GV Suns 

GV Suns to host 10th Australian Football Skool International Soccer Tournament

22 & 23 October 2016 @ McEwen Reserve

More than 100 teams and over 1500 players were in Shepparton for last year's tournament and this year the organiser's are promising it will be bigger and better including 

• appropriately modified competitions for 11 age groups from U6 to U16  - 11v11 for our under 16s down to 4v4 for the under 6s and all teams play a minimum of 4 games across the weekend.
• a football expo showcasing the latest products and services tailored specifically for the football community (and just in time for Christmas presents!)
• spectator entertainment including a massive inflatable football pitch, FIFA16 consoles and much much more.

No games this weekend for U12 to U15 

Our under 12, 13, 14 and 15 squads will enjoy a weekend without soccer while our U16 & U18 squads play a catch up round against last weekend's opponent Heidelberg.

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Heidelberg U16 & U18  matches this weekend  

Our Under 16 and Under 18s matches against Heidelberg have been rescheduled to Sunday 4 September at Olympic Village.

 

Who	Time	Pitch
U18	3:15 pm	1
U16	1:40 pm	2

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Bus for U16 and U18 squads

A bus is available for Under 16 and Under 18 squad members to travel to and from away games. The service is strictly for these squads.

• Eligible players must confirm their seat at Friday night training.
• A charge of $20 return must be paid before or on the day.
• If you fail to turn you will still need to pay the $20 charge.

This weekend the bus will depart Sunday,  10am sharp from McEwen Reserve.

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In the news  - GV Suns SAP squads

See today's Shep News for great pics and wrap of our SAP squad.

 

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Linesmen & Refs  - thank you!

Last weekend match officials were hard to find! The FFV failed to allocate Refs for several of our games and our replacement arrived from Melbourne for the 2nd half of the third match he was scheduled to ref. 

Thank you to Pat, Tom and Liam Kielty, Shaban Mehmet, Paul and James Nieuwenhuizen, Stephan Pigatto and Troy Humphries for refereeing and running the lines. 

We don't encourage 12 and 14 year old players to run the lines but our boys did a good job on the weekend - even receiving commendation from an opposition coach. With appropriate parental and club support and supervision running the lines can be a valuable experience for interested players but our preference is to increase the number of parents/adults trained and available to help.  

The Linesman role usually involves calling the ball in or out of play and calling player offsides - all other player issues are managed by the Ref. Importantly any call by the linesman has to be accepted by the Ref so the Ref is the final decision maker. There is no age limit so players can volunteer.

If you are interested please talk with us to arrange some training and opportunities for you to give it a go with a mentor on the sidelines for support.

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What's the PD for a marshal?

Every weekend we are required to provide 1 marshal for each game.

Marshals 

• must be at least 18 years of age, 
• collect match balls,
• chaperone the referees to and from the pitch and
• assist the match officials (referees) to ensure a safe playing environment for all players, Club Officials and spectators. 

This last requirement may be daunting but usually it just involves providing a 'presence' around the technical area during the game, asking non-players to leave the technical area and encouraging supporters not to speak (or harass) the match referees, players or coaching staff of either team. The marshal is assisting the match officials so if things get out of hand the officials will step in.

The key benefits are you get to wear a high-vis vest and stand close to the pitch! 
 

If you can help for all or part of a game please advise your team manager. 

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Double Header Weekend
Murray United & Richmond SC
17 & 18 September  

Our matches against Murray United have been rescheduled to Saturday 17 September at Latrobe University Wodonga. We play at home the following day - Sunday - against Richmond SC so it will be a big weekend for everyone!
 

Murray United match times

Who	Time	Pitch
U18	10:30 AM	1
U16	1:00 PM	2
U15	11:30 AM	2
U14	10:00 AM	2
U13	11:30 AM	3
U12	10:00 AM	3

 

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Catch up round - 9 October

Oakleigh Cannons @ McEwen

Sunday 9 October all junior squads will play a catch up round against Oakleigh Cannons at McEwwen Reserve.

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Junior player trials - 10 October

To register your interest in trialling for our 2017 squads email your details to secretarygvsuns@gmail.com.

Further details will be provided closer to the start of the trials.

 

Age groups	Dates
Under 9, 12, 13 & 14	Monday October 10, 17 & 24
Under 15, 16 & 18	Wednesday October 12, 19 & 25

 

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Weekend game wraps

 Under 12s
 Tommy Giuliani

Great landmark day on Sunday for the Suns U12s, playing on the new pitches against Heidelberg United. Our opposition were also vastly superior on this day compared to our first meeting in Melbourne. That's what NPL and Curriculum training is all about-Development! They played some really nice passages of possession football but our boys eventually overpowered them to win 2-1.

While the boys sung the song with gusto, my question is did we try to play a great brand of football?Did we execute our core skills? How was our shape during "Main moments"? Where were the problems?

