Image: Smile for Peter
Former National Soccer League side Mooroolbark have recruited ex-Springvale White Eagles captain Jordan Ballerini for their upcoming State League One campaign.
The 22-year-old moves to the Barkers having spent the last two years at White Eagles Stadium, with injuries restricting his playing time in 2016.
The defender played his youth football at South Melbourne and Peninsula Strikers before progressing into the Dandenong Thunder 21s side in 2012, winning the club Best and Fairest under Lou Kastner.
He subsequently dropped down two tiers and made his senior debut at State League Two side Mornington, where he was coached by former Frankston Pines VPL manager Adam Jamieson.
With the implementation of the NPL, Ballerini continued to make strides in 2014 in State League One as Mornington narrowly missed out on the State League One title, which was won by the Eastern Lions.
A move to Zed Mihajlovic’s Springvale White Eagles followed, with the central defender making 26 league appearances across a disappointing 2015 season for the former VPL outfit.
Appointed captain of the side, Ballerini suffered an early-season knee injury which kept him out for much of the season and in total made just five league appearances across last term.
He moves to Esther Park where he joins a side coached by Andy McCabe and ex-Casey Comets assistant George Hughes, with the club also recruiting Knox City duo Ross Clark and Zach Merry to their senior playing ranks.
An inaugural member of the NSL in 1977, Mooroolbark have had a resurgence in recent years having won promotion from State League Three in 2013 before repeating the feat in 2015 by finishing second in State League Two behind a Carlo Retre-coached Berwick City.
Their 2016 ended with a 10th place finish in the state’s third tier having narrowly avoided relegation by finishing just a point ahead of Berwick and four ahead of the last-placed Pines.