Perth Glory have a new Liberty A-League head coach, and in his first interview since arriving at the club, Stephen Peters has set finals football as the goal for his maiden campaign in the West.
It’s a new start for Perth Glory in season 2024-25 after the departure of former head coach Alex Epakis following four seasons and 66 games at the helm.
Epakis bid Glory farewell as the club’s longest-serving Liberty A-League head coach, and his exit has coincided with a mass overhaul of the playing group. Captain Tash Rigby has retired and key players Hana Lowry and Millie Farrow have joined Sydney FC, while goalkeepers Morgan Aquino – Glory’s reigning Player of the Season – and Sally James have bid the club farewell.
Since his appointment in July, Peters has orchestrated a flurry of transfer activity with nine new players joining his first Glory squad, including Wales international Megan Wynne, Young Matildas star Naomi Chinnama and Nigeria international Onyinyechi Zogg.
The 2024-25 Liberty A-League season will be Peters’ first as a head coach in the league; the opportunity to join Glory has come off the back of back-to-back NPLW NSW Championships with Macarthur Rams and in his first interview as Glory boss, the reigning NPLW NSW Coach of the Year expressed his eagerness to take on the challenges that lie ahead.
“It’s exciting. I’m trying not to think too much about the emotional side of it, and the excitement part of it, but you do obviously get that overwhelming sense of excitement for a new challenge, new beginnings,” he said.
“It’s the highest level in the country so to make that jump is exciting. It’s something I’ve fully focused all my energy on, (to) give 100% to the task at hand.”
Having touched down in WA, Peters will spend the next month preparing for the start of pre-season training in late September. He expects 95% of the playing group to have assembled in Perth for the start of Glory’s preparations for the 2024-25 season.
A key part of pre-season preparation will be for Peters to appoint a new club captain after Rigby’s retirement.
“I haven’t given that too much thought just yet,” he said.
“What we’re going to allow ourselves to do is take some time in pre-season and observe player behaviours on and off the field, and establish a leadership team. Then within that leadership team, establish our captain.”
Peters began his coaching career with Gladesville Ravens but his first head coach position came at North West Sydney Koalas FC. A stint at Blacktown Spartans followed before Peters led Football NW’s Under-15 Women’s state team to the FFA National Youth Championship in 2018.
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But it’s the three years Peters has spent at Macarthur Rams leading up to now that have steeled the new Glory coach for his first senior role in the Liberty A-League – and after Perth’s disappointing 10th-place finish last season, Peters says the intention is to get his new team playing exciting, attack-minded football in pursuit of a spot in the finals.
“Tangible success would obviously be making finals, I think everyone would want that,” he said.
“Success as a general would be to have a happy team that represents the city with pride, and puts on a good, entertaining style of football for the fans at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.”
He added: “We want to play an attacking style of football, possession-based style of football. In terms of defence, we want to try and win the ball back quickly. We want to create chances, score goals and hopefully entertain the fans at the same time.”
You can watch Peters’ first full interview as Glory head coach below.
