Football Season Guide

After winning the regular season and then making it all the way to the Grand Final 2 years ago, Glory took a step back last term when they just about made the play-offs, edged Adelaide by single point, and then exited the post-season early. It was a tough campaign and for long coach Popovic looked to have lost his magic, he kept pushing with a 3-man back line despite the many goals conceded and also snubbed decent players just to give his 2 sons playing time. Ultimately this led to Popovic being sacked and Glory are now taking a risk as they appointed ex-Spanish international Richard Garcia in charge, with this first such role for Garcia who only just ended his playing career. Garcia is expected to be heavily assisted on the job by the 38-year-old captain Castro, who is also his countryman. Glory released several aging regulars in the off-season, but also added several experienced players to their ranks. Ota is an ultra-aggressive left-back that has the potential to achieve 10+ assists for the campaign, while proven goalscorer Keogh returns for his fourth spell at Perth and he’s expected to form a lethal partnership in attack with Fornaroli. Glory continue to have a squad full of experienced and pretty good players with the main question being is Garcia ready to be manager. Having so many old players in the squad (12 players age 30 or over) should help him as most of them hardly need any coaching as they know pretty well what to do. If as expected Fornaroli and Keogh provide many goals in attack, Glory would be a team to watch out for.