South Melbourne have completed their first season in the Oceania Pro League, finishing in second place after losing to Auckland FC in the final.

Whilst the final result was a heartbreaker for fans the club can hold its head up high for a monster effort which saw it make a good impression on the field and off it.

The good

The on-field performances were fantastic. The 55 goals scored by the club was by far the most in the competition and Hellas showed they were the team to beat. Although Auckland ultimately came out on top, South’s on field performances were commendable considering the club was competing simultaneously in two competitions.

Also, the relationship and community work South conducted during the competition was first class!

The bad

The inability to play home games at Lakeside was disappointing. The fan experience as a whole was really challenging. The OPL even impacted fan engagement in the NPL as South were forced to contest some games with its U23 team.

In the future, the OPL must move towards a regular home and away format. Of the 19 OPL games South played this year, only four of them were played in Melbourne. Worse still, due to the Grand Prix, those four Melbourne games were not even played at Lakeside.

The ugly

Simultaneously competing in the OPL and NPL required intensive squad management. The club managed this almost perfectly, until the final phase of the OPL which appeared to result in a negative tipping point.

After the OPL final loss South experienced significant player turnover and even coaching instability which disappointed fans.

This cannot be repeated next season and South will likely require a different squad management approach. This should involve at a minimum a more liberal use of loan players, and dedicated pools of players to focus on each of the competitions, rather than stretched across the NPL and OPL.