWOOD	FREMANTLE	JOONDALUP CITY
OLYMPIC KINGSWAY	MURDOCH	MORLEY
COCKBURN	JOONDALUP UNITED	BALGA
PERTH	FORRESTFIELD	KALAMUNDA
PERTH GLORY	UWA	SWAN UNITED
FLOREAT	SUBIACO	CARRAMAR
BAYSWATER	DIANELLA	CURTIN
BALCATTA	GOSNELLS	ASHFIELD

Over the next couple of weeks, the competition will increased to include a couple of the Amateur divisions and all participants will be emailed the entry for for that.

To enter, you need to email your selections ASAP to Nathan Jones at n8jones72@gmail.com. Nathan will then give instructions on payment.

Remember the NPL starts tonight, so be quick!

It’s a bumper round of cup action and finally, a game in our local area!

Starting all the action are Mandurah City’s Under 18’s State League side who are away to Joondalup United in the State League Under 18’s Cup. Kick off is at 10.30am at Forrest Park in Padbury. Also at Forrest Park, Mandurah City’s reserves are playing Joondalup United’s reserves in their cup competition, with this game kicking off at 12.45pm.

At 3pm on Saturday, its the continuation of the Australia Cup. Mandurah City are away to Joondalup United, while at Lark Hill, Rockingham City host Amateur side Noranda City. The Australia Cup continues into Saturday evening, as Peel United travel to Curtin University for a 5pm kick off at Edinburgh Oval.

Sunday’s cup action starts with Port Kennedy making the long but nice trip down to Busselton City for their Australia Cup game. Kick off is at 3pm, while closer to home, Mandurah City take on Gosnells City in the Women’s League Night Series at 5pm, followed by Armadale against Port Kennedy at 7pm. Both these games are being played at the home of Armadale Soccer Club.

As ever, we would like to wish all our clubs the best of luck this weekend.

This Friday night sees the benefit night for former Mandurah City assistant coach, as well as ex Everton, Grimsby Town and Sheffield Wednesday player Mick Lyons.

Tickets for the event can be bought here https://www.micklyonsevent.com.au and we have been told there are only a handful of tickets remaining.

Along with Mick, there will be some very special guests, who will be talking about their football careers and there is also several auction items up for grabs.

The event starts at 6pm on Friday 17th March at the home of Mandurah City Football Club.

The team at the Next Goal Wins Podcast have been very kindly donated a $50 Rebel Sports voucher to give away to the first junior goalkeeper that contacts us.

The voucher has been very kindly donated by Neil Andrews, who has just written an excellent book about the Zaire team that qualified for the 1974 World Cup Finals. You may need to ask your dad or grandad to see why they were a special team at this tournament!

Neil also runs a website, dedicated to goalkeepers called http://www.goalkeepersaredifferent.com and is your place to read about the known and unknown facts about goalkeepers from around the world.

To win this voucher, the first person that emails us at nextgoalwinspodcast@gmail.com with their name and team the play for, will get the voucher.

Please remember, this is only open to juniors, boys or girls and who are going to play in goal this season for their team in the area this website covers.

Good luck to you all.

AN UPDATE, CONGRATULATIONS TO JAMES CALLAGHAN FROM THE UNDER 13’S NPL SIDE AT MANDURAH CITY FOR WINNING THE VOUCHER

Rockingham City have today announced their latest signing. For the 2023 season, the Perth Glory NPL side will be playing their home games at Lark Hill.

Rockingham City president Karen Banks said that negotiations had been going on for a few months now and that the club were looking forward to this relationship with the NPL side.

Karen also went on to say that her club would benefit from the deal both on and off the pitch and also said that all Rockingham City first team home games would kick off at the later time of 5pm.

Perth Glory’s first home game of the season is on Saturday 25th March against Armadale while Rockingham City have their first home game against UWA Nedlands on Saturday 1st April.

Football West is inviting nominations for potential Life Members.

Company Members, such as Zone Representatives and Standing Committee Chairs, and Directors may nominate people for Life Membership. (For reference, Jim Webb is the Zone Rep for the Peel region)

All nominations received will be forwarded to the Life Membership Committee for consideration.

Members of the football community who think there is somebody worthy of nomination should speak to a Zone Representative or Standing Committee Chair.

The Board will consider the Life Membership Committee’s recommendations and vote to endorse which nominees will be put forward to Members for formal voting at the Annual General Meeting.

