NPL SA grand finalists Campbelltown City and Adelaide Comets appoint Phil Stubbins and Barney Smith as new coaches
Phil Stubbins and Barney Smith have big coaching shoes to fill. But they are undaunted by the prospect of taking SA top-flight grand finalists Campbelltown City and Adelaide Comets forward next season.
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They have taken over the reins at this year’s SA top flight grand finalists.
But new Campbelltown City coach Phil Stubbins and incoming Adelaide Comets mentor Barney Smith are undaunted by the prospect of filling big shoes next NPL season.
The duo landed the sought-after roles in the wake of the back-to-back champion Red Devils downing the Mile End outfit in its maiden title-decider last month.
Smith said there was room for further growth at Comets, eight years on from guiding the club to the top-tier for the first time then departing.
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“I’m delighted to be back,” said Smith, who led Para Hills to NPL safety this past season on his return to senior coaching.
“But I don’t feel under pressure at all.
“The expectation of the group will be that they want to go one better and I don’t shy away from that.
“If it was any other club coming after me in the off-season, asking me to leave, I wouldn’t have been going because I was happy at Para.
“But I always sort of felt that I owed them something and that if I got the opportunity to go back and make it up to them … then I would.”
Smith, who coached Comets from 2009-11 before stepping down due to work and family commitments, replaced Kon Antoniou after the caretaker had earned a second-place finish.
Ex-Newcastle Jets A-League boss Stubbins meanwhile was chosen to succeed four-time championship-winning boss Joe Mullen, having joined Campbelltown as an assistant this year.
“There’s obviously pressure to win games because of the stature of Campbelltown now,” said Stubbins, two years after leaving his last post at West Adelaide.
“But there’s no doubt that the players would like to go again and we’re looking forward to the rigours of what next year will bring.
“Every time we go on the training track, we try to work hard an improve and that’s not going to change next year.
“Joe needs to be congratulated, along with the club, on getting themselves in this position and shaping the strong culture and work ethic at the club.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey to this point and I’m looking forward next year to putting my own spin on things.”
The pair had wasted no time in re-signing the bulk of their talent-laden squads while adding more quality.
Stubbins, who previously worked as No. 2 to Aurelio Vidmar and Rini Coolen at Adelaide United, this week recruited highly-rated twins Hamish and Liam McCabe from Blue Eagles.
Reds youth team graduate and 2016 league rising star Ryan Yates had teamed up with ex-Canberra Cosmos and Parramatta Power NSL goalkeeper Smith at Comets.
“It’s more of a longer-term view,” said Smith, who signed a three-year contract.
“Our league doesn’t show us that the key to success is short-term or overnight.
“The job for me and the club now ongoing will be for sustained consistency and longevity.
“The club has come on leaps and bounds from where they were the last time I was there.
“What I want and the club wants is to go into a period now of being up there and challenging for things.”