In an ode to outgoing senior head coach Micky Čolina, we’ve compiled a list of the five most memorable matches during his tenure.
5. 2014 NPL2 Round 11 | St Albans Saints 0-3 North Geelong Warriors
Micky Čolina’s debut match had a sense of imminence about it. His arrival as senior head coach of North Geelong had only just been announced mid-week. He had two training sessions to prepare his new troops. His first opponent? The club he spent the majority of his playing career at and later coached: sister-club St Albans Saints.
Čolina may not have had much time to implement his tactics, but the time restraint had no effect on the Warriors as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, Michael Anderson grabbing a brace with a Robert Zadworny goal wedged in between.
The Warriors were on their way in 2014. The Micky Čolina era had begun.
4. 2015 NPL Round 3 | Green Gully 1-6 North Geelong Warriors
North Geelong had a tough start to life in their first season in the top-flight of Victoria football since 1997 in 2015. An opening day 2-0 loss at Kingston Heath against eventual champions Bentleigh Greens was followed up with a 3-0 loss at Elcho Park to eventual premiers South Melbourne. The initial optimising heading into the season had already begun to dwindle.
And then a midweek clash for the ages arrived. After facing two league heavyweights in the opening two encounters, North Geelong came up against nine-time Victorian Premier League champions Green Gully at their home base. Few predicted a joyful outcome.
That was, however, until Robert Zadworny opened the scoring on 16 minutes. Zadworny continued to stun onlookers when he doubled his tally on 43 minutes with a gorgeous lob. The second half kicked-off with Green Gully pulling one back and threatening to make a contest of the clash, but it was Zadworny’s night and nothing would stop him. He claimed his hat-trick shortly after Gully’s goal.
The Warriors smelt blood and were not to be denied. Juso Julardzija grabbed a brace and Reardo Luka added a fine goal to cap off a historic victory for the Red, White and Blue.
3. 2016 NPL2 Promotion Playoff | North Geelong Warriors 4-1 Dandenong Thunder
Dandenong Thunder seemed to have had the NPL2 East league title in the bag. Led by the likes of ex-Socceroo Simon Colosimo and Brandon Barnes, Thunder opened the season with 15 consecutive wins and did not taste defeat until Round 21. However, Thunder would lose three more games in the final seven games of the season, allowing Kingston City to win the league title on the final day of the season. The late season collapse meant that the glamour side off NPL2 would have to go through the playoff series if they were to return to the top-flight from which they were relegated in 2014.
But the playoff match, much like the late-season run-in, did not start well for Thunder. American import Kene Eze burst through the right hand side on 26 minutes and teed up Nicholas Jurčić, whose shot was blocked on the line. Michael Anderson was on hand, however, to give North Geelong the ascendancy at bogey ground JL Murphy Reserve. It was two just two minutes later when Eze was again the provider and this time there was no one to clear off the line as Jurčić put North Geelong in box seat with a low driven strike. Anderson grabbed two second half goals with a Thunder consolidation in between to seal a memorable victory for Čolina and his Warriors.
2. 2016 NPL Promotion-Relegation Playoff – Richmond 0-4 North Geelong Warriors
After its win against Dandenong Thunder, North Geelong faced third-bottom NPL Victoria side Richmond SC. The side contained the likes of Nick Niagoran, Alex Caniglia and Jake Barker-Daish. But North Geelong had big names of their own. Kene Eze continued his scintillating form and drew a foul inside the box early on in the tie at Jack Edwards Reserve. Fellow Visa player, Englishman Matt Thorne, cooly dispatched the penalty to give the advantage to the NPL2 side.
Shortly after the half-time break, it was a sense of deja-vu when Eze won a second penalty and Thorne again converted. The Warriors were well on their way. As time wore on, Richmond were more and more condemned to their fate and their play reflected it. Anderson, by now making a true habit of scoring in North Geelong’s biggest games, headed home a sumptuous Josh Pugh cross to make it three and game over. Michael Simms grabbed his first goal in North Geelong colours when he tapped home an emphatic fourth, confirming a return to the top-flight for the Warriors in 2017.
1. 2014 NPL Round 24 | North Geelong Warriors 1-0 St Albans Saints
In 1992, North Geelong became the first ever promoted side to win the Victorian Premier League, a distinction it still holds to this day. Managed by Branko Culina, a golden generation containing the likes of Steve Horvat, Robert Čosić, brothers David and Adrian Cervinski, brothers Joe and Robert Markovac and Francis Awaritefe, among others, brought North Geelong its maiden VPL triumph. The VPL era lasted until 1997, when the Warriors were relegated, falling first to State League 1 and then to State League 2 in 2000.
North Geelong Croatia would spent the following 14 years between the second and third tiers of Victorian football and stories of the Club’s Premier League days would become a distant memory with each passing year, the dust piling on the portraits hung in the clubroom at Elcho Park from the clubs glory days in the early 90s.
Micky Čolina’s arrival at North Geelong changed all that. The Club went on a record-equalling eight league games winning run, propelling the club from third-bottom to second. The run included a 3-0 victory of eventual league champions Avondale Heights, ending a two and a half year unbeaten run for the home side. The run meant that by Round 24, a win against St Albans Saints would seal promotion for the Warriors. After debuting against the side in Round 11, there was a sense of fate as the Croatian sides took to the field in front of a bumper Elcho Park crowd. Eternal clubman Mirko Hrkač sadly passed away during the week in the build up to the game, but the loss seemed to galvanise the playing squad, rather than detriment it as they looked to honour Mirko’s memory.
The match started off a rather subdued affair and continued as so well into the second half. A shallow goal kick from the Dinamo ‘keeper was headed back towards him and Mark Paleka beat his marker to the ball in the 76th minute, slotting home to send the home crowd into delirium.
North Geelong held out to confirm a return to the Premier League for the first time in 17 years and Micky Čolina allowed the North Geelong faithful to dream again.