Nominations must be submitted by email to company.secretary@footballwest.com.au no later than 5pm on Monday 27 March 2023. Late applications will not be accepted.

For nomination forms, please click here Nomination Form

Congratulations to State League side Mandurah City, who won the Football West State League Night Series final on Saturday night, beating Fremantle City 6-5 on penalties in a very highly entertaining match. Credit is due to Fremantle for their part in this game, which will show everyone that the State League season will be a very exciting one this year.

Mandurah opened the scoring in the first half through Robbie Galvin and then went 2-0 up on the hour mark when Shaun Mukwevho doubled the lead. The old saying that 2-0 is a dangerous lead came true as Fremantle scored 3 times in the next 10 minutes and must have thought they had done enough to win the game, but in the 6th minute in stoppage time, substitute Sam Byrne score a very early goal of the season contender to level the scores and send the match straight to penalties.

With both teams scoring their first 5 penalties, it came down to sudden death. Mukwevho made it 6-5 and the Fremantle player, knowing he had to score to keep the game going, put his penalty over the bar and gave Mandurah the win.

On Sunday, the Womens League Night Series continued with the 2nd round matches. This week was the local derby between Port Kennedy and Mandurah City and it was the ‘home’ side who came out victorious, winning 4-0.

The Men’s Amateur Night Series was also on Sunday. Port Kennedy beat Kwinana United 1-0 while Peel United beat South West Phoenix 2-0. These results now set up a show down in a couple of weeks’ time, when Peel play Port Kennedy. Peel will need a win to progress to the semi-finals, while Port Kennedy only need a point.

There is only one place to start our review of the weekend fixtures, and that is the Football West State League final between Fremantle City and Mandurah City. The match kicks off at 5pm at the home of Bayswater City. There are several ways you can watch the game. First, please attend in person and watch the game live. Admission is only $10 for adults and $5 for concessions. If you are unable to attend the game in person, the Halls Head Cricket Club will show the game live on the projector screen in the clubhouse. Finally, there will be a live stream of the game, just head to the Football West You Tube channel closer to kick off to watch the match.

Speaking to the excellent http://www.footballwa.net Joe O’Brien said “Last week was a very intense game to be a part of, the confidence going into the shootout was very high as the whole squad has a very strong mentality, and it showed a lot of quality to put away all our penalties and save their final one,” he explained. “We’re looking forward to playing Fremantle as they’re a team in great form, so it’ll be a good test for us. We’ve been in this situation before and we’re playing good football so we’re confident we can add another trophy to the cabinet.”

We will be at the ground, providing updates to the game for those who are unable to watch in one form or another. Just head to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Nextgoalwinspod, closer to the kick off for regular updates.

For the remainder of the weekend, there is the second round of the Amateur Night Series competition. On Sunday, Peel United play South West Phoenix at 1pm, while Port Kennedy take on Kwinana United at 3pm. Both these games are being played at Kelly Park, home of Kwinana.

Also on Sunday, the Women’s Night Series competition reaches its second round and Port Kennedy take on Mandurah City, kick off at 7pm at the home of Armadale Soccer Club.

As ever, we would like to wish all our teams the very best of luck for the weekend’s games.

It another week of what’s been happening in and around our grounds. Plenty of squad preparation work being carried out as it’s not long until the start of the season.

Port Kennedy’s under 13s squads are still seeking some additional players to fill some spots on their squads for the 2023 season. If interested, please pop down to training on Tuesday afternoons at Warnbro Oval. (Behind Aqua Jetty) from 6pm.

Mandurah City have announce the re-signing of former Scotland international Leigh Griffiths for the next season Head Coach John Baird said “I am very pleased for everyone involved with the club. To bring Leigh back is a credit and a display of the hard work everyone behind the scenes is putting in. Leigh wanted to come back after understanding our goals for the 2023 season. Leigh’s ability on the pitch is undoubtable. His experience speaks for itself and his signing is an opportunity for him to get back to enjoying his football in a positive and competitive environment. I have had Australian internationals contacting me asking to come down and train because they want to see Leigh play.” Club President Nigel Mann had this to say: “John and his staff have put together a strong squad for this season. The addition of a player of this calibre, with experience at an elite level, will assist in reaching our ambitions. An exciting reward for our members and fans.” Griffiths made 2 appearances for Mandurah City at the end of 2022 scoring 2 goals, including a screamer against Western Knights. Griffiths will be available for selection at this weekend’s Night Series Final. Also signing on was goal keeper Alfie Brincat, who signed a one year extension to his contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2024 season.

