Brisbane Roar coach Ross Aloisi has revealed the club will forgo the chance to bring in a foreign striker, such has been the impression a teenager has made on the A-League stage.
Thomas Waddingham has been one of the rookie prospects who has thrived under the first-year mentor’s attacking brand of football, joined by 15-year-old Quinn Macnicol and debut hopeful Rylan Brownlie.
Thomas Waddingham of the Roar, right, celebrates a goal during the Australia Cup 2023 semi-final against the Melbourne Knights in September in Melbourne.Credit: Getty
The 18-year-old, who last month was called into the Young Socceroos squad, scored four goals in Brisbane’s charge to the Australian Cup final, before make his maiden A-League appearance against Sydney FC and scoring his first goal in the 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners.
Aloisi confirmed he had negotiated with the Roar’s top office to ensure that if they were to bring in an international player, it would be in another position, to enable Waddingham to continue his development.
He said for Australian football to flourish, more youngsters needed to be thrown into the furnace in the same manner.
“You can see him excel in a lot of areas of his game, to the point where I’ve come to an agreement with the hierarchy that we won’t bring a foreign striker in, and we’ll look to another position,” Aloisi told this masthead.
“We’re really pleased where he’s at, and we don’t want to stop him progressing. I know that a lot of people would like [a foreign striker], but there’s a couple of things here.
“One, if we do or did bring a foreign striker and he (Waddingham) wouldn’t play as much, that stops his progression as a striker. That’s 100 per cent why I wouldn’t want to do that; I can’t for a number of reasons, and the boy has gone from strength to strength.
“Secondly, it’s good for Australian football that we start producing these players, they deserve it.
“I won’t put in a player in for the sake of it, but sometimes players get an opportunity, and you think are they ready? They take it and grow with it.”
Aloisi’s maiden season in charge has coincided with one of the Roar’s brightest starts in recent years, and a win over Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night could thrust them to the top of the table for the first time since 2016.
To achieve this, he said the Brisbane brand needed a makeover, on the back of two campaigns in the finals wilderness and without a premiership since the 2013-14 season.
Ross Aloisi (right) alongside Sydney FC coach Steve Corica with the Australian Cup.Credit: Getty
For Aloisi, it was on several fronts: incorporating an attacking style of football, bringing new-found intensity to the training pitch, and calling on more Queensland products to don the orange jumper.
His philosophy has been about more than bringing results to the field, but also attracting fans back to Suncorp Stadium to rival the crowds of the premiership teams of the early 2010s.
That plan involved revolutionising how the Roar played – training at a palpable rate, defying the “player loading” mentality that has often restricted and managed a developing prospect’s output.
If Aloisi was to implement an attacking, constantly moving, pressing style, those under his tutelage needed to be fit, fast and unwilling to rest on their laurels.
He said if they achieved that, the fans would return to witness the awakening of a slumbering beast.
“There’s no secret to it, but the intensity is one, and limited rest time. There’s a lot of talk about loading of young players and I just don’t believe in it,” Aloisi said.
“That’s an Australian mentality – it’s not a European mentality, or the top countries in Asia. I believe in a certain way, and how much can you push a player to make a player better physically and technically.
“We always want to look forward, and that becomes entertaining. People say the EPL is entertaining – it’s end to end all the time – and who wants to watch an A-League game of two teams sitting in the middle third?
Patrick Wood of Sydney FC is blocked by Brisbane Roar keeper Macklin Freke during the Australia Cup Final at Allianz Stadium in October.Credit: Getty
“I’ve said from day one: we are going to play a high pressing game forward, very dynamic. I knew what I wanted, and I also knew there are players there that will suit that.
“It’s a culture and a mentality, but it’s also a Queenslander mentality – never say die. It will lose games … I like to play a risky brand of football, but the reward outweighs that risk.”
