By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong City’s quest to make history in 2024 has been given a tremendous boost following the departure of a number of key players from Port Melbourne’s National Premier League Victoria (NPL) side, a key challenger for a spot in the competition’s top six come season’s end, as part of the mid-season transfer window.
Jackson Courtney-Perkins, Daniel Edwards and Emmanuel Peters, Port Melbourne’s leading scorer at the time of his transfer, have all departed the club, which slipped to seventh on the table as a result of this weekend’s results, and allowed City to climb to the coveted sixth place.
City manager Nick Tolios has been bullish about his club’s ambitions to make history by becoming the first team to make finals in the NPL following promotion from the second division in the previous season, and they now appear in the box seat to do so with five rounds remaining in the home and away season.
City welcomed Jacob Herbert, John Honos and Ramsey Nasser to Frank Holohan, but lost midfielder Kurt Kouakou to Manningham and loaned the speedy Michael Martinovic to St Albans.
Matthew Hennessey, Seb Hernando and Kyan Vanderharst-Bryant, meanwhile, have each landed in the Victorian Premier League’s first division (VPL1), with Vanderhurst-Bryant on loan to Eastern Lions.
Dandenong Thunder welcomed wing, Jackson Brady from the Chattanooga Red Wolves in the United States, attacking midfielder Tom Dunn from Wollongong and experienced left back Christian Cavallo back to the club after a stint at Bentleigh Greens, but lost Kasper Hallam to Green Gully.
