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9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 FEBRUARY 2026 FEATURE breaking records in Australia, football coach is coming home suited the Italian-speaking coach. When Falzon arrived, the team had just endured a 10th-place sea- son and had little history of suc- cess. Within a year, he delivered a dramatic turnaround, guiding Balcatta to a historic third-place finish. This was the second-high- est finish in the club's history. That success paved the way for a return to Perth Azzurri, this time as first-team head coach in 2016. The proud club had not won a league title in 11 years. Under Falzon, the drought didn't just end but exploded into a period of dominance. "We won the league four times. We won the double four times. I won Coach of the Year three times," he says. "We turned the club into a very well-oiled ma- chine. We developed our own players, recruited smartly and built on it year after year." His tenure rewrote the record books. Falzon became the first head coach in Australian football to win four league titles and four doubles, and the first to lead a club to six consecutive Grand Finals between 2016 and 2021. Perth also went 13 months un- beaten in the NPL be- tween May 2018 and June 2019. "It was all about develop- ing a professional mindset," he ex- plained. "Even though we all had full-time jobs, we squeezed in double sessions and set stand- ards. No one's out drinking till 4am. If you didn't accept it, you were out. The players bought in, and everything fell into place." Younger players, particularly those aged 18 to 24, embraced the demands, he said, while recruit- ment among older players was more selective. In 2024, Falzon took on a dif- ferent challenge at Green Gully SC in Melbourne, another club with Maltese heritage. He arrived mid-season with the team in seri- ous relegation trouble and a single instruction from the board: Keep them up. "I just went in there to help the club avoid relegation," he said. "And I'm glad we managed to keep them safe." Alongside his club work, his later years in Australia increasingly fo- cused on development, coaching with Football Australia's Nation- al Training C e n t r e and con- tributing to elite p l a y e r pathways preparing for World Cups. He al- so served as First Team Head Coach of the Western Australia State Team, the highest representative level behind the Australian Na- tional Team, and led the side to a victory over a nation ranked high- er than Malta in the FIFA rank- ings. For Falzon, coaching is a pro- fession that demands constant evolution. "Having an open mind is crucial. You need to constantly learn, adapt and look for improve- ment," he said. "You're manag- ing staff, players, tactics, training, preparation. It's a multifaceted job. It never ends." He believes sustained success al- so depends on alignment between coach and club leadership. "At Perth Azzurri, after speaking with the president, I realised from day one we were going to achieve big things together. We raised stand- ards and made it clear we were operating on a higher professional level." Australia also reshaped his thinking about athlete welfare and the balance between sport and ca- reer. At the Institute of Sport, he saw elite athletes encouraged to pursue parallel professions. Even an Olympic gold medal-winning pole vault athlete, maintained work outside sport while training twice daily. "There was a massive study showing that athletes who focus only on sport can feel lost once they retire. So, they insist on you building a career alongside your sport. They support you to be pro- fessional in both." Now, he wants to apply those lessons in Malta. Despite the is- land's obvious limitations in size and infrastructure, Falzon believes standards will define success, not geography. "We're limited in facilities, yes, but when it comes to processes and mentality, we've got room to grow. The first big change is a mental shift to become high-per- forming. That attitude of 'no excuses' costs nothing. You just need people with the right experi- ence to implement it." He rejected the idea that small nations must think small. He saw a similar inferiority complex in Perth, a city of three million that often compared itself unfavoura- bly to Sydney and Melbourne. "I always disagreed with that mentality," he said. "On game day, it's not population size. It's 11 men against 11 men. Once we removed that complex, we became compet- itive and started winning." His message for Malta carries the same belief. "Iceland has a population of around 400,000 and qualified for a World Cup. If oth- ers can do it, so can we." Ramon Falzon on the pitch in Australia giving his players instructions Ramon Falzon receiving the Coach of the Year Award 'We're limited in facilities, yes, but when it comes to processes and mentality, we've got room to grow. The first big change is a mental shift to become high- performing.'