Murray District Rangers have announced Dylan Morgan as the Socials Men’s coach for the 2023 season. The club is looking forward to the injection of new ideas & the season ahead for their Senior Socials team this year.

AFC Rockingham is invited any new players to attend pre season training with them. Players who want to play socials or masters are welcome and training is on a Thursday evening from 6.30pm at Laurie Stanford Reserve in Singleton.

A plea has gone out for a 60+ goalkeeper to play in the Super Masters World Cup 2023, to be held in Zurich at FIFA HQ [May 11th and 12th]. This is a Hybrid tournament [NOT Walking Football]. The successful GK will need to be available for the tournament in Switzerland… ideally, also being available to attend the training camp in southern Spain [May2nd to May 9th]. As with all the squad it is a self-funded trip… It’s a ‘full on’ trip – competition, fun and definitely straight from the ‘Bucket List’ If you fit the bill please contact Tony Bellis on tony.bellis@awfai.org.au or 0425 488796

The YoungSocceroos advance through Group B of the AFC U20 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan and go within one game of FIFA U-20 World Cup qualification. Former Rockingham City player and now Perth Glory player Chris Donnell was one of the scorers as Australia came from behind to defeat Qatar 9-1.

A very warm welcome to a new club in the region and one we have never covered before. Rockingham Cambio Cumbre Futsal Club are based in Port Kennedy and will soon be moving into a brand new state of the art facility there. We hope to do a podcast about them soon, to find out more about them, the facility and the achievements the club have already had.

The state league season starts on Saturday 25th March and the fixtures have just been released.

Mandurah City start the season with a home game against Gosnells City while Rockingham City travel to Forrestfield United.

The local derby games between the 2 sides are on Saturday 6th May at Lark Hill and the return fixture will be played on Saturday 22nd July.

The last weekend of the season is on Saturday 26th August and has Rockingham City at home to Fremantle City, while Mandurah City host Dianella White Eagles.

Luckily, this report has an easy place to start as we always like to see one of our teams in a cup final and next weekend, has Mandurah City in the final of the State League Night Series.

In their semi final, Mandurah didn’t get of to the best of starts, with Callum Mellowship opening the scoring for Western Knights before Joe O’Brien continued his fine scoring form with an equaliser 10 minutes before half time. Mandurah must have thought they had won the game when Murray Mackintosh made it 2-1 with 15 minutes to go, but a goal,in the 87th minute from Alexander Kretowicz made it 2-2 and straight to penalties.

Mandurah were perfect in their penalties and set up a final against Fremantle City next Saturday afternoon. This game kicks off at 5pm and is being played at Frank Drago Reserve, home of Bayswater City.

There was controversy in Saturday’s Amateur Night Series game between Kwinana United and Peel United. Peel played with 10 men with over a hour of the game still to play, but still managed to go into a 2-0 lead. Kwinana pulled one back but the controversy happened in the 4th minute of injury time, when the referee gave a free kick, just outside the box for a handball, which from my vantage point, seemed a little harsh and from the resulting feee kick, Kwinana scored and the game ended 2-2. In the other game from the day, Port Kennedy beat South West Phoenix 2-1.

There were plenty of goals in Sunday’s Women’s League Night Series games. In the early kick off, Port Kennedy beat Gosnells City 4-3 while later on, Mandurah City beat host side Armadale 5-0.

The season is getting closer and this long weekend, has plenty of football action to go and watch.

On Saturday 4th March, Port Kennedy play South West Phoenix in the Amateur Night Series Group B. Kick off is at 1pm and will be played at Kelly Park, home of Kwinana United. Following this game, Peel United will play Kwinana United with a 3pm kick off in the Amateur Night Series Group B.

Sunday 5th has arguably the biggest game of the weekend, as Mandurah City take on Western Knights in the Men’s State League Night Series Semi Final. Kick off is at 6pm and is being played at the home of Forrestfield United. The winners of this tie will play either Fremantle City or Gwelup Croatia in next week’s final.

Also on Sunday, the Women’s League Night Series kicks off. At 5pm, Port Kennedy take on Gosnells City and Mandurah City play Armadale at 7pm. Both these games are being played at the home of Armadale Soccer Club.

We would like to as ever, wish all our teams the best of luck for their games this weekend.