The St Albans Saints have kick-started their recruitment campaign for the 2016 NPL1 Season with the signings of Andrew Milicevic from Port Melbourne Sharks, Josh Knight from Richmond, and Michael Grgic from North Geelong Warriors.
The trio are the club’s first signings under new coach Zeljko Kuzman, who made the switch to Churchill Reserve having spent 2015 as assistant to Rick Mensink at promoted Richmond.
21-year-old Milicevic links up with the club affectionately known as Dinamo after spending the last two seasons at the Sharks, where he amassed 44 league appearences.
Despite making the step-down to NPL1, Milicevic had no hesitation joining the Saints who recently celebrated their 40th club anniversary.
“I wanted a fresh start and despite receiving a few offers from other clubs in the NPL as well as NPL1 I moved to Dinamo mainly because I was impressed by Zeljko [Kuzman] as a tactician and think that his philosophy suits my style.”
“The supporters are also very passionate and this was another factor which persuaded me as was the exciting new direction the club wants to take.”
Prior to his stint at the Sharks, the midfielder had overseas experience having spent much of his teenage years in Croatia where he was a part of the Hajduk Split youth set-up as well as plying his trade for Zagreb-based Radnik Sesvete, a feeder club of national giants Dinamo.
Knight on the other hand is reunited with Kuzman at the Saints having been a part of Richmond’s NPL1 winning side in 2015, where the Welshmen contributed with seven goals from 25 league appearences.
The 24 year-old is an ex-Welsh youth team international and has spent time with West Bromwich Albion, Torquay United and Swansea City prior to his move Down Under.
The midfielder is reported to have fallen out with Mensink after the Richmond supremo refused him permission to attend a trial with the Newcastle Jets mid-way through the season.
Grgic returns to St Albans after two seasons at North Geelong Warriors.
After helping his side to promotion, he played 23 games and scored a goal though the Warriors couldn’t preserve their status in the top flight.
“I felt the time was right for me to come back and I’m looking forward to having a successful season,” Grgic said.
The signing of the trio is a statement of intent by the Saints who despite being in the promotion race for much of last season fell away towards the end of the campaign after a poor run of results saw manager Joe Kovacevic dismissed with Franz Weimper taking over the reins on a temporary basis.