Will Supersport United complete a hat trick by winning yet another league title this season?

That’s the question on everyone’s mind as the ABSA Premiership season takes center stage. Even without any big names, Supersport managed to pull back to back title wins under Coach Gavin Hunt, who had never won a league title as a coach before taking over at Supersport United.

A lot of people including myself attributed Supersport United’s success in the past two seasons to consistency, good management and player discipline. Despite not having big name players, Supersport have always managed to mantain good discipline on the field and outside the field. Their strategy of never taking any opponent lightly has played an important role in their success.

However this season is slightly different. Different because it will be a short season and has been squashed to fit a seven month schedule so as to make way for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Basically teams will have to work twice as hard if they want to contend for the league title. And because cup competitions have to take place and be finished within the allocated time space, some teams will be playing as much as 3 games a week, something that doesn’t happen too often in our 16 team league.

Therefore, it’s for this reason that I dub this season as the ’survival of the fittest’ season. Literally the fittest team will have more chances of winning the league than any other. That and many other factors will decide the title.

Unfortunately there are quite a few teams in the PSL that pass the fitness bill. And not all of them have enough depth on their bench.

Sit back as I give my list of contenders and reason why I think they stand a better chance than the rest.

Kaizer Chiefs
Kaizer Chiefs are known to be the fittest team in the PSL and no one can dispute that fact. They employ services of a renowned fitness trainer in Elsa Storm, this no nonsense fitness trainer has been responsible for keeping the team in immaculate shape for the past season.

Kaizer Chiefs also visit the high performance centre for intense fitness training more often than any other PSL side. And whenever they’ve been tested for fitness, they’ve come out tops.

Another factor apart from fitness is depth, depth on the starting lineup and on the bench. In the past seasons, the one thing that’s always stood in their way of success was depth on the bench, but their new signings seem to have sorted that problem. For instance, the signing of the immensely experienced Thomas Sweswe who’s already claimed a first time spot, has added that much needed depth on the Chiefs’ defense and their striking force, which lacked depth on the bench has been bolstered by the arrival of Nkosinathi Nhleko and Knowledge Musona who’ve both impressed so far.

The players have attested to be enjoying their game again and having a really good understanding of what the new man on the Chiefs’ hot seat Vladimir Vermezovic wants from them. This, a fit team and depth on the bench and starting line-up is definitely a recipe for success.

Orlando Pirates
Much like Kaizer Chiefs, Pirates have made some really good signings during this current transfer window. The addition of Terror Fanteni, Gert Schalkwyk and Phenyo Mongalo among others, has certainly added depth in their squad.

Towards the end of last season, many of you will remember that some of the key players of Orlando Pirates ran out of steam. The likes of Teko Modise, when it mattered most, started feeling the effects of fatigue, but with Phenyo Mongalo, who is just as much of a star as Teko Modise is, the fatique problem should be a thing of the past.

Another factor that could help Orlando Pirates chances, is the self belief in the players, after coming close to winning the league last season, the Orlando Pirates squad will certainly believe that they can go all the way this season. Their coach, Rudolf Krol will also be oozing with confidence in his second season as the Buccaneers coach, his first season was a success as he managed to turn around a team that lacked confidence, he took them from nowhere to second place.

Supersport United
As much as I’d like to believe that they stand a better chance than everyone else, this season will require absolute concentration from the coach and players for the entire seven months. They are known to be one of the most technically disciplined side in the PSL, but problems off the field could affect them big time.

It’s been reported that Gavin Hunt is an unhappy man at the Pretoria based side. Apparently management are making decisions without his consent, one of the alleged flop decisions management made resulted in Supersport losing some of best players in Elias Pelembe and Lerato Chabangu to Mamelodi Sundowns.

They tried to replace the lost stars with the likes of Siyabonga Nkosi, but everyone will tell you that while Siyabonga Nkosi is a talented player, he’s certainly not a match winner, he doesn’t bring to the table what the free scoring Pelembe possessed.

So first they lost Katlego Mashego to Orlando Pirates, which the coach wasn’t too happy about and now Elias Pelembe.

But as they say, you can’t write off a team that’s used to winning, a large number of their league winning players from the past two season is still there and this should count as a positive right? Well that’s what I’d like to think. But unless they sort out their inside politics sooner rather than later, they have a mountain to climb.

Ajax Cape Town
The Urban Warriors as they are famously known have come close to winning the league two occasions. Their excellently managed youth structures have been what set them apart from everyone else in the league. Their ability to groom and promote dynamic youngsters is their secret weapon, while everyone is busy signing tried and sometimes failed stars from everywhere else, they always manage to bring about youngsters that set the league alight.

Who better knows how to use young lads other than Muhsin Ertugral? In his first stint, Muhsin was able to get the best out of his ‘chickens’ as he preferred to call them. Some of names that immediately spring to mind are Bryce Moon, Clifford Ngobeni, Nazier Allie and many more. These boys set the 2007/08 season alight, and it was these boys that brought home a lucrative Tekom Knockout in 2008 under Muhsin Ertugral.

The arrival of a less experienced but very good coach in Craig Rosslee might have a slight effect in their performance during the past two seasons, but with Muhsin back, their fortunes might change for the better.

Barring the fact that they lost one of their best strikers in Mabhudi Khenyeza, they certainly stand a chance of going all the way this season.

To be continued…