Photo: Mark Avellino
Richmond have finalised their playing roster for the 2017 NPL2 season with the signings of four new players including imports Hakeem Aloraibi and Gonzalo Freddi.
The duo join former Hume City and Avondale defender Baki Efe at Kevin Bartlett Reserve as well as fellow defender Dillon Maikousis who arrives after a breakthrough year at Bendigo City.
23-year-old Aloraibi is a Bahraini international who arrived in Australia in 2014 as a political refugee having been detained in his home country for his alleged involvement in anti-government protests.
After initially spending time training with South Melbourne, the defender joined Green Gully ahead of the 2015 NPL campaign where he made 14 league appearances.
He made the move to regional outfit Goulburn Valley Suns last year, making 23 appearances for the club which included an impressive tally of 6 league strikes.
20-year-old Efe joins Richmond after spending 2016 with Avondale where he the versatile defender made a total of 19 league appearances in the backline for the Avengers.
Having originally made his senior debut for Hume City aged 17 in 2013, Efe spent two years in the senior side under Lou Acevski before moving to Melbourne City Youth in late 2014.
He spent 2015 plying his trade for City in their debut NPL2 campaign under Joe Montemurro, scoring three goals in 18 league appearances before departing the Bundoora-based outfit at season’s end.
Former South Melbourne junior Maikousis joined Bendigo last pre-season and made 23 league appearances in his maiden senior campaign at NPL level.
The teenage defender was one of City’s most consistent performers in a season which saw the young team finish the year in last place on the NPL2 West standings despite improved showings in the second half of the campaign.
The signing of the trio strengthens Richmond’s backline which already includes experienced campaigners Andrew Viola and Halil Gur who arrived from the Port Melbourne Sharks and Dandenong City respectively.
Joining the latter at the club is Gur’s former City teammate Gonzalo Freddi with the Argentine filling in Richmond’s remaining visa position.
The diminutive forward scored 11 goals in 27 league games for Hajduk which included a Round 12 hat-trick in an 8-0 romping of Nunawading City at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex.
The four new additions join Savas Ozdemir (returning from Turkey), Viola, Gur, Rob Taylor (Doncaster Rovers), Ryan Lambert (returning from Victory Youth) and Marcus Dimanche (Melbourne City Youth) as the ten new faces in Paul Donnelly’s new look squad.