Nunawading City preparing for historic Dockerty Cup and Australia Cup ties

Ange Postecoglou’s advice put Nunawading City on its path and it remains the inspiration behind the club’s Cinderella run to the Australia Cup national stage.

Nunawading City players celebrate a goal. Picture: Smile For Peter

Rivals ridiculed Nunawading City for putting up an Ange Postecoglou mural … but if you look deeper.

Australia’s greatest football coach helped put the club on its current path to success.

It’s a success built on a foundation of junior development, with Jake Brimmer, Josh Varga and Pierce Waring representing Australia at underage levels.

When City runs out for its Dockerty Cup semi-final against Heidelberg United on Saturday it will have as many as seven junior players in the senior team.

The match is new ground for the 54-year-old VPL2 club and it will reach unparalleled heights again last this month.

Luca Slavica scores a goal for Nunawading City. Picture: Smile for Peter

A thumping 4-0 win over Hume City last month secured it a shot at the Dockerty Cup final and put it on the national stage, qualifying for the Australia Cup Round of 32.

Nunawading City general manager Nick Dimitrakis reveals it all started 17 years ago with some advice from Postecoglou.

“We engaged the knowledge of Ange and our technical director Greg Mangonis and a couple of other coaches.

“Ange gave us a bit of advice, he doesn’t give you all the answers, but we’ve had three boys represent Australia in the last seven years.

“Jake Brimmer went to Liverpool and went on to win Player of the Year in the A-League.

“In the cup games to date, we’ve averaged seven players that have come through our development program from the age of 11 and are now playing seniors.

“It’s a big achievement, pure bred local talent, so it’s got a bit more meaning.

“We’re probably the only club that has such a big representation of juniors into seniors, it’s one of our biggest achievements and we hope to increase senior representation moving forward.”

Nunawading City junior Jake Brimmer after signing with Liverpool.

Jake Brimmer celebrates a goal for Auckland FC.

Despite on-field struggles, City’s elite junior pathway secured it entry to the newly formed NPL2 in 2014.

There were hard times for the club as it struggled to adjust to the higher level but it did not step away from its goals.

Relegation back to State League 1 came in 2018 but, under the leadership of former A-League star Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Nunawading bounced straight back.

It claimed the State League 1 South-East premiership, its first silverware since 1979, and has cemented itself in NPL3/VPL2 since.

“We have a distinctive philosophy, a possession-based philosophy, which encourages a lot of touches at junior level,” Dimitrakis said.

“You can see from the under-11s through to seniors, it’s very consistent, and another difference between us and a lot of other clubs.

“When they say the Nunawading way, it’s a very distinctive brand of football we play.

“We’ve always had a primary focus of promoting our development players but at the same time, VPL1 or NPL is our goal in the coming years.

“It hasn’t been done for a long time, a long time ago clubs used to promote through their youth systems but you don’t see that as much any more.”

Nunawading City travels to Heidelberg United, the NPL ladder-leader and premiership favourite, looking to repeat its stunning upset of Hume City.

It will then travel to Darwin for a historic Australia Cup clash against Darwin Olympic on July 22.

City produced a Cinderella cup run to reach the national stage.

It stunned high-flying VPL1 club North Sunshine Eagles 4-1 on the road before returning home to Mahoneys Reserve to cupset Hume 4-0.

Christian Cavallo and Alex Dimitriou both scored doubles in a 7-1 win over Whittlesea Ranges, while Cavallo bagged another against Hume and Stuart Edgar scored a brace.

The team will have its hands full against a Heidelberg outfit featuring the likes of Bul Juach, Jamal Ali and Ben Collins.

Dimitrakis said everyone likes to see an underdog succeed.

“As an underdog as well, to be where we’re at is exciting,” he said.

“Not many clubs at our level get to participate in semi-finals in the Dockerty Cup and in the last 32 of the Australia Cup.

“It was one of our most memorable moments, a lot of our coaches have been here 17 years, and to see some reward with players we’ve developed – and to beat a powerhouse in Hume convincingly – it’s sort of put us on the map.

“The boys are very excited, they’re only one step away from playing in a grand final. That’s new territory for a lot of the boys.

“Hume is in the same league, not too far off Heidelberg, so we’re expecting a similar game.

“When you’re one game away from a grand final, if you lose it’s as disappointing as it was great work to get to where we are and we definitely want to win our Darwin trip to get to the last 16.”

After a 2-1 loss to Altona City, Nunawading City is currently ninth in VPL2 just three points clear of the bottom three and relegation.

The club’s league struggles have cup success has mirrored Postecoglou’s season at Tottenham Hotspur.

The irony isn’t lost on Dimitrakis.

“It could be symbolic and an omen,” he said.

“In the first eight rounds we had two points but we’ve managed to get out of that.

“The boys are all really excited (to draw Darwin Olympic), if they had one trip to chose that was probably the one.

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“Again, maybe the gods are looking after us, so the boys are really looking forward to a couple of days away in Darwin.

“They feel like professional footballers and if they can get the result there will be a lot of acknowledgment come with it.”

In a difficult run, Nunawading City faces Heidelberg United at Olympic Village on Saturday then VPL2 premiership contender Eltham Redbacks the following Friday.

It will then have a three-day break before travelling to Darwin.