Brilliant Neptunes sweep honours

This year’s summer season will be cemented as a memorable one for Neptunes WPSC, a club steeped in success since they were founded in 1929. They won all the honours available, which included the BOV Championship and BOV Knock-Out, as well as the President’s Cup.

This was a truly deserved reward for a team which produced the best brand of waterpolo, arguably never seen before by a local team.

Having in their ranks the best units operating within a collective framework, the Balluta team were consistent throughout all the competitions and more so during a championship which came to a conclusion in an unprecedented manner with the play-offs. They will surely claim that they were yet again the pioneers in landing a new-look honour, a tradition they take pride in.

Under the guidance of the knowledgeable Russian coach, Sergey Markoch, the team set off at a tremendous pace and eventually managed a clean slate in the preliminary and second phase of the competition, also clinching the knock-out (played in mid-season) which had an innovative look about it and made it yet another first for them.

The Reds’ only blip were two defeats at the hands of Sliema in the best out of-five play-offs in what surely should be regarded as an experiment which drew large and colourful crowds to the National Pool.

The team had the exceptional scoring duo of Steve Camilleri and captain Niki Lanzon, a solid goalkeeper, Ian Bugeja, backed by the dependable Ryan Sciortino, two central defenders of quality in Jordan Camilleri and Sean Gravina, Michele Stellini, a left-hander with a devastating shot and two nippy players and potential scorers in Edward Aquilina and Matthew Pisani.

One must not forget their two foreigners, the free-scoring Hungarian Tamas Molnar, second only to Steve Camilleri’s tally of 97, with 86 goals and the mastermind of the team, Vladimir Gojkovic, from Montenegro, who stood out as the best recruits for their work ethic and professionalism.

Other end-of-the-line players in their squad, such as Brian Buhagiar, Benji Lanzon, Gabriel Pace, Zac Mizzi and Kyle Debattista were drafted in as the occasion demanded. They too gave their contribution, however small.

Such was the team’s superiority in the run-up to the play-offs that they managed to thump all opposition including Sliema, the second best team, whom they overwhelmed 18-9 and 15-9 on two out of the seven occasions they beat the Blues.

Commenting on his team, Markoch said: “The boys worked for one another and gave their share unselfishly, playing excellent waterpolo. The dramatic finale when the teams were level on 2-2 added flavour to a great season.”

Indeed, the Neptunes clan and several neutral followers of the game thought that it would have been a travesty of justice had the Reds failed at the last hurdle, even given Sliema’s bold fightback in two play-off matches.

The general opinion was that a league must be won on the merit of consistency from start to end and not only on the ability of a team to peak in the last stages.

New format

Which brings up the issue of this year’s championship experiment with play-offs which many contend are unsuitable for a thin league such as ours. This knock-out extension has been under the microscope since the ASA, backed by the clubs, opted for this new format.

Certain drawbacks surfaced, such as the number of meaningless matches in the second round and the complete neutralising of the teams’ achievements once no further benefits were carried forward by the leading teams to the next phase.

A preliminary round followed by three rounds and hoping that one team does not bolt off as Neptunes did this year will give the teams a chance to make up for lost ground.

Otherwise, another format worth looking into would be a preliminary round with the necessary bonus points on the merit of the standings in the two divisions, as was the case this year.

This is followed by two rounds in the top division, after which two of the first three-placed teams will carry forward bonus points (three for the top team and one for the second-placed team), followed by two mini rounds of three matches each.

This will ensure a cut-down on irrelevant matches, even given that relegation has long been a defunct issue.

With three teams proceeding to the mini-league stage of two rounds, interest will be maintained at both ends of the five-team table and good crowds are attracted to watch these last six matches.

As for the second division matches, the second phase can be played over three rounds rather than two.

Such a format would entail a total of 64 matches (considering there are nine teams), approximately the same number of matches as this year.

In any case, the ASA and club officials can form a think tank and come up with a better format than this year’s, discarding the play-offs altogether.

As for the second division, the league honours went to Marsascala, and rightly so after the southenders dominated the competition before the play-offs, and Ta’ Xbiex who carried off the knock-out.

Otherwise it has been a great season from all aspects, including refereeing, operations on the pool deck by the matches secretariat, administrative background work as well as law and order at the pool.

A big well done to the ASA.