While we weren't at our absolute best I thought we were very good from the halfway point of the first half. The bigger ground contributed to our wingers being far too narrow early resulting in us not being able to open them up and seperate their back 4. This meant we were unable to drive into their 18 yard box and create scoring opportunities. When we attacked space and ran with the ball we should have got the ball out of our feet earlier to play boys who were in good areas.

All players contributed and took another step on their football journey. ALL of these boys must continue to work hard on their games.

To the parents who think they've got players pecking orders and best positions all worked out, who they think is better or not as good, let's revisit these thoughts in 3/4 years time when they've all grown 8 inches. Many of these kids will be physically and technically unrecognisable. Pecking orders will change!!#GVSUNSFOOTBALLFACTORY⚽️??

Under 13s
Matthew Lelliot

A lacklustre first half saw us 3 goals to 1 down at the break. A couple of errors at the back coupled with giving away possession from too many touches meant we were struggling to really get a hold of the game.  

The second half was a much better showing from the team as we dominated and could have had 3 or more if not for poor finishing and brilliant keeping from them. My message to the boys and girls was if we started the game like we did that second half we would have won that game comfortably.

Highlight of the game was a brilliant chip from Diesel Batey just before half time after a run from centre back! 

 Under 14s
 Nathan Saron & James Lelliot

The boys tried their best in the first half and were doing well to match play with Heidelberg. We created 2 good chances which were just missed, then in the last ten minutes of the first half we conceded two soft goals, from this point on our opposition took control of the game.

We were not able to cut their passing lanes, keep pressure on the ball carrier, we became to loose through the midfield and Heidelberg passed and switched the ball with ease, we topped it off with 
a few bad turn overs in the last line to gift the opposition scoring opportunities.

The final score was 0-6 and we were fortunate it finished there. James and I have identified some areas of  improvement from what we have seen and it will require all players to train at higher intensity and understand how to play as a team. 

It wont be getting any easier after this week off, we have to back up for matches on Sat/Sun and 
all our opponents beat us the first time around. 

Thanks Billy, Teng and Izaak for stepping up this week. 

Under 15s
Glen Wilson 

During the week at training our focus has been on "playing out from the back".  We have seen this as a bit of a weakness of ours along with overall ball retention.  The ability, or lack thereof, to retain the ball for any length of time is key to performance. Throughout the season we have looked really threatening when we are able to string a series of passes together, however, when we just knock the ball long, our game style is quite the opposite.  We will continue to work on this aspect of our game, as it is crucial to our junior club's long term plan of "building footballers" that can step up to senior level at the Suns.

Our game on Sunday started quite well for us as we managed to get a very early goal within the first 5 minutes courtesy of a fine header into the top right corner by Tom Raditsas.  This set our opposition back a bit as they were shell-shocked by conceding that early.  After a few minutes they settled well and we fell back into bad habits of not moving the ball quickly enough or by trying to do too much with the ball.  We were also failing to provide enough options to the ball carrier. In the end this led us to turn the ball over in dangerous areas and the consequence of that was allowing them to score an equaliser and then a 2nd goal in the first half.  This may've been a 3rd also if not for the very timely half time whistle.

In the half time discussion we talked about where we were falling down and what our options could/would be in the 2nd half.  It is imperative for those of our players without the ball to move into position  where they could be seen as an option for the ball carrier......also, we need to look at going out wide as a first option, as it was noted that we continually seem turn the ball back to the middle of the park, and this would then lead to more pressure on the defence if we continued to turn it over there!

Young Josh Rachele playing his first game up in the 15's came into the midfield at the half-time break and showed all why he is so fancied. Like all quality players, he seems to move in slow motion and have so much time on the ball. The thing that impressed me most was his distribution - he rarely found himself caught with the ball and he continually made sound passing choices.  This was one of the reasons why we tended to control much more of the game after the break, we had several great chances to score and in the end probably could've and should've won the game........it all sounds too familiar......if only.

This coming week sees us with a general bye, although half of the lads will be required to play with the 16's in a return bout against Heidelberg United - a catch up game missed from earlier in the season.

I know I am going to enjoy the sleep in!

Under 16s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen

This week saw us take on the 2nd top team in the under 16 competition. The fresh players were asked to give 100% and help those who had just played in the under 15s. The team was tasked with letting Heidelberg have the ball in their back 3rd and apply pressure in the middle third to conserve energy.

The start of the game saw the team work together well, restricting Heidelberg ball movement by blocking the passing channels and pressing the ball carrier. Despite our pressure we soon found ourselves 2-0 down due to some smart ball movement by our opposition. The team stayed positive and continued to pressure the opposition while creating a number of chances. This pressure saw the boys score 2 goals, through Conor Dodson and an own goal from an Alou Kuol free kick that created panic in the Heidelberg defence. The team was on a high a half time thanks to some great defensive work and wonderful goalkeeping from Lucas Enders.

The 2nd half saw the boys continuing to working together to frustrate Heidelberg and were lead brilliantly by Lucas Enders in goal. At the same time they continued to create goal scoring chances. We soon found ourselves 4-2 up with a well taken goal by Elia Lulerhe who also won the penalty that was converted by Alou Kuol.

