No head coach has had more success in the history of the Liberty A-League than Melbourne Victory’s Jeff Hopkins, but how did the former Wales international end up in Australia in the first place? KEEPUP’s Sacha Pisani charts his fascinating journey from the NSL to the A-Leagues.
It was a change of president in Malaysia that triggered a life-altering moment for Jeff Hopkins.
Selangor FC had just completed the treble in 1997 – winning the Malaysia FA Cup, Malaysia Cup and Malaysia Charity Cup, but things took a turn for Hopkins and co. when there was a change of leadership the following year.
It was at that time when his Selangor teammate and legendary Australian defender Mehmet Durakovic set the wheels in motion for a move that would change the former Wales international’s life forever.
Speaking to KEEPUP, the 59-year-old – the most successful head coach in Liberty A-League history explained: “I got quite close with Mehmet while I was over there and he said why don’t you have a year in Australia playing before you go back to England? I only probably had a year left because my knees were giving way.
“I said, ‘yeah look if I can find a club in Australia, I’ll play my last year and then go back to look to get a coaching job in England’.
“It was a coincidence again… I rang Stuart Munroe, who was the coach at (NSL side) Gippsland (Falcons), five minutes before he was going into a board meeting just to say he was looking for a new overseas defender. I rang him and he said I’d be perfect.
“I carried on talking with him and ending up signing there… leaving Selangor halfway through the season and coming over.”
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Thrown into the deep end in Gippsland after a vital lesson from his mum
This was a player who had broken through at boyhood club Fulham and played top-flight football with Crystal Palace, where he was teammates with the likes of Ian Wright, Chris Powell, Stan Collymore, Nigel Martyn and Alan Pardew at Selhust Park.
He also played international football with the legendary Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Neville Southall.
There was a telling moment from his Wales career after he was overlooked for a FIFA Men’s World Cup qualifier against Iceland in 1984.
Step forward Jeff’s mum.
“I had actually played in the previous game in Iceland. I hadn’t played particularly well,” Hopkins said. “I was transitioning from a full-back into a central defender at club level and then to be thrown in that at international level was quite daunting. If I’m being honest, I was definitely one of the worst three players on that night in Iceland.
“I was a stubborn person, and still am at times. I refused to go watch the game. I wasn’t going to go. It was my mum who persuaded me. She asked me personally and came around, ‘I really want you to go to the game. You have to show your face. You have to stand up and show you’re still supporting the team’.
“In the end, I ended up going down there. I had a little lunch on the way down. Went into the changing room and the manager saw me straight away as I walked in. He said, ‘have you got your boots with you Hoppy?’. I thought he was taking the piss out of me to be honest so I just rolled my eyes at him and said no I haven’t, and walked off.
“He said ‘I’m serious. One of the players has food poisoning. You’re on our FIFA list and the only one here. We want to put you on the bench so we’re not a player short’.
“I went down to the boot room and found a pair that kind of fit. I was on the bench and during the warm-up and one of the centre-backs who replaced me said, ‘Hoppy you better get yourself ready, I think I might’ve pulled my calf in the warm-up’. Within 10-15 minutes he put his hand up and I went on to play most of the game.
“We won the game 2-1 and I got myself back in the squad. That’s why I say to the players, always be prepared and that’s the bigger lesson – mum always knows best!”
Fast forward more than 14 years and now Hopkins was in a town 152km east of Melbourne, plying his trade for Gippsland Falcons in the NSL. Then, all of a sudden, he was appointed player-coach in 1999 after Munroe left for Carlton SC, though there was no playing due to his troublesome knee.
After playing alongside a young Archie Thompson and Scott McDonald, he was coaching a Gippsland team headlined by Durakovic, future A-Leagues great John Hutchinson and Naum Sekulovski.
And it was a season when Wollongong Wolves outlasted Perth Glory in that famous 2000 NSL Grand Final, while Ange Postecoglou coached South Melbourne. There was also a notable opponent at Sydney Olympic that campaign – defender Ante Juric – Saturday’s rival coach in the Liberty A-League Preliminary Final against Sydney FC.
“(Munroe) recommended that the board give me the job as a player-coach after he went to Carlton,” three-time Liberty A-League Coach of the Year Hopkins recalled.
“I thought it was a big step for me but something I most probably was ready to do and jumped in as player-coach.
“It’s amazing how much you think you know until you’re thrown in to coach and you find out how much you don’t know. It was a really tough time for me.
“Not just the coaching and the man management but also having to deal with a team very under resourced and in the end a team that went into liquidation and out of business. A lot to deal with over the three years I coached there.”
Funnily enough, Hopkins was only supposed to call Australia home one for one year.
The rest is history.
He has gone on to become the most successful Liberty A-League head coach in history with four Championships.
“I’d done my UEFA B (license) while I was over in the UK and I knew I wanted to take my A but I also knew I wanted to coach as well and get some practical experience,” said Hopkins, who also coached the Afghan Women’s National Team last season.
“The fact I was offered to do that at national league level was probably the tipping point for me to stay. My family were really enjoying the life down in Gippsland. We had some really good friends there. I thought it was a good way to gain some experience and something that would put me in good stead in the future.
“I’m forever thankful for the people down there for giving me the opportunity because they did take a big chance on me.”
Hopkins – who signed Eugene Galekovic from the VIS in his second season – remained in charge of the Falcons until 2001, when they entered liquation and were eventually dissolved.
