Someone made a statement that not that many players will return to Melbourne because the club has already locked in flight's for the squads.
But South Melbourne has been chopping and changing the 2 squads throughout the last 2 months.
There is no reason for all our main players not to return...
Depends when Phase 2 starts. Although it's highly unlikely that it starts a week after the Heidelberg match. It must surely be starting no later than around the date that we play Heidelberg.
The OFC has not released any dates for Phase 2.
We are a virtual certainty for the Top 4. And with Vanuatu leading, it's nearly locked in.
Our club will be focusing on the OFC once Phase 2 arrives.
That means our NPL team will be missing virtually our First Team for about 4/5 weeks.
Therefore we MUST return our best team for Oakleigh.
Oops .... I made a mistake. We still can miss out.
But it is such a long shot
Solomons beat Vanuatu
We lost to Bula
Solomons beat South Island
We lost to PNG
We lost to Tahiti
South Island beat Auckland
ALL these results need to occur
It is not a joke to the Oceania region.
Australia's participation (via South Melbourne) can be challenged, but I watched today's match and it mattered to the player's and fans involved.
After today's draw between Tahiti and South Island, it is now impossible for South Melbourne to finish outside the top 4.
So I suspect most of our First Team players will return for the Oakleigh match.
Come on .... we have played there before
I assume our priority status is from May 1 until Oct 31. 6 months
But I could not find anything online about Athletics events on April 28th.