IPL quartet to line up against Mariners
Wollongong Wolves are set to feature at least four Illawarra Premier League players in their post-season friendly with A-League side Central Coast Mariners at Win Stadium on Friday night. The Wolves signed Harry Callahan last week and he will be joined by his Bulli captain Guy Knight along with Corrimal’s Takeru Okada and Cringila’s Stefan Dimoski.
Knight is the reigning George Naylor Medalist and has been linked with a move to the Wollongong-based NPL club for a number of years. It is my understanding one of the main reasons the move did not occur in previous years was because Knight wanted to stay with Bulli until they broke their Grand Final hoodoo — which they did last month courtesy of a late Knight winner.
Okada is said to have caught the eye of Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire in Corrimal’s Round 22 match against Bulli. Sources have informed me Okada is on trial as the club have some reservations about using a visa spot on the Japanese wideman.
As for Dimoski, he was a part of the Wolves set up in 2016 and half of 2017 before he signed with Wollongong Olympic. He transferred to Cringila for the 2018 season, however, he only played six matches scoring four goals with his last match being on May 20.
This quartet of players will fill some of the void left by a number of outs since the end of the 2018 NPL season including main goal threats Peter Simonoski and Yuzo Tashiro.
The Mariners — who kick off their A-League campaign later this month — released their squad for the trial on Wednesday afternoon and it includes four Illawarra born players in Corey Gameiro, Jordan Murray, Joshua Macdonald and Kye Rowles. Drawcard trialist Usain Bolt is also in the squad, however, the Illawarra Mercury revealed he is unlikely to get on the park with the club suggesting his next match would come on October 12 against a makeshift Macarthur South West side.
