John arrived to the whites in the middle of the 2010 season and immediately stamped himself as something special, with a lazy 5 goals in only his 2nd game for the club. John started off in the B’s and amazingly it took 10 games (and 14 goals) before the Whites hierarchy realised the kid had talent and pushed him into the A’s, where he also found the net 4 times.
Though John is a genuine all-round talent, none of his attributes are particularly outstanding – He’s fairly quick, but not like Richie Coburn, he is strong and aggressive, but not like Steve Thornett. He has fast feet, but he’s not Mihai Vicariu and he hit’s the ball well – but is no Armin Mayer. What John possesses though is a great combination of all these skills. In addition to this he has the most important skill required to be a striker, killer instinct and he has that in abundance.
In his first season John was the highest scorer in the Collegiate League B grade with 14 goals in only 10 games and that season he managed 18 goals overall. Last season he faired even better with 24 goals from 20 games – all in division 1A.
In addition to being a fine striker, John is also a regular inclusion into the Uni Whites Drinking XI. John is so well known at the British, that these days his first pint is free.
John is also well known for missing the start of training. Being a lecturer at Adelaide University, he regularly packs his bag and heads for training just as he can see the rest of us starting our warm- ups, meaning he is usually too late to participate in the drills. Thankfully he doesn’t have the same attitude on game days!
Hopefully we’ll see many more years of the big fella at the Whites. As long as he doesn’t get too bored and decide to move back to the UK.
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