Preseason training commenced for Adelaide Comets Seniors this week, with Theo Tsiounis at the helm for his second full season as Head Coach.
The 2016 PlayStation 4 National Premier League SA season saw Tsiounis’ side finish in 5th position, bowing out in the first round of the Finals against Adelaide Blue Eagles.
An undoubtable highlight was the teams Westfield FFA Cup Preliminary Rounds campaign where the side qualified for the SA Final, narrowly missing their place in the national Round of 32 to winners MetroStars SC.
Tsiounis spoke on the positives taken away from the 2016 Season and where himself and his assistants Tony Galanopoulos and Doug Paterson intend on taking the club in 2017.
“We want to build a culture at the Club that is a successful culture. We set ourselves some goals last season and were close to achieving some of them with the Westfield FFA Cup and making Finals, however we know there is a long way to go to being one of the best clubs in the state.”
“This season we want to tweak the way we play a bit and we have brought in players to help us achieve that.”
“Once again, the FFA Cup and League are two big goals to work towards. Last year we had a lot of things to get around, like injuries and players leaving, hopefully this year is a lot more settled. Of course there are always minor changes, but we want to keep the core of the group.”
Developing the skills of Junior players at Adelaide Comets and bringing them up through the ranks to the Senior team is one of the club’s key objectives to which Tsiounis is equally passionate about.
“We have put an emphasis on the development of players, especially through our School of Excellence and Academy programs. Developing players and getting them through to Senior football will take a few years we know, to see the fruition of those programs, but we have a long-term plan. In the next five years, we want to see the majority of players in the Senior team being Comets Junior players.”
“We are one of the few clubs who have a plan set up like this, already with our current Senior team involving continuing players such as Zachary Hristodoulopoulos, Jack Bladen and Alexander Woodlands who all grew up playing for Comets.”
This year another group of promising young players like Chris Kotsio, Tom Cyganov, Elijah Makris, Anthony Bellini, Stasi Savvoudis, Kasini Pais and Luka Chikwuba are all in contention for a place in the Senior team.
As for those joining the club for the first time, there is a lot to look forward to according to Tsiounis.
The Senior team will play their first preseason game against White City on Saturday the 10th of December, take part in the Adelaide Blue Eagles preseason competition and compete against Adelaide Olympic on the 21st of January.
Additionally, the side will travel to Melbourne from 26-29 January to play Victorian National Premier League sides Bentleigh Greens and Port Melbourne.
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