# 1998–99 Northern Spirit FC season

The 1998–99 season was the first season in the history of Northern Spirit (now North West Sydney Spirit). It was also the first season in the National Soccer League. Northern Spirit finished 5th in their National Soccer League season, and were eliminated in the NSL Finals series elimination-final first round by Marconi Fairfield.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | AUS | Graham Arnold |
| — | MF | AUS | Paul Bilokapic |
| — | MF | AUS | Matthew Bingley |
| — | DF | AUS | Eddy Bosnar |
| — | DF | AUS | Luke Casserly |
| — | MF | AUS | Troy Cranney |
| — | MF | ENG | Ian Crook |
| — | DF | AUS | Michael Cunico |
| — | MF | AUS | Robert Enes |
| — | MF | AUS | Anthony Faria |
| — | MF | AUS | Paul Foster |
| — | GK | AUS | Paul Henderson |
| — | MF | AUS | Matthew Langdon |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | CRO | Kresimir Marusic |
| — | MF | AUS | Gabriel Mendez |
| — | DF | ENG | Phil Moss |
| — | MF | AUS | Adem Poric |
| — | DF | AUS | Nick Purdue |
| — | DF | AUS | Marko Rudan |
| — | DF | AUS | Robbie Slater |
| — | MF | AUS | Adam Snyder |
| — | MF | AUS | Jack Sobczyk |
| — | MF | AUS | James Stubbs-Mills |
| — | FW | AUS | Daniel Watkins |
| — | DF | AUS | Paul Wearne |
| — | FW | AUS | Clayton Zane |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Date |
| — | FW | Graham Arnold | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Paul Bilokapic | Sydney United | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Eddy Bosnar | Newcastle Breakers | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Luke Casserly | Marconi Fairfield | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Troy Cranney | Brisbane Strikers | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Michael Cunico | FFA Centre of Excellence | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Robert Enes | Portsmouth | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Anthony Faria | Blacktown City | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Adam Griffiths | Sutherland Sharks | July 1998 |
| — | GK | Paul Henderson | Sutherland Sharks | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Kresimir Marusic | Carlton | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Gabriel Mendez | Parramatta Eagles | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Phil Moss | Eastern Suburbs | July 1998 |
| — | FW | Scott Ollerenshaw | Negeri Sembilan | July 1998 |
| — | FW | Tony Perinich | Wollongong Wolves | July 1998 |
| — | GK | Josh Perosh | Sydney United | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Nick Purdue | Genk | July 1998 |
| — | DF | Marko Rudan | Sydney United | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Robbie Slater | Wolverhampton Wanderers | July 1998 |
| — | MF | Jacek Sobczyk | Blacktown City | July 1998 |
| — | FW | Clayton Zane | Newcastle Breakers | July 1998 |
| — | MF | James Stubbs-Millis | Ryde City | September 1998 |
| — | FW | Paul Foster | Double Flower | September 1998 |
| — | MF | Matthew Bingley | JEF United Chiba | November 1998 |
| — | MF | Adem Poric | Sydney Olympic | December 1998 |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Date |
| — | DF | Nick Purdue | Canberra Cosmos | December 1998 |
| — | DF | Eddy Bosnar | Hurstville Zagreb | April 1999 |
| — | MF | James Stubbs-Mills | Ryde City | April 1999 |
| — | DF | Paul Wearne | Manly Warringah Dolphins | April 1999 |

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| National Soccer League | 9 October 1998 | 25 April 1999 | Matchday 1 | 5th | 28 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 050.00 |
| National Soccer League Finals series | 30 April 1999 | 9 May 1999 | Elimination-finals | Elimination-finals | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 30 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 37 | 37 | +0 | 046.67 |
Last updated: complete Source: Competitions

### National Soccer League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sydney United | 28 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 53 | 33 | +20 | 58 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 2 | South Melbourne (C) | 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 50 | 26 | +24 | 57 | Qualification for the Finals series and the Oceania Club Championship |
| 3 | Perth Glory | 28 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 62 | 37 | +25 | 53 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 4 | Marconi Fairfield | 28 | 15 | 3 | 10 | 53 | 47 | +6 | 48 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 5 | Northern Spirit | 28 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 46 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 6 | Adelaide City | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 45 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 7 | Sydney Olympic | 28 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 46 | 36 | +10 | 43 | |
| 8 | Newcastle Breakers | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 40 | |
| 9 | Brisbane Strikers | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 41 | 47 | −6 | 39 | |
| 10 | Wollongong Wolves | 28 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 32 | |
| 11 | Carlton | 28 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 47 | 47 | 0 | 31 | |
| 12 | Melbourne Knights | 28 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 32 | 43 | −11 | 29 | |
| 13 | West Adelaide | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 27 | |
| 14 | Gippsland Falcons | 28 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 44 | −27 | 25 | |
| 15 | Canberra Cosmos | 28 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 21 | 55 | −34 | 15 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: worldfootball.net

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | H | A | B | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | B | H | H | A | H | A | A |
| Result | L | L | W | W | W | L | ✖ | D | L | W | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | L | W | ✖ | L | W | D | W | D | L |
| Position | 14 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |

#### Finals series
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

Players with no appearances not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | National Soccer League | National Soccer League | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| — | FW | | Graham Arnold | 26(2) | 4 | 28 | 5 |
| — | MF | | Paul Bilokapic | 26(1) | 3 | 27 | 3 |
| — | MF | | Matthew Bingley | 10 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| — | DF | | Luke Casserly | 25 | 1 | 25 | 1 |
| — | MF | | Troy Cranney | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Ian Crook | 10(2) | 2 | 12 | 2 |
| — | DF | | Michael Cunico | 15(6) | 1 | 21 | 1 |
| — | MF | | Robert Enes | 19(1) | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| — | MF | | Anthony Faria | 1(2) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Paul Foster | 1(3) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | GK | | Paul Henderson | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Matthew Langdon | 23 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Kresimir Marusic | 27 | 8 | 27 | 8 |
| — | MF | | Gabriel Mendez | 6(7) | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| — | DF | | Phil Moss | 13(8) | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Adem Poric | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| — | DF | | Marko Rudan | 24 | 2 | 24 | 2 |
| — | DF | | Robbie Slater | 27 | 7 | 27 | 7 |
| — | MF | | Adam Snyder | 0(2) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| — | MF | | Jack Sobczyk | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | FW | | Daniel Watkins | 12(11) | 3 | 23 | 3 |
| — | FW | | Clayton Zane | 22(5) | 3 | 27 | 3 |
| Player(s) transferred out but featured this season ||||||||
| — | DF | | Eddy Bosnar | 4(9) | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| — | DF | | Nick Purdue | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | MF | | James Stubbs-Mills | 0(4) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | DF | | Paul Wearne | 1(3) | 0 | 4 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | National Soccer League | Total |
| 1 | — | GK | | Paul Henderson | 9 | 9 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 9 | 9 |