Dockerty Cup

Home and away season, that is.

They do have a piece of silverware in the trophy cabinet by winning the Dockerty Cup, appearance in the quarterfinals of the Australia Cup, but obviously the disappointing end to the final series with Holding.

I mean, how, how do we, how do we rate year one of the Zorro Markovski era? I still think it's a, it's a B, 'cause they've won a trophy.

I think that carries a lot of weight.

I mean, you'd think Preston might get a bit of a chance to rest for a little bit, but pre-season literally starts [chuckles] right around the corner for them.

Um, Josh, when you look back on these last seven months, 'cause it's been about seven months since round one, how do you review it for Preston in terms of a grade and, and I guess, you know, judging how this season has gone?

Well, if you include the Dockerty Cup, which is Preston's first major trophy in a long, long, long, long time, um, I think it's a B+.

You can't say it's an A because they got knocked out in the first round of finals.

Um, but no, uh, honestly, a fantastic occasion.

Um, people will remember that these two faced off in the Docherty Cup at, um, to try and get into the Australia Cup a few years ago, and that was another fantastic occasion.

But yeah, this one stepped up to another level.

Uh, it was a beautiful Melbourne night.

It's not necessarily perfect for a club like Sydney FC or for a Melbourne Victory, but for a club like Preston, with its aspirations moving forward, it would be utterly perfect and they'd be able to commercialize it really, really well.

Mm.

Well, let's drill down, down a little bit on those aspirations because last night was a, a, a great crowd, a great occasion, but it didn't emerge out of a vacuum, right? You mentioned that Docherty Cup game back in 2024, I think it was, which was, uh, 5,000.

I was there for that one.

I- it, it feels unkind to single out any Heidelberg player because there were so many players at fault in this game.

But I did remember your comment after the Docherty Cup final, if Kurrur, why didn't they play Anthony Theo at left back instead of Ryan Lethlean? Well, if you saw Anthony Theo's pathetic effort to contest the ball at the back post for the winning goal at 5-4, uh, I think you got your answer there.

Yeah, I think that's the least of their problems in that game against-

Oh, 100%.

Mm

... middle of the season due to injury, that's a massive boost to his confidence and another option for Preston to keep chopping and changing and rotating.

And last thing I'll say is that, uh, Jai Romanovski, who is cup tied and would've been absolutely spewing to miss the, uh, the Docherty Cup Final and all these big Australia Cup games, uh, was marauding down the right.

Mm.