Charlestown Azzurri lose high-profile signing Jenna Kingsley for rest of 2022 NPL Women Northern NSW campaign

The former W-League striker made eight appearances for Azzurri this campaign but has not played since June 26 due to a change in working conditions.

"Unfortunately, she won't be able to continue the rest of the season with us due to work commitments and her new job working away on weekends," Papaspiropoulos told the Newcastle Herald.

"Indianna's signing was a very timely pick-up in the end. We might be a little thinner across the squad but we've got enough depth."

Asimus joined Azzurri from Central Coast Mariners right before the June 30 signing cut-off and has had immediate impact.

She scored in her first NPLW NNSW appearance - a 5-0 win over Mid Coast on July 2 - and featured prominently for Charlestown on their way to winning the NNSW Football Women's State Cup at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on July 10.

Asimus scored in a 2-0 final win over Maitland as well as bagging four goals against the NNSWF Indigenous team in the group stage.

"She's been a great addition just before the transfer window closed and even in that short period is proving really handy because she can play up front or midfield," Papaspiropoulos said.

"She gives you flexibility and is just a smart footballer."

He was also singing the praises of young gun Cassie Corder, who scored on first-grade debut in their season-opener against Newcastle Olympic this year and was named player of the final at state cup.

"We have a relatively young reserve-grade squad and a lot of those girls have already played a lot of first-grade minutes and throughout the [state cup] weekend they were fitting in very comfortably," Papaspiropoulos said.

"Cassie Corder played a lot of minutes and at only 16 years of age put in a very good shift over the state cup weekend. Having girls like that coming through your reserve grade that are that young and very capable is very pleasing to see. They're the future of your club."

Azzurri did not get the chance to carry their state cup momentum into NPLW NNSW last weekend with their round-15 game against Olympic washed out.

On Saturday, the competition's third-placed side will look to beat second-placed Broadmeadow for the first time this season when they meet at Lisle Carr Oval. Magic won 3-1 in their first encounter and the second was a 2-2 draw.

Magic, on 31 points, and leaders Warners Bay (34) look to have secured their finals positions with Azzurri (26), Olympic (24) and Maitland (22) seemingly vying for the other two top-four spots.

"It's the business end and that's always fun and it's going to be a very competitive last round of games," Papaspiropoulos said.

"We've got a lot of tough games coming up. Basically every game now is like a finals game, so the mentality and the expectation we set from the state cup - going into every game to win - should be how we approach it and using state cup as a standard of how we go for the rest of the season.

"It was disappointing not to play last weekend, but at the same time it gave the chance for a couple of girls to rest after state cup."

After hosting Broadmeadow, Azzurri face sixth-placed Adamstown (11) before Maitland then Warners Bay with the likelihood of their catch-up against Olympic in that mix as well.

MORE IN SPORT:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: