by Ben Gilby (15/10/24)
Above: New Perth Glory head coach Stephen Peters speaking at today’s season launch event in Kings Park. Image: Perth Glory.
New Perth Glory head coach Stephen Peters recognises that his much-changed squad may take a while to settle, but their playing style and plans to help develop local players will stand the club in good stead going forward.
Reflecting on a squad that has brought names such as Casey Dumont and Naomi Chinnami to Western Australia as well as a plethora of locally produced young guns, Peters said: “It might take a bit of time, there’s a lot faces from different walks of life. It might take a bit of time to gel. That’s the fun part and the creative part that we’re all looking forward to.”
“The local girls are probably going to take a bit of time to come up to speed with what their international (team-mates’) players styles are and vice versa, so it’s about finding the key pillars in the squad and building our team off the back of that.”
Peters directly addressed the number of local players in the Perth squad this season and emphasised that it is something he is extremely keen not only to nurture now but ensure it can be added to as the years go by, hinting that he is determined to build a strong relationship between the Glory and NPLW WA clubs – something which has not always been the case.
“We want to close the gap on that and make sure the local Perth players believe there is a pathway for them. There is still a bit of work to be done post-season on what that looks like – do they stay in the local NPL? So there is a bit of work to be done with that to make sure those players are coming into the A-League season with a good, solid foundation behind them, so we’re going to work with Football West and work out what the best avenue is for that.”
Glory’s opening round fixture has seen them paired with last year’s table toppers Melbourne City. Whilst week one fixtures traditionally make scouting hard, this time round the Western Australians have been able to see City in action winning all of their three games in the group stage of the Asian Champions League.
“It’s awesome. We’ve had an opportunity to watch (Melbourne) City which is a bit unique as we’ve just had the Asian Champions League…what a fantastic way to start the season against last season’s Premiers.”
The new Perth head coach has taken the unusual step of choosing two captains this season – both having to take on the mantle from club icon Tash Rigby who retired at the end of the last campaign.
Explaining his choice of Isobel Dalton and Onyinychi Zogg as joint skippers, Peters said: “They both bring different attributes on and off the field…so far in training and off the field, they have been too pretty good leaders for us.
“Tash was obviously at the club for a long time. They are massive shoes to fill. She was also a very energetic person…leadership is defined in different ways. Some people can lead through their actions, not through words. That’s why we went for two (captains) to give us a bit more versatility in that area.”
Peters was guarded in his aims for the season ahead, and you get the sense that this is going to be a much longer-term project than has been the case with the women’s team for a while. Mending fences with the local women’s game, bringing in excellent interstate players and promising overseas ones to mould with Western Australians. That doesn’t necessarily lead to Finals football now – but points more towards a stronger and more popular Glory in the medium to long term.
“We just want to put ourselves in a position to make Finals football…we want to be playing a brand of football that wins football matches and puts us in that area. We want to play a possession-based style of football, be on the front foot, score goals, be fairly robust and energetic in defence,” Perth’s new boss asserted.
Dalton & Zogg: Game by game, picking up points is the aim
Isobel Dalton believes that the experience of being led by Tash Rigby over the past few seasons stands her in good stead for taking over the retired defender’s leadership role jointly with new arrival Onyinychi Zogg.
Reflecting on the honour of being co-captain of the club for the new season, Dalton said: “Anyone that knows Tash knows that the energy she brings to the group…honestly she is irreplaceable, I don’t think anyone can take what she’s done for Glory away from her.
“But I think having played with her the past few years, she’s taught me a lot as a person, a player, and a leader, so taking the attributes I gained from her and taking it into my own leadership.
“I always like to lead by example whether that’s the training pitch or the game day and I do talk a lot…I just bring that to the game.”
Nigerian international Zogg, who has arrived from Swiss club Servette, outlined her slightly different approach to captaincy saying: “In the game, I just like to be there to support the girls, even if something is not going well, I’m going to stand up for them, that’s one of my strengths.”
As yet, it’s unclear who will wear the armband in matches and how that responsibility will be divided between the two – that will be one of the decisions for new head coach Stephen Peters each game day.
One of many new arrivals at the club this season, Zogg outlined how excited she was at the vision sold on the club’s long-term plans for the women’s team by club Director of Football Stan Lazaridis.
She was also realistic about the fact that it could take a few weeks of the new A-League Women for the team to show their potential: “I think it will take a bit (of time), that’s normal. We already get along pretty well. Every training gets better…we’re already on a path.”
Dalton also took the long-term view in terms of what she thinks the team should be aiming for this season.
“I think we’re taking it game by game, to be honest, obviously, ideally making the finals is going to be the goal, but I think we have to look at it on a smaller scale taking it game by game and picking up points.
“I think it’s going to be an exciting style we’re going to play. We want to be a team that are hard to beat, so I guess being on the front foot, being creative, and scoring goals.”
As well as having a new head coach and a new squad, the Glory have a new home stadium this year – the multi-million dollar Sam Kerr Football Centre. It’s somewhere that Dalton finds hugely inspiring.
“It’s a beautiful facility, it’s a high-performance facility and that’s what you want as a professional athlete and as a team. I’m looking forward to being there and I think it will be a good base for us.”
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