Tommy Pondeljak

[midfielder]

Article in the Roar from a MV fan about Tommy P retiring this year...

From Hal 1 to Hal 5 ... arguably the best player or most popular we had ... injuries in his last season with us and Grumpy also being out a lot meant we no longer had a place for him... But for me I loved watching Tommy play ...

Anyway a nice article ...

http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/02/23/pondeljaks-grand-record/

Pondeljak’s grand record

Melbourne Victory were eliminated by Gold Coast United on the weekend, which ended the possibility of Tom Pondeljak playing in another Grand Final. Pondeljak’s finals record is extraodinary, having won four grand finals with four different teams and four premierships with four different teams.

His debut year in the top flight of Australian football was 1995/96 with the Melbourne Knights. He started for the Knights in their 2-1 grand final win over Marconi.

Pondeljak would wait six seasons for his next grand final appearance that being a 1-0 win playing in the Sydney Olympic colours against Perth Glory in 2001/2002.

In the following 2003/04 NSL season his Olympic team again made the grand final only this time they lost to Glory.

Pondeljak played in the last ever NSL match in the 2003/04 grand final now wearing Perth Glory colours when they triumphed 1-0 against Parramatta Power.

In the re-vamped football competition, the A-League, the unlikely Central Coast Mariners qualified for the competition’s first ever grand final against the highly fancied Sydney FC who boasted Dwight Yorke on their books. Yorke set up Corica for the winning goal. Playing on that day for Central Coast was Tom Pondeljak.

Two years later Pondeljak again played for the Mariners in a grand final, this time the Mariners went down 1-0 to the Newcastle Jets.

After three seasons at the Mariners, Pondeljak returned home to Melbourne to play for the Victory. The new home again lead Tom Pondeljak to a Grand Final this time it was a sweet victory against bitter rivals Adelaide.

Pondeljak scored with a wonderful strike which was the only goal of the match in front of 53,000 fans. The goal and his performance had him awarded the Joe Marston medal for best on field performance.

2009/10 Pondeljak’s Victory were the first team into the Grand Final. Unfortunately a hamstring injury suffered in the final seconds of a tense extra-time epic in Sydney forced Pondeljak out of what would have been his eighth Grand Final appearance.

Despite Victory’s exit on Sunday, Pondeljak still has a chance for another Grand Final appearance next season with Victory. Pondeljak will turn 36 in the 2011/12 season and is about to embark on his third Asian Champions League Campaign in a few weeks. But his form shows no signs of age as he is a regular starter with Melbourne.

His four championships is equal with Alex Tobin and David Cervinski in Australian football. However, Tobin (Adeliade City) and Cervinski (Melbourne Knights and Wollongong) achieved their feats at less clubs unlike Pondeljak’s feat of four different clubs.

Pondeljak’s seven grand final appearances is equal with Damian Mori but again showing his influence, Pondeljak has played with five different clubs in those seven grand finals. While Mori played with three (Melbourne Knights, Adelaide City and both were team mates at Perth Glory).

He has also won four premierships (first placed at the end of the season) with four different clubs which in traditional football terms is the major prize.
This amazing finals feat must surely must be some sort of record in modern Australian sport.

Tom Pondeljak’s team’s finals record:

1995/96 Grand Final win with Melbourne Knights 2-1 over Marconi
1996/97 Reached Semi-Finals with Melbourne Knights
1997/98 Melbourne Knights no finals
1998/99 Melbourne Knights no finals
1999/00 Sydney United no finals
2000/01 Sydney United no finals
2001/02 Sydney Olympic won Grand Final 1-0 against Perth Glory
2002/03 Sydney Olympic lost Grand Final 0-2 to Perth Glory. Won Premiership with Sydney Olympic
2003/04 Perth Glory won 1-0 over Parramatta Power. Won Premiership with Perth Glory
2004/05 No competition
2005/06 Central Coast lost Grand Final 0-1 to Sydney FC
2006/07 Central Coast no finals
2007/08 Central Coast lost Grand Final 0-1 to Newcastle. Won Premiership with Central Coast
2008/09 Melbourne Victory won Grand Final 1-0 against Adelaide scored winning goal and awared Joe Marston medal for best on field. Won Premiership with Melbourne Victory
2009/10 Melbourne Victory played in Major Semi-Final both legs but did not play in Grand Final. Melbourne lost to Sydney FC on penalties
2010/11 Melbourne Victory lost elimination Semi-Final to Gold Coast

 

[universalmind]

Great servant to the domestic game. It was a shame he didn't win a title with us. Nonetheless a foundation player and an ambassador when he spent his time with us.

 

[Wombat]

Great player and always respected by fans in the know.

If Tommy and Gumps had started against Scum in the Grand Final we would have won it without doubt.

Decent bloke and a fine player....good luck Tommy.

 

[Tassiemariner]

Favourite Australian player retiring.
Mariners best ever attacking mid no matter what.
If he wants a coaching job, COE midfield expert sounds like a good title.
Best of luck with everything tommy p.

 

[adz]

Great player. I always thought he should have been used in the same sort of role that we have Perez and Amini doing now.

 

[dibo]

If Tommy and Gumps had started against Scum in the Grand Final we would have won it without doubt.

i get that you'd have dropped hutch, but would you have dropped jedi for one of gumps or tommy?

Great player. I always thought he should have been used in the same sort of role that we have Perez and Amini doing now.

he was. he typically sat behind the strikers in a diamond 4-4-2. when jedi came in alongside hutch the 4-4-2 flattened a little, mostly because jedi worked back harder than smokey tom ever would.

 

[Wombat]

i get that you'd have dropped hutch, but would you have dropped jedi for one of gumps or tommy?

he was. he typically sat behind the strikers in a diamond 4-4-2. when jedi came in alongside hutch the 4-4-2 flattened a little, mostly because jedi worked back harder than smokey tom ever would.

To be honest i'd have started with Jedi and Gumps.
Having said that we only started to play and dominate once they were both on the park.

 

[T]

Will always remember his sneaky backheel.... and the goal it scored!

 

[Deej]

Tommy could have been more IMO, he was hot and cold but still 1 of our best players.

Jedi IMHO has been our best player, always got stuck in, scored freekicks and really helped our back 4, when he left he left a massive hole which has only really been filled properly this season.

My favourite goal Tommy scored was away to Sydney V1, fantastic skill and then ran the whole field just about to celebrate with us.