But it is an experience that is close to his heart, and something that has influenced him as a coach.
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“As a coach, the players would admit to it, we couldn’t sign the big superstar players. When teams came to us, we were always the underdogs,” Hopkins said.
“The closeness and comradery, it had a massive influence on me and the way I coach now, and the way I try to set up the team culture around the place.
“I saw what having a very, very good team culture, a close team and how that could go onto the field and really affect the positively the performances of the players. When they are all together and all get on together, that can get you over the line a lot of the time. Everyone is equal and gets treated the same.”
Developing a South Korean icon and making history
After leaving the Falcons in 2001, Hopkins spent an extensive period away from professional football before landing at Brisbane Roar for their inaugural Liberty A-League season in 2008.
While he stayed in Gippsland to coach at local level, he went to university and started a teaching degree. That is when an opportunity popped up.
“I got a chance to go to Queensland and coach a Korean Academy at a private school, bringing young players – from (age) 12-15 – over to educate them in Australia, but also training twice a day.
“Getting the gym program right to prepare them to go back to their College football, which was at the time a precursor to them playing professionally in Korea. I really loved that and did it for about three years.”
One of those players to emerge from that program in Queensland was Ki Sung-yueng, a former Premier League midfielder who captained South Korea at the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
His 110 international caps are eighth on their all-time list.
“We actually developed three-four players who went back to play professional and for the national team. Ki Sung-yueng who went over to play in the Premier League and captained his country. A bronze medal in the Olympics,” Hopkins added.
“It was really enjoyable working with some elite Korean players. It helped me with my communication skills.”
During his seven-year absence from professional coaching, Hopkins never gave up on returning to national league level.
And after working at the Queensland Academy of Sport, coaching their women’s program and dealing with international female players from the Matildas, Young Matildas and Under-17s, it led him down an unfamiliar path but one he has continued down.
“I’d never worked with female players before so it was something I found really enjoyable but quite challenging too at first. Just having to deal with female athletes and the things that come with dealing with female athletes,” he said.
“So completely changing my communication style. From that day onwards, it’s something I’ve loved doing. I wouldn’t change anything.”
In 2008, he was named head coach of Brisbane Roar for the inaugural A-League Women season and made an immediate impact – leading a side featuring Casey Dumont, Clare Polkinghorne, Elise Kellond-Knight and Tameka Butt (now Yallop) to the Premiership-Championship double.
And again in 2011, Hopkins’ Roar – including Dumont, Polkinghorne, Kellond-Knight, Butt, Lisa De Vanna and Aivi Luik – won another Championship.
Those triumphs are not lost on Hopkins, yet he is not one to dwell on success as he stands on the cusp of another Grand Final appearance with Melbourne Victory this weekend after the defending champions overcame Melbourne City in a wild Semi Final penalty shoot-out following a chaotic 3-3 draw.
“That’s the thing in football, there’s always a game the next week. So you enjoy things for a couple of days then move on. If you dwell on the past, you don’t move forward,” insisted Hopkins, who also spent time as an assistant manager of Roar’s senior men’s team in between a stint in charge of the youth side.
“It’s a bit like this week too. I said to the players, we were part of one of the greatest games ever in the history of the Liberty A-League and it’s something you’ll look back on and remember for the rest of your life but we have to train tomorrow and have to be right to beat Sydney on Saturday. You have to put that at the back of your mind and now you have to focus on the next game. That’s often the way it is.
“Grand Finals, you get a bit longer to enjoy them. But most of the time, your big game is followed by another big game. If you want to dwell on it and over celebrate, then you get caught in the next game and then hit an incredible low to go with the incredible high you just had. It’s a balance – enjoy things but you can’t enjoy them too much.”
Creating a team-first culture and building success in Melbourne
Since landing in Melbourne from Brisbane in 2016, Hopkins has overhauled Victory’s women’s side and formed a winning monster.
Victory have won a Premiership (2019) and back-to-back Championships on his watch as they dream of a three-peat in 2022-23.
It is not just Victory’s success that has caught the eye in recent seasons. It is their mentality and never-say die attitude, and it is all by design.
“We try to recruit mentality as well. It’s not just the quality of the players, it’s the quality of the person too,” Hopkins, who is back winning titles with Dumont in Melbourne, said.
“We have some amazing players and characters here. There’s two players. Kayla (Morrison), she’s come back from an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament injury) this year. She has played just about every minute of every game.
“She was going through a lot herself. The worry of her knee and coming back, but she was all about the team. She kept all that inside her and just thought about the team. She knew she had a job to do. That’s the type of person you try to recruit and try to know as much about the players before you bring them in.
“If you bring the right type of people in, then with the culture and bit of influence, you can grow those people.
“Then you look at Lia Privitelli. She’s been here ever since I’ve been here. She kind of epitomises the spirit of this place. From year one, she’s had injuries, in out and the team but you know every time she goes on the field, she will never let you know.
“Then she gets her bit of glory to go up and lift the trophy, and she passes it onto Kayla. She calls Kayla up. That for me is what the team is all about. We’re all about each other, we all look after each other. When one player is down, the whole team gets around them. That’s what it’s like on and off the field.
“There is an amazing group of women at this club. That’s what I love about coaching women. They do have more of an empathy for the rest to the group. They’re all about the team, as well as themselves. I love being here.”
