WHEN Adamstown cut short the tenure of Peter McGuinness last year, there was plenty of speculation about how many players the coach might take with him to Hamilton.
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But when McGuinness prepares to return to Adamstown Oval on Saturday night (6.30pm) as Olympic coach in round two of the Northern NSW NPL, it will be a group of former Hamilton players in Rosebud colours looking to make a point.
On June 1 last year, Hamilton announced that McGuinness, in his first year at Adamstown, would be their coach for 2018. Rosebud sacked him and installed Nick Webb as interim boss.
At the end of the coaching merry-go-round, Adamstown appointed Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Webb took a handful of players to Lake Macquarie and only Stuart Musialik followed McGuinness to Hamilton.
Rosebud, though, picked up assistant coach Phil Koina and lower-graders Tom Carias-Cox, Alex Graham, Oliver Davies, Izaac Terry, Luke Rutledge and Danilo O’Brien from Olympic. All players except Rutledge, who remains suspended, started for Adamstown last week in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle Jets Youth.
Rosebud came back from 2-0 down with a long-range strike from Gocha Abshilava and penalty from Connor Heydon to earn a point in oppressive heat. O’Brien was taken from the field in the first half with heat stroke.
Cansdell-Sherriff was proud of the fightback and said the former Hamilton players “all have the right mentality, enthusiasm and attitude” and he was “pushing hard to get the best out of them”. He expected them to lift against Olympic.
“It’s always good to play against your old club,” Cansdell-Sherriff said. “They didn’t really look after them too well so we’ll give them that opportunity and look after them and make sure they get some football time.”
A 10-man Hamilton went down 3-2 to Charlestown in their season-opener. McGuinness believed his new combinations would improve, but he was expecting a challenge at Adamstown.
“I watched them play last week and they won’t go away,” McGuinness said. “The Jets should have been out of sight but they weren’t, they didn’t take all the chances they created, and Adamstown just hung around.
“The young keeper probably got wrong-footed from a fortuitous shot and the second one was a penalty where the Jets didn’t have to go in. They won’t go away, they’ll be trying their heart out and it will be a tough game.”
As for coaching away against the club who sacked him, he said: “I will walk into the ground knowing that during my time there I did everything possible and everything asked of me and beyond to improve the football culture of Adamstown.”
Hamilton will have Jake McGuinness, Jacob Bailey (suspended) and Blake Green (ankle injury) out.
All other games are Sunday 2.30pm. Valentine host the Jets at CB Complex, Maitland travel to Charlestown, Broadmeadow welcome Lambton Jaffas and Weston are at home against Lake Macquarie.
