Credit: Teo Pellizzeri / AustraliaCup.com.au (link)
Names like Liam Boland, Tasuku Sekiya and Kenny Athiu went from NPL standouts to national news with a single game, starring in ‘cupsets’ of A-League teams in the competition’s early years.
Some players, like Athiu, who netted Heidelberg United’s match-winning goal against Perth Glory in 2017, showed that scoring against A-League opponents was proof that they too belonged in the professional ranks.
Others made their name in a battle of federation teams without an A-League opponent present, like Canberra Olympic goalkeeper Angelo Konstantinou in 2016. For those of you who may not remember, Konstantinou dared to take a stoppage-time penalty to win Canberra Olympic’s quarter-final against Green Gully. A clean sheet and the match-winning goal as he inspired his team’s run to the semi-finals.
The Hahn Australia Cup is a stage to reacquaint ourselves with players long forgotten from the A-League stage. Like Travis Major, who netted for Blacktown City against Adelaide United last season, some nine years after his solitary A-League goal for the Central Coast Mariners.
When it comes to flagging some players to watch, it can be an impossible task to predict just who will be the Hahn Australia Cup’s break-out player. Who would have possibly predicted that 13-year-old Ymer Abili would end up on the bench, never mind take the field for Oakleigh Cannons in 2022? Or that Lachlan Brook would score five in a game in 2023, given he’d scored four goals in the six years of his professional career prior to his night out against Floreat Athena.
But, with the Hahn Australia Cup Round of 32 fast approaching, here is a best attempt to cast the net across some of the players who could catch the eye with a star turn in this winter’s action.
Bul Juach - Heidelberg United
The ‘Raging Bul’ has been nothing short of a revelation since landing in Victoria, having previously played for Mt Druitt Town Rangers and Wollongong Wolves of NSW, Macarthur FC’s NPL academy and also briefly in the Bulgarian second division.
But Melbourne is where the 24-year-old has truly hit his stride, scoring 18 goals in 24 games this term after 14 goals for Altona Magic in 2024.
Leading the NPL Victoria golden boot by three, Juach has fired Heidelberg United to the top of the league, meaning the Bergers are on track to qualify for the inaugural season of the Australian Championship in addition to having a Hahn Australia Cup run to look forward to.
Born in South Sudan, Juach moved to Canberra from a Kenyan refugee camp aged 12. He has previously expressed an interest in representing South Sudan at international level but remains uncapped for now.
Leigh Griffiths – Stirling Macedonia
The 22-cap Scotland international was well and truly off world football’s radar after arriving in Australia, having left his last professional contract with Falkirk in 2022 and lobbed up at Mandurah City in Football West’s lower divisions.
And after some fascination from the Scottish press at the travails of the player who once scored a double against England, even their interest had waned when Griffiths quietly ended the 2024 season and seemingly had no club thereafter.
But with the challenge of a trip to Melbourne to face Avondale FC looming, Stirling Macedonia has revived Griffiths’ career, and he scored a penalty against Perth Glory’s NPL academy last month to open his account.
The 34-year-old spent eight seasons at Celtic, including playing under Ange Postecoglou. Stirling Macedonia sit eighth of 12 in NPL WA, belying their league form with a cup run to the national rounds.
Rahmat Akbari – Gold Coast Knights
A highly-rated youngster in his time at the Brisbane Roar, Akbari has found himself back in his home state of Queensland after the conclusion of his time playing professionally in Georgia at Torpedo Kutaisi.
The 25-year-old played for Australia at U17 level and racked up 91 appearances in the Isuzu Ute A-League before leaving the Roar in 2023.
The capped Afghanistan international is a mainstay in a Gold Coast Knights team filled with some of the standout names of the Hahn Australia Cup in recent years.
Teammate Taisei Kaneko was a key member of the Sydney United 58 team that went all the way to the final in 2022. Marquez Walters also now calls the Gold Coast Knights home after netting three times for Queensland rival Moreton City Excelsior, including against Perth Glory, in the national rounds last season.
Owen Windsor – MetroStars
After bouncing around 10 clubs in the lower divisions of English football, Windsor has made a winning move in coming to Adelaide and joining MetroStars.
