Soccer
THURSDAY 20 November 2025 officially kicks off a new era at Peninsula Strikers under joint senior coaches Ross Walliss and Stephen Duffy.
That’s when a new promotion campaign is launched as pre-season gets underway at Centenary Park.
Walliss and Duffy were announced last week as successors to Scott Morrison, who resigned recently for family reasons.
The new joint coaches were recommended to Strikers by veteran midfielder Wayne “Buzzer” Gordon, who is part of an England squad coached by the duo at the All Nations Cup being played at Knox.
Walliss was born in Southampton, England, and was on the books of Bournemouth from the ages of eight to 18.
The midfielder then had a year as a pro at Southampton and arrived in Melbourne in 2010 to play with Bentleigh Greens under Andy O’Dell.
His playing CV here includes stints at Sunshine George Cross, Werribee, North Geelong, and Altona City.
His coaching career here started with a junior coaching stint at Mooroolbark before becoming senior assistant to Paul Borrows.
This year he started the season as head coach at Hampton Park United.
Both Walliss and Duffy are UEFA B licenced coaches and were introduced to Strikers’ players at last Wednesday’s Meet the Coaches night.
“It was brilliant and we had some really good feedback,” Walliss said. “It was obvious that the players love the club and it has a massive reputation for its culture, which is what appealed to us most.”
There’s a tendency for new coaches to tread warily when discussing aims, preferring to try and fly under the radar — at least during pre-season. Not so with Walliss.
“I like to back myself when it comes to football, so I’m not shy when it comes to confidence and self-belief,” he said. “A lot of coaches have got carried away in this modern football world but I don’t want to complicate things. Quite the opposite.
“I want to try and make football as simple as possible. I want to get back to the basics and play an attractive brand of football at the end of the day. And I want to win promotion.”
Walliss and Duffy expect to retain most of the senior squad, but classy young midfielder Ethan Goulding has returned to former club Mornington.
“I was a player, so I understand why Ethan has made that decision,” Walliss said. “If we retain most of the squad as expected then we can build on that. We want to see who turns up pre-season before looking at bringing players in.
“I can tell you though that Jerome Baladon will be coming down. He’s a winger who I took to Hampton Park but he ended up at Croydon. He’s old school – never stops – and he’s a good person too, so he’ll fit in well with the culture at Strikers.
“We’ve got three or four others that we’ve spoken to but we’re not committing to them yet because we want to give everyone there now the right opportunity. I know there are three or four really good reserves players ready to come into the seniors, but we need to see them firsthand and we’ll do that pre-season.”
Duffy is from Tullamore in Ireland and played for his hometown club before coming here in 2014.
He had a season at Old Scotch under Eamonn Beamish, but a ruptured ACL and torn meniscus ended his playing days.
Duffy has been involved with girls’ coaching at both community and NPL levels for some years now, while also involved in senior men’s coaching.
In 2019 he assisted Phil McGuinness to win promotion for Skye United from State 3.
Combining his senior and junior coaching commitments and working in a high-pressure environment as a construction manager forced him to step down from assisting McGuinness, but he didn’t sever his links with the local club.
“A lot of people won’t know this but I’ve regularly popped down to Skye and put on sessions,” Duffy said. “I’ve gone to games as well and I have a lot of friends down there.
“I don’t mind people knowing this but if Skye hadn’t got promoted I probably wouldn’t have stepped forward for the Peninsula job. Now that they’re not in the same league makes things a little easier.”
Duffy has a reputation for being a tough taskmaster, and his training sessions can be high-intensity affairs.
“I know what I want and I know how to achieve that,” he said. “I think our man management and our coaching skills are a good match.
“Being Irish, my culture and my background is built on hard work and effort, and that’s something we’ll emphasise massively. Off the ball, our effort is going to go through the roof – we’ll work our arses off – and on the ball we’re going to play good, possession-based, attacking football.”
Walliss and Duffy have wasted no time in developing dossiers on every senior player at Strikers and, to that end, they have enlisted the help of senior linchpin Stevie Elliott, who ruptured his Achilles in the last five minutes of the final league game this year.
“He’s coming on board as part of our coaching staff, so he’ll still be a massive part of the club,” Duffy said. “He’s a great clubman and very approachable.
“He’s given us a rundown on all the players and that information is invaluable. Stevie knows them inside out and we really appreciate his insight.”
Walliss and Duffy have no doubts that the promotion window remains open for Strikers after finishing fourth in 2022, fifth in 2023, third in 2024, and third this year.
“As great a job that Scotty did, the one thing we hear is that he was more or less on his own, and I think that’s a point of difference for me and Ross — we can bounce things off each other,” Duffy added. “The players are going to have two extra energetic coaches in the trenches with them, not just one.
“Let’s be honest here. We’re not coming down to make up the numbers – we’re coming to take the squad to the next level.”
Meanwhile, amid the celebrations at Skye United after winning promotion to State 1 South-East, there was a bittersweet ending to the season for goalkeeper Steve Hadjikakou.
In the club’s 5-3 home win over Knox City in the final round, he was substituted at half-time due to injury and later found out he’d torn an ACL and a meniscus.
The 24-year-old underwent reconstructive surgery and now faces a rehabilitation period of up to 12 months and will be sidelined throughout next season.
“I’m 100 percent intent on playing again and I’ll come back stronger than ever,” he said. “I’ve got plenty left in me and I intend playing into my late 30s. I’ll definitely be involved at Skye in some capacity next season.”
His loss is a huge blow, as many at Skye rated him as the best keeper in State 2 South-East.
At the club’s recent presentation night, Hadjikakou tied for the senior best and fairest award with Jason Nowakowski.
Arash Sadeghi and Nhan Than were runners-up, and the Golden Boot winner was Varmah (Bobby) Mgoneh.
Freddie Jeffs won the reserves best and fairest, and Adam Ford was runner-up. The Golden Boot winner was Sebastian Stevens.
Abby Johnston was best and fairest in the women’s State 2 side, with Amba Tennant and Brooke Plier runners-up.
Nilab Mohammadi won the Golden Boot award.
The women’s players’ player was Amba Tennant, and Cadence Vakacavu was runner-up.
In State 7 South-East, a new committee at Aspendale has called for expressions of interest for the senior coaching position.
Gregor Macnab has been head coach for the past few seasons and is believed to be one of eight applicants.
Former Mount Eliza player-coach Bryce Ruthven met with the club last week.
