Poletti 
Marconi Stallions lift the 2024 NPL Men's NSW Grand Final trophy. Photo: Poletti
The two best sides throughout the NPL Men’s NSW season met in the Grand Final on Saturday, with Marconi Stallions emerging victorious over Rockdale Ilinden to claim the Championship in 2024, their first since 2012.
Despite losing the Premiership race to Rockdale, Marconi finished on top when it counted, remaining undefeated against Ilinden throughout the season, with a 2-2 draw, a 9-0 victory, and now a 3-0 victory to claim the trophy on the final day of the season.
Club captain Marco Jesic said that he struggled to describe the feeling following the victory.
“It’s something I can’t describe. It’s something that the club has been waiting for [for] 12 years since our last NPL1 Championship,” Jesic said.
“We’ve won a few things in between but I think the biggest thing for us this year was at the start of the year we got written off, considering where we’ve finished in the last few years.
“I think that was the biggest driving force in our preparation for the season and during the season.
“A lot of people went against us, that’s the biggest thing that pushed us this year, including this game tonight.”
An action-packed opening half saw 17 fouls and five yellow cards combined across both sides, setting the tone for how both sides approached the contest.
Alec Urosevski thought he had found the opener for Rockdale in the 33rd minute, but was flagged offside and made his disdain at the call known, receiving a yellow card in the process.
As the first half was nearing its conclusion, Marconi broke the deadlock in the fourth minute of stoppage time, with James Temelkovski scoring from a header just outside the six yard box before celebrating in front of the Rockdale fans.
The second half continued much the same as the first, with plenty of fouls from both sides as the game began to descend into chaos with neither side able to gain momentum due to the stop-start nature of the game.
Marconi sealed the victory in the 84th minute through Jesic, who scored following a scramble in the box, making it 20 goals for himself in the league across both the finals series and the regular season.
Jesic said that a lot of what went into the goal was strikers instinct.
“I think once Dom[inic Costanzo] got the ball, and he got past the defender and had a shot, JT (Temelkovski) was in and around the six yard box, and I was just floating by,” he said.
“It’s probably strikers instinct to be in and around and lucky it fell to my feet for a tap-in.
“I think that really sealed the game for us. We were a bit under the pump that second half.
“Rockdale being 1-0 down, they threw everything going forward, but we were resillient, strong, level-headed, and mentally I think we were just stronger tonight and I think that’s what really pushed us over the line and got us the win.”
As Rockdale began to commit numbers forward to try and get back in the contest, Marconi took full advantage, with substitute Anton Milnaric scoring his sides third goal of the contest, sending the fans into a rapturous delight.
Striker James Temelkovski echoed the same sentiment post game as Jesic when asked how he felt following the win.
“This whole year was a big grind for us, especially myself and the [entire] team, and to come away with a trophy like this, there’s no words to describe it,” he said.
Temelkovski, who made the move from Metrostars in NPL South Australia to Marconi in the off-season, said that the move came with a learning curve.
“It’s a completely different side, I’m not going to lie, with Metro and Marconi, the football is completely different as well and I had to adapt to that and understand how we play here at Marconi,” he said.
“But after a couple of games, understanding everyone, getting chemistry with everyone, I thought we hit the ground running.
“It was a bit tough with the injury setbacks, I missed 10 games which was really tough, on and off, on and off.
“After the second period of the season, I thought we hit the ground running. We went 10 games unbeaten and it’s just an unbelievable feeling right now.”
He also won player of the match and when asked whether he felt he deserved it, he was quick to point out his teammates.
“There’s a lot of players I can give man of the match [to]. Anton [Mlinaric], Marco Jesic, Dom Costanzo, I could give it to all my teammates.
“For me, I don’t care if I got man of the match, I care that we won the trophy.”