Report by Tommy Doleman

Cockburn City's Mirko Jelicic and Harry O'Brien. Photos by FotoEnzo

The NPLWA – Men’s Round Three games begin tonight with Perth Glory taking on Floreat Athena at Crazy Domains Stadium.

Both sides were forced to sit out Round One due to Covid but showed no ill-effects last week. Glory enjoyed a fine 2-1 win at Inglewood United, while Floreat stuck five past Balcatta Etna.

The team who have been most hit with postponements have been Cockburn City, who belatedly begin their league campaign tomorrow when they welcome Bayswater City to Dalmatinac Park.

The Cockerels have seen their opening two league fixtures called off, forcing them to kick their heels following a winless Night Series.

It is a far from ideal beginning to the campaign for head coach Mirko Jelicic, who has returned to Cockburn for a third spell following stints in 2003 and 2008.

Jelicic, who replaced Scott Miller in the off-season, has predominantly coached abroad since his last spell with City.

He said: “I’ve been away for a long time and to be honest, I came back with the intention of having a break from football. I was sort of reluctant to talk to people in terms of positions, but I knew the people at Cockburn from before, I was familiar with the place and that changed my decision.

“When you’ve been involved with football for a long time, particularly on a full-time level, it becomes difficult to stay away.”

Jelicic said Cockburn’s situation means youngsters at the club will be given a chance to impress.

“It’s been a bit forced on us because we lost seven or eight players from last year’s first-team squad and we’ve had 2-3 long-term injuries. So we were forced and called upon to push on the younger players,” he said.

“On one hand, it’s good they’ve been exposed to it, but on the other hand we’ve lost a bit of balance in terms of the stronger, wiser heads around them.

“It has been a problem that we haven’t played competitive football for a while, and it’s been restricted really to friendly games against ourselves. But the boys will be up for the challenge and are keen to play competitive football.”

Jelicic has carved out a fascinating journey. He has coached with the Uzbekistan national team, as well as domestically with Lokomotiv Tashkent where he tasted league and cup success.

He had been teaching locally in Perth prior to a serious motorbike accident and subsequently went back to study physiology and injury rehabilitation at UWA. From there, he was advised to get involved in the practical side of the course, not just the theoretical aspect, and ended up joining Perth Glory through working with former club CEO Jeff Dennis.

“I started getting offers to work with overseas clubs and it snowballed from there. I got a call in 2005 from an agent asking if I’d like to go to Uzbekistan,” he said.

“The national team was preparing for qualifiers for the Germany World Cup and they needed someone to do a six-month stint. I had no idea where Uzbekistan was at the time, but was free and thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll go along and do that’.

“I did the stint and ended up at club side Pakhtakor who asked if I could stay on for the year. And then the usual story – boy meets girl, I met my wife there and that sort of tied me to the country, even though I initially only stayed there for six months before travelling through Thailand and Singapore.

“We tended to go back to Uzkbekistan and I had established links with people who appreciated what I did and wanted to have me on board with the projects they were doing. That link continued for many, many years, some short stints, but also long stints too.”

Jelicic still watches the Uzbekistan national team and has seen players retire with whom who he worked when he first went there. He believes the overseas experience was priceless for his coaching journey and encourags any aspiring young coaches to think outside the box.

“What it’s taught me is there’s so much to learn within the game. The whole experience with the studies I did here helped me later on, and those experiences I had with the national teams and in the Asian Champions League, it’s invaluable,” he said.

“They’re steep learning curves and I often tell people if you can be on the field and learning from good people, then it’s so much better than sitting in front of a whiteboard or screen. It’s been incredible and I wouldn’t change any aspect of it.

“For me, I just went with the flow, and as things opened up, I was quite happy and willing to take them on board. It’s not for everyone. You have to be strong-willed, committed and have people around that are supporting you with that journey, because there will be many things which hold people back from making radical or drastic decisions to uproot and go somewhere else.

“But the actual learning experience you just can’t buy.”

Like Cockburn, Bayswater also had a delayed start with their Round One game against Perth Glory postponed before last week’s 3-2 home loss to Perth RedStar.

Top-of-the-table RedStar will look to build on their two-from-two start when they host Inglewood. The fixture will be the first game of a double-header, which sees the RedStars NPLWA – Women’s team open their campaign against Hyundai NTC (5pm).

Sorrento host Gwelup Croatia looking for home comforts for a second week running after a Scott Witschge double helped them to a 5-1 defeat of Armadale last Saturday.

Two Round Three matches have been postponed due to Covid – Balcatta against Stirling Macedonia and Perth SC v Armadale.

Fixtures

Friday (7.30pm): Perth Glory v Floreat Athena. Saturday (3pm): Cockburn City v Bayswater City, Perth RedStar v Inglewood United, Sorrento v Gwelup Croatia. Postponed: Balcatta Etna v Stirling Macedonia, Perth SC v Armadale.