On the books of then-Premier League club West Bromwich Albion, Windsor was loaned out a number of times and played in League Two for Grimsby Town, Newport County and Carlisle United.
The 23-year-old is the top scorer in NPL SA with 12 to his name, including a half-hour hat-trick against FK Beograd.
Not to take away from MetroStars’ defence, which is by far the best in NPL SA, with only 15 conceded in 17 games.
George Stephens – Weston Bears
One of the stars of the Hahn Australia Cup Round of 32 draw, Stephens’ quick wit and fumble fingers – dropping his phone during a live cross – was immediately memorable.
No such troubles with his handling between the sticks for the Bears though.
Having conceded only 14 goals in 13 games this season, Stephens and the Bears have a few postponed games in hand which will determine if they’re still in the title race for NPL Northern NSW.
In the qualifying rounds of the Cup, Stephens saved three Edgeworth Eagles penalties to foil the six-time national round mainstays and earn Weston their first-ever shot at the big time.
Kobe Kemp – South Hobart
There’s little doubt that the team is the star for South Hobart this NPL Tasmania season, with the best attack by 15 goals, the best defence, and an unbeaten 12-game start to break seven points clear at the top of the table.
And with five of the top 10 goalscorers in the league all hailing from the Lakoseljac Cup champions, Kobe Kemp leads all comers with 11.
A prodigal son, Kemp had been prolific for Kingborough Lions in recent seasons before coming ‘home’ to Darcy Street to add to his trophy cabinet. Kemp and 10-goal Nicholas Morton were the scorers in South Hobart’s 3-2 Lakoseljac Cup final win against South East United, form they will hope to carry into their blockbuster clash with South Melbourne in the Hahn Australia Cup.
Christian Cavallo – Nunawading City
The name may ring a bell for long-time Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City fans, with the former Victory youth making one A-League appearance for Melbourne City in October 2016.
Injuries have had a big impact on the now 28-year-old’s career, dropping down to the third tier of Victorian football to play for Nunawading City.
But the Australia Cup has been a happy hunting ground for more than a decade for Cavallo, appearing in all of Bentleigh Greens’ matches in 2014 as they made the semi-finals, including starting against Perth Glory in the penultimate round.
Cavallo, brother of former Adelaide United player Josh, also played for Bentleigh in the national rounds of the 2022 edition.
Gus Hoefsloot – Sydney FC
Sky Blues fans may be scrolling through their social feeds desperate for some off-season signings, but promoting from within may deliver them a gem of a find.
Gus Hoefsloot, the third-choice goalkeeper of the Young Socceroos’ victorious U20 AFC Asian Cup campaign, is having a breakout season in NPL NSW for Sydney FC’s academy.
The 19-year-old from Helensburgh has kept five clean sheets as the Sydney FC youth have defied pre-season expectations and maintained a challenge for the top six.
The Hahn Australia Cup has been a launchpad for a number of the Sky Blues’ most promising academy products in recent years, including Kealey Adamson, Jaiden Kucharski and Adrian Segecic. Hoefsloot may be the next young star off the conveyor belt.
Mathew Grbesa – Canberra Croatia
The 38-year-old is synonymous with Canberra Croatia, closing in on 300 NPL appearances, and the defence he marshalls could be one to end a long-standing drought for the Capital territory.
Canberra Croatia had conceded only eight goals in their first 11 league games of the NPL Capital Football season, and only had their defence breached once through four successful Federation Cup ties.
They’ll be hoping that the defensive sturdiness can lift Canberra Croatia to the first national rounds win for the ACT since 2016.
Bryce Ruthven – Darwin Olympic
The Ruthven family are no strangers to the Hahn Australia Cup. Bryce’s brother Troy scored a goal, and the decisive penalty in a shoot-out for Bentleigh Greens in an epic tie away to MetroStars in 2016. Bryce was also accurate from the penalty spot as his Darwin Olympic side beat the Mindil Aces to qualify for the national rounds.
But that’s probably not where many people in your life know Bryce from. In 2021, the then-31 year old gained national fame and notoriety as a contestant on Married at First Sight.
But be it as a player, coach or match commentator, Bryce has remained connected to football and is set to enjoy the spotlight once again, this time in his boots.
