To many casual supporters of the A-League, Rashid Mahazi would have been an unfamiliar name until his signing with Melbourne Victory last week.
That would have been a different matter in the Victorian Premier League, where the talented midfielder delighted fans with a barnstorming first half of the season as Northcote City clinched the minor premiership.
While his departure was a huge blow to the club’s finals chances, coach Goran Lozanovski is happy to see Mahazi get the opportunity to play at a higher level.
“Rash (Rashid Mahazi) is an exceptional player and he’s got his opportunity in one season of football, if not half the season and at the club here at Northcote City, we’re all hoping that he goes on further and cements a spot and grows from here,” Lozanovski said.
“Rashid’s come into our group at the start of the year not thinking he was going to be playing much and I thought the kid had exceptional talent and once he got into our team, he was a major part of our team success at the start of the season, much as the rest of the group was.”
With the likes of Connor Pain and Andrew Nabbout being plucked relatively out of obscurity, and going on to become first team players at Victory in a short space of time, Lozanovski sees Mahazi as another player who could potentially benefit from Ange Postecoglu’s eye for young talent.
“There is a chance [that he’ll get game time], Ange obviously likes to pluck players out of the blue but at the same time he’s got a crap load of midfielders so it’s going to be challenging for Rashid absolutely,” he said.
“I had a chat to him yesterday and he’s really excited and overawed about the whole thing. But he’s looking forward to the challenge and knowing Rashid after half a season, I daresay he’ll come close to playing.”