By Michael Lynch
It hasn't yet got quite the cachet of the FFA Cup, but it's still a title that all teams outside the A-League are keen to add to their honour roll.
The National Premier Leagues final series for 2015 kicks off in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on Saturday with South Melbourne the first team in action when it hosts Olympia FC, the Tasmanian club making its NPL finals series debut.
Michael Eagar, senior captain for South Melbourne, Michael Ephraim, managing director, Sony Computers Entertainment Australia, David Gallop and Under-12 player Adam Brigo at AAMI Park.Credit: Getty Images
The tournament, which takes place over the next three weekends, is played between the teams that finished at the top of each of the nation's state-based National Premier Leagues. These are the competitions that sit one rung below the A-League in the football pyramid.
South led the ladder at the conclusion of the NPL Victoria, but lost out on the championship when they went down to Bentleigh Greens in the grand final last Sunday. They had earlier in the season won the state's knock-out competition, the Dockerty Cup.
Olympia was the top NPL club in Tasmania this year, and the Warriors will be keen to show that a team from the island state can compete against one of the traditional powerhouses of the local game.
The other game on Saturday features Moreton Bay and Edgworth from Brisbane and Northern NSW respectively. Both clubs won the premiership/championship double in their respective leagues this year so will be approaching these games in peak form
The action shifts to South Australia and NSW on Sunday when another former NSL club, West Adelaide, will play Bayswater City while NSW's Blacktown City host Canberra City.
The winners of the four elimination finals will progress to the semi-finals, with the home clubs for the semi-finals to be determined by a points system.
The tournament winner gets an automatic entry to the round of 32 – the stage at which the A-League clubs enter the competition – in next season's FFA Cup.
Meanwhile, Steph Catley, one of the star Matildas who has sprung to prominence in recent months following the women's team's success in the World Cup and its controversial withdrawal from a US tour, is the latest high-profile player to defect from Melbourne Victory to cross-city rivals Melbourne City.
Catley had been at Victory women for seven years, but when coach Joe Montemurro jumped ship and asked her to link up with several of her former teammates – including Matildas captain Lisa De Vanna – she opted to begin the new season in sky blue.