With season 2024 looming, Wolves put national comp on the backburner - for now

Hidden in plain sight among all the noise of an impending National Second Tier competition in 2025, the NSW National Premier League season is just over a month away.

Whilst February 16 may be sneaking up on all us fans, that is not the case for David Carney and his Wolves squad who are right at the pointy end of their pre-season with one eye on an NPL opener against Marconi.

The Wolves of course have the NST to look forward to in 2025, but for Carney, he is only focused on the season coming.

And while it is easy to neglect the NPL now that the riches of a national competition are upon the region, you have to respect that the Wolves players, coaches and staff will be doing nothing of the sort.

It wasn't too long ago that the Wolves were in fact NPL champions. Under Luke Wilkshire's leadership, the team beat Lions FC to be crowned the best in Australia (other than the professional A-League).

A lot has changed between then and now ... but that doesn't mean the Wolves of today aren't capable.

A young team, yes; and one that learned plenty of lessons the hard way in Carney's first season as coach.

Initially the defence was leaky in 2023, easy goals were conceded. But there was no doubting the potential. You don't have look far for evidence of this.

In round one of the season just gone, the Wolves started the season like a house on fire and were 2-0 up against eventual champions APIA. Of course APIA fought back for a draw, as was the story of the first half of the Wolves' season.

They threw away leads against the likes of NWS Spirit, St George and Sydney FC, but the young team quickly learnt their lessons and finished the season as one of the form teams. But heading into NPL 2024 the question remains, can the Wolves win the comp?

There is no reason why they can't win the NPL, but they would be rank outsiders. No one predicted the 2019 triumph however.

Sydney teams with bigger budgets such as APIA, Marconi, Blacktown and Sydney United are always the odds-on favourites to claim silverware. But the young Wolves did not back down from these challenges last season.

In a 1-1 draw with Blacktown the Wolves drew great praise from City coach Mark Crittenden following the game.

"The lads were upset because we didn't win," Carney told the Mercury following the draw.

"That just shows how far we've come. To go to last year's champions and come to their ground and dominate them as even their coaching staff said to us that they were lucky to get a point and that we were really good and that says a lot.

"And he's an experienced coach so for him to say we dominated them is credit to the boys."

One aspect that cannot be overlooked is the fact that Carney managed to re-sign the majority of his squad for the season coming.

Keeping former A-League player and captain Lachlan Scott was key, as well as retaining much of the backline that improved as the season went on. Players such as Banri Kanaizumi, Walter Scott, Ethan Beaven, Harrison Buesnel and Marcus Beattie will allow Carney to pick up where he left off.

Chris McStay was a revelation in the middle of the park for the Wolves and formed a solid partnership with Samuel Riak. These players mentioned forms the team's spine, which is crucial for any title charge.

Geography alone always makes it tough for the Wolves to win it.

Every away trip is up Mount Ousley in a car for at least a couple of hours, whereas Sydney teams don't have as far to travel over the whole of the season.

But that is not an excuse nor would the Wolves be using it as one. It's something that has always been the case and it is no longer a deal-breaker for mediocrity.

Another reason is of course the experience and recruitment of other teams.

Champions APIA have secured the likes of Seiya Kambayashi from Manly, former A-League midfielder Nick Sullivan whilst retaining the majority of their squad.

The likes of Sydney United have re-built after a below-par 2023. Rockdale have signed exciting attacker Yinka Sunmola and perhaps most importantly have re-signed goal scoring machine Alec Urosevski to go again.

But the Wolves will have signings to. The Mercury understands that some new deals are in the final stages of being done.

Football NSW's project of a 'first past the post' system lasted just the season to the delight of most.

As a result of no finals in 2023, the Wolves were playing for pride for the majority of last season. But now with a top six system in place, the Wolves will certainly be eyeing finals as an achievable goal.

The Wolves will be aiming for a top six finish as a realistic goal and as Carney said many times last season, no team would want to play the Wolves, especially in a do-or-die fixture.