Dandenong Thunder have signalled their intention to bounce straight back into the NPL with the signings of Kristian Sarkies, Fraser Maclaren and Christopher Geils for the 2016 NPL 1 season.
Meanwhile, the club have also re-signed 2016 captain Brendan Elmazovski and former Richmond midfielder Tim Purcell, who despite the club’s relegation, earned plaudits for their displays in 2015.
Sarkies joins the club after taking a sabbatical in 2015 following spells at Heidelberg United, Port Melbourne Sharks, Bulleen Lions and most recently the Goulburn Valley Suns in 2014, since his exodus from Australia’s top flight in 2012.
Prior to that, the 29-year-old midfielder had featured for the Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United and Melbourne Heart in an A-League career spanning seven seasons and totalling 80 games and seven goals.
The former Socceroo has an A-League Championship to his name from his time with Victory in the 2006/07 season, which culminated in Sarkies scoring the sixth and final goal in his side’s 6-0 demolition of future employers Adelaide United in the 2007 Grand Final.
Former Melbourne Victory youth Maclaren joins the club after spending 2015 with Kingston City and South Melbourne respectively, and is touted as one of the state’s most promising young goalkeepers.
After making his senior debut for the Bulleen Lions in 2014 – where he featured alongside Sarkies – Maclaren joined NPL1 rivals Kingston City this year where he was a standout in the opening half of the season.
A mid-season transfer to South Melbourne followed for the 20-year-old, used as a back-up to Nikola Roganovic and making three league appearances for the club in total, with a man-of-the-match debut performance against his new employers being the highlight.
Also joining the club is youngster Christopher Geils, moving to George Andrews Reserve from Box Hill United.
The re-signing of Elmazovski and Purcell is a huge boost for the club, which recently appointed Huss Skenderovic as manager for the upcoming campaign.
Elmazovski joined Thunder in 2012 from Casey Comets and has become a first-team regular since then, racking up a total of 65 league appearances and becoming captain this season.
Purcell was a mid-season signing for the club, ending his long association with Richmond where he spent some time working under the tutelage of Skenderovic.
The new additions, coupled with the re-signings, signals a clear intent that the club hopes its stay in the second tier is temporary as it seeks to return to the glory days, which saw the club win the treble of Victorian football as recently as 2012.