Steve Calderan

NSL Career: Marconi 227 (8) / 1981 - 1992/93

Socceroos Career: 3 (0) A Internationals / 2 (0) B Internationals

A one club man, Calderan was a Marconi hero who captained the side to back-to-back championships and won a third in his final season. A typically strong Australian defender, Calderan was a precise tackler, good distributor and danger in the air who competed for a hotly-contested spot in the national team defence during the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

Starting his junior career with Fairfield Police Boys before joining Marconi as a 13 year old, Calderan worked his way up through the Marconi ranks where he was an understudy to star defenders Ivo Prskalo and Tony Henderson and made his NSL debut a week before his 18th birthday. 

An ankle injury restricted Calderan to just four league appearances in his first season, but made his Socceroos debut in a B international against Hong Kong side Caroline Hill before becoming a Marconi regular in the 1982 season, spending time in the midfield. Calderan missed the first half of the 1983 season but bounced back and missed only a handful of games over the next two and half seasons as Marconi reached the Northern Conference Semi-Finals and Final in 1984 and 1985 respectively.

The defender then had two injury-interrupted seasons, making just two league appearances during the 1986 season as spots in the Marconi defence were hotly contested. Off the back end of the 1987 season, Calderan cemented his spot in the heart of defence next to captain Tony Henderson during the 1988 season.

Handed the captaincy, Calderan led the side to grand final success - opening the scoring by side-footing a bobbled cross by Frank Farina as Marconi went on to win the match in a penalty shoot-out. The defender's brilliant form for Marconi resulted in his first Socceroos call-up since 1981, playing in a B international against Swedish side Malmö before making his full international debut against New Zealand.

Calderan continued to perform during the 1989 season as Marconi finished minor premiers and conceded just 24 goals during the regular season (the club's second best defensive record). Subduing dangerous Sydney Olympic forwards Abbas Saad and Alistair Edwards, Calderan and the Marconi defence kept a clean sheet in the side's one-nil grand final victory.

The defender became the third player to captain two championship-winning sides and the first player outside of Sydney City. Calderan captained the side to a grand final rematch in 1989/90 but was on the losing side as Olympic won two-one. Marconi reached the finals series for the eighth consecutive season in 1990/91 in which Calderan converted Marconi's second penalty in their elimination semi-final penalty shoot-out win over Melita before being ruled out of their minor semi-final in which Marconi lost to Adelaide City.

At 28 years of age, Calderan again found himself restricted to limited game time as he battled injuries and competition for a spot in the Marconi defence. Calderan made just seven league appearances during the 1991/92 season and missed out on selection for Marconi's NSL Cup Final in which they lost to Adelaide City.

Calderan again made just seven league appearances during the 1992/93 season, missing out on the side's grand final victory over Adelaide City. The experienced defender hung up his boots at the end of the season at the age of 30. Calderan was selected next to Tony Henderson in Marconi's Greatest XI.