Welly Nix: Super Sarpreet & Natural Selection
After the Nix were demolished 4-0 in back to back trips to Sydney (one Western and one FC), Darije Kalezic proposed an interesting solution:
“Now is the time for natural selection. I will sit down with my players this week and I will explain what natural selection is.”
Fair enough, after all a couple of these dudes that’ve played this season are still in high school and could probably use the extra study sessions. Gotta get those NCEA biology credits one way or another. Plus it’s always handy to know that our favourite footballers have a level of reason to them and won’t turn out to be weird, hateful talkback radio pundits after they retire because they spent too long in the spotlight believing politically-motivated falsehoods.
But somehow it seems like the specifics of Darwinism weren’t exactly what Coach Kalezic had in mind there when he said that. More like it was a creative metaphor for the ol’ survival of the fittest whatnot. You might have heard: two-thirds of this squad are coming off contract after the season, the coach is under a bit of pressure, there are fans sick of the junk and wanting to see something optimistic from the team. Hence natural selection. Let’s see some of these young guns out there, some of these fringe guys too, and see which of them can swim and which will only drown at A-League level.
On the basis of this effort, that might be something to get very excited about…
Swish.
Sarpreet Singh has been a name getting a lot of mentions from Yellow Fever types. Pretty clear reason for that, he’s probably the WeeNix player with the most potential upside to his career. Certainly he’s been the standout for the reserves in the Premiership this season where he’s been scoring goals like that for fun. Look at that strike, smooth off the left peg, just a hint of swing. It’s a thing of beauty.
But he’s also been limited in opportunities by the fact that he’s still a teenager and still very much built like a teenager. It’s never been the technical side of the game that’s got in the way but the physical side of it, which makes his selection a bit of a risk. The clamouring for More Sarpreet has been significant and not entirely unjustified, it’s just that there’s also been an understandable reason for his exclusions. Can’t pick everyone and Singh is young and unproven, after all.
Except that right now the Phoenix have probably (finally) blown their hopes of the top six, at least the way they were going. Make a few changes, get on a roll, and nothing’s impossible… but from what they served up the last two games they were sure sinking fast. Kalezic wants to see these guys with something immediate to play for. The distant vision of the playoffs was too distant to bring the best out of them, clearly. So how about their professional futures at the club? Yeah, that’ll get them going.
It should be mentioned that, as relieving as the three points against Perth were, they were three points that could easily have gone in the other direction. Had Diego Castro buried that spottie then they’d probably have lost. It took an injury time own goal for the winner. Those things reflect a fairly even game in which the Nix made the most of the most crucial moments, which to be fair is something that we haven’t been able to say too often about these guys. Usually they let the big moments pass them by. Last time they hosted Perth Glory they beat them 5-2. This time it was a scraping 2-1. Get you a team that can do both.
Sarpreet Singh hardly controlled this game or anything after scoring his wonder goal in the third minute either. He was tidy and effective enough but prone to fading in and out. He’s like that in Reserves games as well but then when you realise he hasn’t done much for ten minutes he usually goes and rips a stunner of a shot off and there you go. He was replaced in the 68th minute but not before doing enough to convince his manager to tell reporters that his fresh starting spot is secure for the rest of the season. With that assurance will come confidence. Get him playing like he feels he belongs and, bloody hell, who knows what’ll happen? At the very least we’ll get a complete picture of how he fits at this level.
The tempting thing now is to ponder which other discoveries might be lingering in the squad… but that’d be harsh on Kalezic. The fact is, he’s been chucking guys like Singh in there all season. It’s only that until this past game it had been guys like Singh and not Singh himself. Kalezic has given starts to high schoolers Keegan Smith and Liberato Cacace. Logan Rogerson and Alex Rufer have been involved in more squads than not. Plus Kalezic is the first manager to give Matty Ridenton a sustained run in the midfield and he’s been (mostly) really good. Sign that bugger up next!
Kalezic: “I say last week the time is for natural selection, that means the players who don't get a lot of chances in the current season are going to get the chance from now. Sarpreet is one of those players who grabbed the chance with two hands. He scored a beautiful goal and delivered a great job in 67 minutes.”
All the guys mentioned in that last paragraph probably apply to the “players who don't get a lot of chances in the current season” category. Maybe a little less of Cacace simply because he wasn’t banging down the door of the first team all season, he only came in recently and has been in three straight matchday squads. But perhaps Rufer gets another start soon, perhaps Rogerson gets a run. Perhaps Keegan Smith comes back in for the last couple games, like Lewis Italiano did last season.
Italiano’s a good example of why these late-season rotations don’t always reflect the true value of a player. It’s a very different story pushing for a late equaliser away from home in a must-win compared to playing with zero pressure after playoff hopes have already died. Still, it’s better to take those initial steps and start acclimatising to the big stage when the pressure’s off. It lessens the jump. There’s another step to be taken the next season when it all matters, one that Italiano didn’t really take in 2017-18, and that’s just the way it is. Not every player’s gonna make it stick. Not every player is a write-off after the first failure either.
Fans love a good academy player. Dunno why, probably got something to do with the perceived purity of never having played for another club. Plus there’s a bragging right for the team capable of nurturing talent from the inside, given that the alternative involves the cheat codes of blank cheques. There’s not much of a hero’s journey to being richer than the other guys and simply buying the best talent. No fan in the world would turn that down but for those that aren’t given the opportunity, it’s cool to be able to turn your nose up at the approach by doing the opposite. And the Nix are neither wealthy nor successful, so… yeah.
Granted, this does create a weird situation for a few others. Roy Krishna just re-signed for another year (YES!!! GET IN!) but was left on the bench for the first 45 as we got a look at Monty Patterson (there’s an injury thing in there somewhere). Mike McGlinchey also came off the bench and he’s the obvious fall man if Singh’s going to be a regular for the rest of the campaign. Depends how Goran Paracki’s feeling in the short term… maybe he gets another dig at centre back?
The real curiosity will be in whether Kalezic is willing to drop his import signings for these natural selectives. You know, HIS guys. Andrija Kaludjerovic, Goran Paracki and Matija Ljujic… all of whom are first XI quality but none of whom are booked to come back next season.
Oh, and it looks like we’ve seen the last of Marco Rossi in Wellington Phoenix colours.
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