When the predictions came out for the second season of the Australian Championship, few had WA’s lone representative Bayswater City advancing from Group C, despite coming within a whisker of reaching last season’s quarterfinals.
City stalwart and former A-League player Sam Mitchinson saw those predictions, as did his teammates — which made it all the sweeter when Bayswater romped through their opening four games of the group stage unbeaten to sew up a knockout berth with two games to spare.
No matter the outcome of Saturday’s clash with Sydney Olympic at Frank Drago Reserve, or next weekend’s trip to Oakleigh Cannons, Bayswater will be the first WA team to reach knockouts of the second-tier competition.
In doing so, they have proved a point to the pundits who wrote them off before a ball was kicked for the second season in a row.
And Mitchinson, who is set to bring the curtain down on his superb NPL career at the conclusion of the tournament, said it was time City got their dues.
“Whether we should or we shouldn’t (have that respect), it’s really irrelevant. We all saw that, people putting us fourth and third, but you have to put that to the side, and you have to prove it on the pitch — which everyone’s done. But we’ve definitely proved a few people wrong again,” he said.
“Everyone’s going to have their opinion, and Sydney and Melbourne teams, people are going to think they’re going to do better than the WA teams. But people are realising now Baysie can compete.”
For all the money poured into the NPL Victoria and NSW teams competing in the Championship, Mitchinson (who also spent time playing in Victoria with Oakleigh) said the WA league was improving with each year and there was no reason his side should not fancy themselves to go all the way.
“People are starting to take Baysie a bit more seriously now, which is the respect the club deserves because we’ve got some really good players, and we’re showing we can mix it with the Sydney and Melbourne teams,” he said.
“The gap’s really not that big. We’ve still got a lot to do. We’ve qualified with two games to go, which is quite impressive but we still want to finish top of the group, so we get a home quarterfinal — and then why can’t we win it?
“We’ve shown we can beat teams like Marconi and Sydney Olympic. There is obviously some still heavyweights left in the competition, like South Melbourne and Preston, but the boys are are ready for the challenge.”
Mitchinson has seen a lot in his lengthy tenure at Frank Drago Reserve, and even played in the national NPL Grand Final — the precursor to the Championship — for Bayswater in 2016, when they lost to Blacktown City.
He has won five league titles, three top four cups, two night series titles, a pair of Rocco D’Orazio Medals and played almost 300 games in the black and blue.
With Bayswater not yet guaranteed a home quarterfinal, Mitchinson knows Saturday could be his last home game for the club he loves.
“It’s a bit bittersweet. I’ve played at the club for a long time, so I’m going to have all my family, friends down watching. I’m just going to enjoy the moment, and if it is my last game, and so be it,” he said.
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