From Coffs City United to Port Saints: Luca Paolacci to coach local team

Now he's bringing his years of experience to the Port Saints Football Club as the club's new first grade coach for the Zone Premier League.

"Obviously I think we have to change some things that do not work," he said.

"I'm not here to say that we will win but... we will see to the end what we can achieve."

The Port Saints garnered early wins in the Zone Premier League 2023 season but lost in an elimination final against the Kempsey Saints.

A late goal from the opposition in the second half kicked them out of the competition.

Paolacci is confident in the player's abilities but is focusing on the team's mentality, particularly towards training.

"The boys...[have] a different mentality than what I come from," he said.

"I am focused on changing their mentalities.

"Because these boys have got lots of skill... I don't know why they didn't achieve anything with this skill."

The Zone Premier League is a new challenge for Paolacci who is used to coaching in the Coastal Premier League consisting of 10 to 12 teams.

"I don't understand why we are to play a competition with five teams," he said.

"It's not very fun to play.

"If you enter the finals, you play six times with the same team."

When the 2023 Coastal League season was scrapped, Paolacci's Coffs team played against five others from the Coffs Coast and Clarence Valley.

"[With 12 teams] you play maybe twice with the same team and you face them if you finish the competition and go into the grand final," he said

"It's more challenging, it's more interesting."

Paolacci also spoke favourably of his welcome to the club.

"It's not easy to move into another town and find a club," he said.

"So I'm pretty happy and lucky that gave me this one."

As a newcomer to the club, Paolacci is still getting used to remembering 15 new names.

But learning new names is easy for the Italian expat who first moved to Australia in 2011, not speaking a word of English.

Over time his English has improved while he works at Nambucca, Urunga, Coffs Harbour and now Port Macquarie.

Whilst he admits Italy is an amazing place with plenty of art, food, history and culture, he calls Australia home.

"The quality of life is much better in Australia," he said.

"It's not my opinion- it's definitely much better here."

The only thing that has taken time getting used to is the cultural difference between Italy and Australia when it comes to football.

"It's like your rugby here- the most popular," Paolacci said.

"When it's raining [in Australia], we can't play football...the field is closed."

"In Italy, never the field is closed."

The Port Saints will play their first game for Zone Premier League, facing off against the Kempsey Saints on Saturday, April 6.