Since the dawn of the 2020s, Western Australia has felt as close to being Australian football's far wilderness as one location can get—a professional club on its knees and a state league far behind its counterparts. No doubt desperate for change, an outlet for WA has come about this winter through a revival of spirited performances from its clubs in the Australia Cup. Perth Glory took its first two Cup wins since 2016, and Olympic Kingsway broke the NPL WA drought against interstate opposition, which had stood since 2017, seeing both clubs through to the Round of 16.
Perth Glory players embrace youthful supporters at the Sam Kerr Football Centre after Abdelelah Faisal's opening goal against Melbourne City. (Image: Tom McCarthy)
The golden opportunity that sparked this revival in form and fortunes for Western Australian clubs is worth exploring, albeit with a caveat that the Australia Cup Round of 32 matchups did undoubtedly favour sides from the region.
Following Perth Glory's win against Brisbane Roar in the A-League Men's playoff on July 23, all three WA teams were to face home draws in the Round of 32.
Luck appeared to be on the side of Perth RedStar, Glory, and Olympic Kingsway, and things looked positive. Critics and most keen-eyed fans likely considered all three squads favourites at home.
The favourites tag was reasonable for Glory, who turned heads in Darwin. For their first full match, they drew from a youthful squad that was undoubtedly gelling together.
David Zdrillic's side, in the short term, has already had a morale boost through positive recruitment led by new Football Director Stan Lazaridis, as the new senior management figure has placed his confidence in younger names from the East looking for a career change.
Playing their first-ever senior fixture at the newly dubbed Sam Kerr Football Centre against Melbourne City, in-form young starlets Nathanael Blair and Abdelelah Faisal continued to make their mark on the competition. The duo had no prior professional football resumes for the average fan to look at, having come from their respective stints in the academies at the Western Sydney Wanderers and Macarthur. Lazaridis, Zdrillic, and other senior club figures were aware of the talent hiding behind the scenes.
The director would say of Faisal, "In terms of style, I would liken him to Mo Salah at Liverpool." This quote was less of a joke after the Roar playoff and closer to reality by the time he had scored his third goal within a combined 60 minutes as a professional footballer against City.
On this occasion, though the match started with the promise of a new dawn, it really morphed into the signature Glory of seasons gone by.
A 2-1 lead off Adam Taggart's boot to quite literally start the second half soon became a two-goal deficit, with City's young talent, Zane Schreiber, scoring a terrific effort from range to make it 2-4 by the 68th minute.
Although the Zdrillic era will hope to stop many of Glory's well-known defensive issues, what the club lives by at this point, even as the A-League Men's reigning wooden spooners, is that they cannot be cut out of any contest, and this time was no exception.
Tides noticeably changed after the introduction of Blair and Glory academy product Khoa Ngo, whose exuberance left City on the back foot for the remainder of the second half and ultimately into extra time.
Blair scored a header for the third of Glory's goals before fellow substitute Adam Bugarija, another ex-Wanderer, managed to sneak in the equalising goal after a cross from veteran Josh Risdon.
After a beautiful touch and follow-up strike, Blair eventually found the winner to send the Sam Kerr Centre alight. He tied himself with teammate Faisal as the Australia Cup's top scorer with three goals across the two fixtures.
The impact of these young players in such a short timeframe is incredible and highlights what may be in the works under Zdrillic.
Post-game, Zdrillic felt the need to discuss the team's mentality of coming from 2-4 down even with such inexperience.
"Either team really could have had the result; it was the perfect cup game. Though the character and the mentality that our team showed, we've gone out and proved exactly what we wanted, and that was to go out and fight hard as a group," Zdrillic claimed to a pack of chanting fans and bouyed press.
Fight hard, they certainly did, proving once again that Glory may yet have slowly found a formula to set themselves up for future success.
It then became the turn of Olympic Kingsway, and it would be fair to say that this match was the one in which most Western Australians had their optimism at a premium.
Olympic Kingsway's squad comes with over 150 combined A-Leagues appearences. (Image: Fotenza/Football West)
The team atop the NPL WA has assembled a colourful cast of well-known names in the footballing fraternity in the state and country.
They boast ex-Glory, and Indian Super League figures Aryn Williams and Joey Knowles, as well as club captain and former A-League player Mitch Oxborrow. A former contestant on the Fox8 show 'Football Superstar', Calum O'Connell plays for the club, and Futsalroo Tyler Garner is with the team when not busy in the five-a-side game. The club's success with its current crop is merited and well-regarded by local football followers in WA.
Kingsway's opponents would be Northern NSW side Edgeworth Eagles, who are familiar with the competition and national spotlight, though simultaneously made for a realistically competitive fixture.
A competitive affair was proven true in the first half when the Eagles took the lead through Flynn Goodman inside the opening 10 minutes, while Kingsway got a feel for what their foe could throw up in the early stages.
As they are known, the Green Machine would grow into the match, and an opportunity finally arose when Joseph Hobson put away a set piece turn goal mouth scramble to equalise; the home side never really looked back.
A red card to Eagles player Chris Fayers aided the change in momentum, and the introduction of experienced campaigner Liam Boland made the second half a near-unlosable 45 minutes.
Boland combined with Knowles to create the go-ahead goal, albeit nodded in for an own goal by Aaron Oppedisano. Knowles later scored to put the nail in the coffin, as captain Oxborrow also got on the scoresheet.
Ultimately, a 4-1 victory gave an already uber-confident side the belief that they could challenge beyond their means in this Australia Cup.
Post-match, Front Page Football spoke with Oxborrow about what makes the squad and environment so pleasing to be part of. With success and a series of formidable resumes, his response was very telling of the team's results thus far.
"We have a special kind of togetherness; we are winners, we want to win. These guys, you know Boland, Aryn (Williams), Knowlesy (Knowles), they are just born winners. They have won over East and abroad; they bring that experience here. They make all the difference on a night like tonight," Oxborrow explained.
Having drawn Adelaide United in the Round of 16, the same winning culture Oxborrow speaks to may be best kept in mind should a Cupset become a reality.
Meanwhile, Kingsway's closest foe in the NPL WA, second-placed Perth RedStar, was given hosting rights against Queensland heavyweights Lions FC at the regular home of Sorrento FC, Percy Doyle Reserve.
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Perth RedStar's squad harbours A-League experience through Liam Reddy and Joel Chianese. (Image: Football West)
As if Mother Nature were giving us a sign, the heavens opened big time five to ten minutes before kick-off. As the players lugged out in challenging conditions, an even contest played out in the first half, with RedStar taking a 1-0 lead.
However, a superior Lions outfit would eventually take complete control of the match, perhaps partly due to the woeful weather equalising the possible fatigue the Queenslanders would have felt from their five-hour flight to the West Coast.
Commenting post-match on the fade-away style of RedStar's performance, ex-Glory star Joel Chianese noted the fitness levels and all-round professionalism their opponents showcased.
"It was clear from the scoreline we gave it our all from the first half, but they were too good in the end. I think they were fitter, stronger, and on another level," Chianese told FPF.
The personal circumstance for Chianese was important upon reflection, noting that even as someone with a lot of experience, coming back to the nationalised and more professionalised environment was a big honour, if not maybe a bit of a shock to the system.
"We were looking forward to hopefully progressing through to the next round. You know, I've made Perth my home through football. It's an honour to have a team over here and to compete again in the national competition. We needed to perform tonight, and they were better in the end," he added.
A spirited performance nonetheless paved the way for more significant victories for the Western Australian football community in the following weeks.
With Glory on the rise and a tantalising battle ahead of the ever-determined Green Machine, many out west wonder if the best is yet to come.
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