Warriors ready for NPL1 return to Elcho Park

NORTH Geelong Warriors’ 1-3 win over Bentleigh Greens on Friday last week created the best possible start to the club’s NPL1 return, with momentum building for the home opener tomorrow night (Saturday, February 25) at Elcho Park against Port Melbourne.

An own goal off Bentleigh’s Alex Baker in the 28th minute begun proceedings in the Warriors’ Round 1 clash in Melbourne, before Aden Gardner (70th minute) and Marvin Brauweiler (43rd minute) cemented the side’s first win of the season.

Warriors head coach Stuart Begg said he and his side hoped to continue their dominance at home in the NPL’s top flight, having lost in Lara just once during Begg’s tenure.

“Elcho Park has been built up as our fortress and it is where we can potentially grind out positive results against those top sides.

“I’m really hoping the Geelong community gets behind us and arrives to the home opener in droves.

“We want Port Melbourne to understand that they are playing in Geelong and at Elcho Park; an atmosphere that the Warriors deserve.

“It will be a terrific occasion for the club to be back in the NPL1 at home for the first time since 2017 and Port Melbourne is an extremely tough team, so we we’re really pushing for everyone to attend.”

Some added experience for the Warriors will hope to refine the squad, bringing in the likes of Nikola Jurkovic (St Albans), Marvin Brauweiler (Geelong SC), Ibrahim Mohamed (Geelong SC), Seth Szkuta (Corio), Aden Gardener (Hume City), Charlie Fleming (Ireland) and Nelson Tshongo (Balcatta).

“That was one of the main things we lacked as a side last season, just NPL1 experience, and we feel we have addressed that already,” Begg said.

“Guys like Nikola and Charlie are no slouches either when it comes to the physicality side of things, so we know it’s going to be harder and strong in this competition this season, and we’ve made changes accordingly.”

The Warriors and the Sharks kick off at 5pm at Elcho Park, Lara.