As South Melbourne’s Brad Norton walks off the pitch following his side’s crushing 6-0 victory over rivals Heidelberg United in their season-opener, he does so sporting a noticeable scratch on the side of his neck. The Wolverine-esque marking is the result of a stoppage time melee between the two opposing outfits, and with the adrenaline still pumping, Norton only becomes aware of it following a tip-off in the post-game interview.
On the park, the left-back was tidy in possession, contributed in attack as well as being part of a back five which picked up its first clean sheet of the season at the first time of asking.
The fracas at the end was representative of the two former NSL power’s heated derby, with the one-sided result officially being etched into the record books as South’s biggest victory over their traditional rivals. Not a bad start to season for player and club, but Norton, like the rest of the playing squad, is determined to reach new heights this campaign after two successful years in the NPL under Chris Taylor.
It wasn’t always like that for Norton at Lakeside Stadium, with the former Adelaide United man being part of a South squad which was plagued by inconsistency and instability during the 18-month reign of Peter Tsolakis. Of the current playing squad, Norton is the only surviving member of the Tsolakis era and has made a seamless transition into his successor’s plans, where he has developed into a pillar of consistency.
But Norton didn’t need to have any introduction to Taylor, as it was the English-born manager who gave the left-back his VPL start for the Melbourne Knights in 2009. Prior to that, Norton made his senior debut for Port Melbourne in the third tier of Victorian football as a 17-year-old, memorably scoring in one of his first games for the Sharks in a 3-0 triumph over the Peninsula Strikers.
A season-long spell at Somers Street followed before Norton was called into the Melbourne Victory youth team squad, where he featured alongside current teammates Matthew Foschini, Matthew Theodore, Stephen Hatzikostas and Milos Lujic.
He moved to the newly promoted Northcote City in 2010 and was a revelation for the Tsolakis-coached side, which finished in a respectable mid-table position.
The A-League then came calling for the then 19-year-old, who moved interstate to join Adelaide United. He made two senior appearances under Dutchman Rini Coolen before returning back to Melbourne in September 2011, where he was re-united with Tsolakis at Hellas.
Since then, only teammate Iqbal Jawadi has played more top flight league games than Norton, who has now made 102 appearances for the club in the VPL/NPL, scoring eight goals in the process.
“We hadn’t scored in our previous three games so to come out and score six against Heidelberg is a dream start to the season, but it’s only one game and we’ve got to continue on with it,” Norton says.
Norton notes that while the players were disappointed to lose to Bentleigh in the Community Shield two weeks ago, attention immediately turned to the Heidelberg fixture for a group motivated by the desire to win as many games as possible.
“We go into every game to win – whether they be competitive game or friendlies – as that’s the mentality which we have so to lose 3-0 to a title rival was a bit demoralising but we knew that we couldn’t dwell on that loss and needed to start afresh for round one and that’s what we did tonight,” he says.
“We take it all game-by-game, as we want to be up there at the end of the year and finish on top like we have done for the past two seasons.”
He puts the winning mentality down to Taylor, who took over the reins of the club in the middle of 2013 and immediately instilled success and results as a priority in the locker rooms.
“Since CT has come in he has wanted to get success right from the start and the players all want to be a part of that,” Norton says.
“You can see that with what we’ve achieved over the past two years and hope to continue on to achieve this season, with the new players fully aware and themselves motivated to achieve this goal.”
Having been a part of two Premiership winning campaigns, Norton feels that the current crop of players at the club are the best on paper and hopes to prove that with his teammates on the pitch this year.
“We had some real quality players over the past few years and brought in more quality players this season, and I think the team we have now is probably the best one on paper as the new players bring plenty of experience and added quality but we’ve got to show that on the pitch,” he says.
With Norton currently finding himself in career best form, many have touted the left-back as potentially being capable of making the step-up back to the A-League, with the 25-year-old keen to consider such an opportunity if it were to come up.
“I always want to get better and be the best I can be and having had a taste of the A-League already I can safely say that if an opportunity did come up that I would definitely consider it,” he says.
“Having played the game since I was five years old, you always want to keep on improving and play at the highest level and getting back into the professional sphere would be ideal as it would be for a lot of the players at this club, but at the same time I’m enjoying my football here and want to continue on my good form with the club.”
One disappointing aspect of South’s successful season last year was their early elimination from the national stage of the FFA Cup, with the Oceania Club of the Century eliminated in the Round of 32 by the Palm Beach Sharks on penalties. The players are determined not to see a repeat this time around.
“We were watching clubs like Heidelberg, Hume and Oakleigh doing so well and credit to them as they performed when they had to perform,” Norton says.
“We looked at that with a sense of ‘what if’, but at the same time we can’t dwell on it too much.”
“CT has put greater emphasis this season on reaching the latter stages of the competition because you can see all the benefits it brings and being a big club, we certainly want to get South back into the national spotlight and showcase why we’re a big club.”
With a deep run into the FFA Cup on the agenda and recent talk centred on South’s ambitions for the A-League, Norton is well positioned to compare Hellas with former clubs Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory.
“The facilities are second to none and in my opinion I feel South Melbourne has the right set-up to be in the A-League and you can see that they are striving for it and are ready to be in the competition,” he says.
In the meantime, Norton returns to John Cain Memorial Reserve this week as he takes on his former employers Northcote City, where he made 19 appearances over the course of the 2010 VPL season, scoring four goals from his attacking left-back position.
“I got picked up by Adelaide thanks to my performances for Northcote who treated me well in a period from which I have a lot of good memories of playing for a good team,” Norton says.
“There’s a lot of good people there, with it being a bit bittersweet coming up against them, but again the most important thing for us is the three points and kicking on from this good start to the season.”