The pressure applied by the team saw Heidelberg implode as the players and coaching staff fought amongst themselves.

A big thanks to Lucas Enders, Callum Le, Kaine Humphries, Conor Dodson and Hamish Sweeney who we're all playing on one leg by the end but saw out the game to help the team.

This week we are back playing Heidelberg, who won't under estimate us again.
As I keep reminding the team, they are continually improving and with effort comes reward. Keep the good work up!

Under 18s
Pat Kielty & Shaban Mehmet

We knew we were playing a well drilled top three team and it wouldn’t be an easy game. Despite our position on the table our recent scores have showed we are definitely improving so we were looking forward to testing ourselves against a good side. HUFC knock the ball around very well and for the first ten minutes we were chasing shadows.

Once we settled we began to keep possession of the ball and get it into the attacking third. However as has been the case all season when we get it into their box a lack of fire power usually means our attack comes to nothing. Our goalkeeper, back four and midfield did a great job and snuffed out several HUFC attacks. HUFC did eventually score but only because for once our defence allowed them time to shoot instead of closing them down. Their second goal was a beautiful free kick which went top right corner. It was one of those free kicks that is perfect and usually unstoppable.

Halftime GVS 0 - 2 HUFC.

The second half was a much better showing from us and again we had the ball in the attacking third but couldn’t score. The second half ended scoreless much to the frustration of HUFC. Although we lost two nil we did okay against one of the best teams in the leagues. At the start of the season we would have lost by six or seven so the team is improving.

Thanks to Willie, TC and Hammad for playing a second game and helping us out, hopefully we might have a better result against them this Sunday on their ground.

Under 20s
David Davkovski & Matt Maiorano

Great game today, we out played the opponent for most of the match and we did it in their half which was really impressive. We have spoken about being more creative in the final third and we showed today that we developed creative individuals. 

The result I will say was poor but I'm happy because there were players today that finally started to play with freedom. They really tried to create which is what we have wanted all year. I won't talk about conceding 4 goals because our position with consistent line ups is we haven't had that and you  tend to loose that chemistry while developing players this way. So yeah we conceded 4 goals but created 12 goal scoring chances which was good. 

Overall it was a high tempo match that was good to watch. (Sometimes the coach watches the game too)  Well done boys.

Seniors
Nick Kalafatis & Serkan Aktas

Suns put up a fight
Shepparton News | 30 August

GOULBURN VALLEY TURNS UP HEAT IN CLASH AGAINST WINNING KINGSTON

SCORES Kingston City 1 (Zdenek Koukal) d Goulburn Valley Suns 0

Leading light: Jamie England was a standout performer during the Goulburn Valley Suns’ 1-0 loss to Kingston City in National Premier Leagues Victoria Division 2 competition on Saturday.

Despite going down by a solitary goal, Goulburn Valley Suns rose to the challenge of playing the competition’s best in Kingston City on Saturday.

In the penultimate game of the National Premier Leagues Victoria Division 2 East season, the Suns rebounded strongly from a disappointing display against Brunswick City last week.

Playing in Melbourne on Saturday the game’s only goal was scored at the 34-minute mark when Kingston beat the Suns by pace on the counter attack.

Taking a free kick from outside the box, Kingston’s Velibor Mitrovic used a shifty pass to get the ball to striker Zdenek Koukal, who sent the ball into the net.

The loss sees the Suns drop to eighth place on the ladder, but on the whole it was a solid display by Goulburn Valley, who returned to a line-up without striker Daniel Heffernan.

In the absence of the Englishman now plying his trade at Bali United, coach Nick Kalafatis was pleased with how his side adapted in varying roles.

‘‘Mohammed Algazaly played upfront and without Heffernan he was really good, he created the most dangerous chances,’’ he said.

Last week against Brunswick City, the Suns had an array of chances which narrowly missed and it was a similar story this week.

Algazaly headed the ball from inside the six-yard box which narrowly went wide, with another attempt in the second half crashing into the crossbar.

Rising talent Riley Hamilton and the dependable Jamie England led the way for the Suns, as Tristan Zito backed up in his second game of the day.

Zito played an outstanding match in the under-20s, scoring three goals and had the fitness to add extra legs to the Suns’ line-up in the second half.

Kalafatis said he was pleased with how his players rebounded in the typical fashion of this season.

‘‘I think last week we were very disappointed but again after the bad game we played very well,’’ he said.

‘‘I thought for 90 minutes we were better than Kingston, I think we dominated, I would say we kept the ball a lot in our attack, we created a lot of half chances, but only a few clear cut chances for goals.’’

A sole game remains in the Suns’ year with a realistic chance of claiming their 12th win of the season against the Eastern Lions, with Kalafatis looking to trial more young talent.

‘‘We’ve got a few more kids from the under-20s we want to try out and hopefully we’ll give them a run,’’ he said.