Perth Glory Player Review- PART 1

Now the dust has settled on another season of the A-League, it’s the time when everyone does their season reviews, picks their teams of the year and argue over goal of the season. It’s also a time when the supporters get to go back over their teams season and reminisce/try and supress the memories even further. In the case of many Perth Glory fans like myself, it’s mostly the latter, although the end of season run under Alistair Edwards and the first 89 minutes of the finals game away to the victory do hold fond memories. So, with no further ado, it’s time to run the rule over the squad and grade the Glory keepers and defence in Part 1 of my player review of Perth Glory’s 2012-13 season.

Goalkeepers

Danny Vukovic- B +

Vukovic was his usual dependable self for most of the season. He pulled off some excellent saves, including a last minute fingertip save against Adelaide which ended up being the difference between making the finals and finishing in 7^th place. However, he did make some errors, and went through a rough patch in the middle of the season where he was hesitant in collecting the ball which proved costly. However, all in all a good season from Rhino, whose passion is never in question.

Lewis Italiano- NA

Kept the seat warm every single game, and for that we will forever be in his debt.

Defenders

Josh Risdon- B

Risdon’s follow up season was a bit like Green Day’s 21^st Century Breakdown album. Still a solid effort, but after the highs of the previous entry (American Idiot), the second entry wasn’t as good. A  good season for the young full-back, but not quite as good as last year. Regardless, I have no doubt if he played over east he’d be heralded as a future Socceroo. But there were times where he got torn apart defensively, his crossing remained abysmal and he seemed to get complacent halfway through the season, perhaps knowing that Ferguson wasn’t going to drop him. However, he did finish the season strongly under Edwards, and he also signed a contract extension during the year.

Michael Thwaite- A

In my opinion, our player of the year. A rock at the back, and the defence suffered when he was injured or on national team duty. Played with passion, timed his tackles to perfection and was a good distributor out from the back. A second successive good season for the ex-Gold Coast man, now here’s to hoping we can keep him on next season.

Steve Panteledis- B-

Panta was the surprise of the season the year before, but this season he couldn’t repeat those performances. An adapted centre back, he did a solid job at the back, but he made a few errors which cost the team games. He stupidly conceded a penalty and a red card which lead to Sydney grabbing a 2-1 win early in the year, before allowing himself to be pushed off the ball too easily allowing Jeremy Brockie to snatch an equaliser for Wellington in Perth. Then he had his hands on Nabbout on that fateful night in Melbourne which contributed to Perth’s best friend Jared Gillet awarding a very soft penalty, before receiving his marching orders for dissent.

Bas Van de Brink- B

Bas left halfway through the season, but not before putting in a solid shift for the Glory. Defensively he was sound and alongside Thwaite the Glory’s defence was sound. But it must be noted that his distribution was nothing short of woeful this year. Maybe it was part of Ian Ferguson’s game plan, but every game we’d see long ball after long ball from him, of which about 5% hit their mark (and that is being kind).

Jack Clisby- C

The young defender came in towards the end of the year and looked average. To be fair, he’s still only 19 years old, and he was the polar opposite of Bas when he played the long ball (it was nice to see a long ball actually hit its target for once). But he had a bad game against the Jets in Newcastle and never got a look in after that. One for the future.

Scott Jamieson- A-

Recovered from a poor stint in Sydney to have a great first year with the Glory. He made the left-back role his own and played some fantastic football, both attacking and defending. Even earned himself a recall to the Socceroos setup. One of our best players this season.

Dean Heffernan- B+

“The Heff” had an average start to the season, playing left midfield and not really doing much. His presence in the line-up every week was a constant source of annoyance for the author. But then, the incredible happened. Heff started playing well. He never dominated games, but he became a solid, dependable player who provided good cover for Jamieson at left back. In our last game of the year, needing a result against Adelaide, he even put in a great shift up front. I’m gutted we won’t have him back next year, something I never thought I’d be saying at the start of the year.