Northcote City have all but finalised their 2017 playing squad following the arrivals of midfielder Aaron Turner and defender George Stavridis.
25 year-old Turner moves to John Cain Memorial Reserve following an 18-month spell with Pascoe Vale, for whom he made a total of 30 league appearances.
Originally from South Australia, the midfielder was a contestant on the reality TV show Football Superstar in 2010, where he made the final three of the competition.
A move interstate to Victoria followed in 2014 as he joined Hume City, where he scored once in 28 matches under Lou Acevski before his mid-season move to Vale the following year.
Turner credited the ambition of the club as a motivating factor behind his move, as well as the opportunity to work under new Northcote manager Zeljko Kuzman.
“The goal is to be successful but they are going about it in a different way to a lot of other clubs,” he said via press release. “They are trying to run things professionally and move in the right direction. There is a real positive vibe around the club”.
“Zeljko was another reason that I moved here. I get along really well with him and I felt this was the right place for me,” Turned added.
He strengthens Northcote’s already impressive midfield stocks which already includes former Richmond captain Peter Sawan, ex-Welsh youth international Josh Knight and one-time Hajduk Split junior Andrew Milicevic who joins from Whittlesea.
30-year-old Stavridis commits to Hercules after ending a six-season spell with childhood club Kingston City, which he joined in 2011 from Bentleigh.
A promotion winner with the Greens in 2009, Stavridis enjoyed a season in the VPL at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex the following year before his return to the Grange Reserve.
In his time at Clayton South, Stavridis was an integral member of the side that rose from the fourth tier of Victorian football before earning promotion to the top flight last year.
A versatile right-back capable of playing further up the park as well at the heart of the defence, he made 68 appearances for Kingston City in the NPL era, netting six goals.
His final contribution on the park saw Stavridis play his part in setting up Damian Iaconis’ dramatic last-gasp equaliser away to Brunswick, which clinched promotion for City.
“I thought it was a good time to move on,” he said. “After getting to the highest league possible with Kingston, I’m looking to do similar things with another club.”
“Northcote is a club that I have respected and liked over the years, and they look like they are on the right path. The club wants to be at the top level and with my experience I think I can help with that.”
Stavridis admitted the professional set-up at the club has him excited while also heaping praise on Kuzman and his coaching staff.
“I’m excited. It’s a really good group of boys and the staff are very professional. We’ve got everything from a sports scientist helping us with prehab and rehab to a media department, so the set-up is looking good.”
“I’ve only had a limited amount of sessions with Zeljko but I can already see he’s a great coach as well as Steve (Bebic) and Theo (Mihailidis). I’m excited to see what they can teach us and what we can learn from each other,” he told the club.
The duo become signings number 18 and 19 for City this pre-season, with the club’s two visas spots being filled by Nathan Cook and Matthew Whateley.
Griffin McMaster (Bulleen), Knight (St Albans), Baggio Yousif (Moreland Zebras), Milos Ilic (ex-Heidelberg United), Alec Goodwin and Trent Manicas (both Port Melbourne), Sawan and Liam Flynn (Richmond), Milicevic (Whittlesea) and the returning Tremayne Sadler are the other new arrivals for the 2013 VPL Champions who will be looking to make an immediate return to the top-flight in 2018.
Former Zebras strike pairing Danny Charalambous and James Papadimitriou, wingers Anthony Ramzy and Anthony Taranto and injury-plagued left-back Nicholas Bavcar have all re-committed, with Kuzman yet to sign a goalkeeper to challenge McMaster between the sticks after Phil Petrovski’s departure.