Reigning South East Queensland Futsal Premier League (SEQFPL) Golden Boot winner James Egeta is hoping for another big season with Redlands United Futsal Club.
Heading into Round 3, Egeta is full of confidence despite his team’s mixed start to the season.
Redlands have been involved in a pair of nail-biters to start their campaign, winning their first game 6-4 against Arana United and losing their second 3-2 against Galaxy FC.
Egeta’s efforts against Galaxy last weekend secured him a place in the SEQFPL Team of the Week and he was generally pleased with the efforts of his team.
“The boys have done really well for the first round, and then the second round, we were up against Galaxy and there are just a couple of things we need to work on,” he said.
The 28-year-old, who bagged 18 goals last season, said he is ready to reinvent his style of play and work even harder in order to recreate the form that saw him claim last year’s Golden Boot award for the competition’s highest goal scorer.
“For me I have to work really hard to get more goals this season because the level is increasing higher and higher every year,” he said.
“You have to have a new way of playing to score more goals, so for me I’m definitely going to change the way I play, change the way I see the other teams defend.”
Redlands’ next opponents are competition heavyweights Sunshine Coast Wave.
Wave predictably have started the season on fire, recording two massive wins in their opening pair of games, scoring 18 goals in the process.
Egeta has been playing futsal for the past 15 years after being introduced to it at school in the Solomon Islands and knows quality when he sees it.
“Sunshine Coast, they are one of the best teams at the moment, and are the current champions, when I look at them, they are one of the big challengers we are going to face,” he said.
However, Sunshine Coast’s imposing start to the season has not deterred last year’s leading marksmen.
“It gives me more courage and more of a challenge,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an easy game and that we’ll beat them easily, but we are going to show them who we are, and we are going to give them a good game.”
Despite Egeta and co’s best efforts, Redlands bowed out at the semi-final stage to Galaxy last season and are eager to go one better this time around.
If the mercurial Egeta can recreate his best form and claim a second Golden Boot award you wouldn’t bet against them.
Redlands United play Sunshine Coast Wave this Saturday at 6.40pm at Redlands International College, with highlights from the game to be posted on the Football Queensland website early next week.
Words: Samuel Johnson
Image: Supplied
