HE’S still getting a full grip on his new squad but it didn’t take long for recently appointed Queanbeyan City coach Ante Levanat to spot a few familiar names in the ranks.
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Levanat has taken over the coaching duties at Queanbeyan City this season from former coach Jeremy Butler.
A player/coach at Queanbeyan City in the last 1980s, Levanat has a long association with the club. And despite have spent the past six years away from the coaching ranks, the local junior has maintained plenty of ties with his former club.
“I’ve got some players who I coached their fathers when I was player/coach in the 80s,” Levanat said. “I coached a lot of them in juniors as well.
“Nick Noveski for one, I coached him at Deakin and I coached his dad at Queanbeyan. So there’s three or four of the boys who I’m pretty familiar with.”
As well as his previous tenure as captain/coach at Queanbeyan City, Levanat has also coached through the grades at ACT powerhouse Canberra Deakin (Canberra FC).
His new gig with Queanbeyan however, will be Levanat’s first time back in the coaching game for several years.
“I’ve been approached a lot of times by Deakin as well but just didn’t have time for it,” he said. “But Queanbeyan is an ambitious club.
“They want to get back into the Premier League and that’s the only reason I took the job because I think they deserve to be there.
“I talked to some of the committee members and a few of the old players I used to play with who are still involved and they asked if I could help out and I thought I could.”
While Levanat’s long-term goal is to help Queanbeyan build toward a possible Premier League bid in the next few years, his more immediate concerns will rest on maintaining the club’s status as a Capital League powerhouse.
Queanbeyan has made three of the past four Capital League grand finals, including last year’s title defeat at the hands of Narrabundah.
“There’s definitely plenty to build on,” Levanat said. “We played in the MACO Cup in Newcastle recently where we played against some Sydney and Melbourne Premier League teams and did quite well.
“If we can continue that form I think we’ll give Monaro a fair go.”
uding to Monaro’s influx of new faces this year.
“The amount of youngsters we’ve got coming through at the moment is good to see but we still have to see how they go under pressure. So I don’t know about being favourites,” he added with a laugh.
