Image: Graeme Furlong
Melbourne Knights have secured the services of one of the youngest players in their 2016 squad, with 19-year old Anthony Dezic to continue to call Knights Stadium his home.
The midfielder made his mark on the NPL and FFA Cup in the 2016 season, accumulating 16 senior appearances in all competitions.
Starting four of the last five games, Dezic’s senior exposure helped him grow into a potential starting XI footballer at Somers Street.
“I want to continue to improve and progress my game, grow as a player, gain more senior time and progress further to reach my ultimate goal of being a professional footballer,” said Dezic.
It was the 2016 FFA Cup Round of 32 match against Cockburn City which put the Knights youth product on the map.
Earning himself a start in front of 1,864 home fans, by his substitution in the 82nd minute, he showed his class during match as Knights were able to come away with a 2-1 victory and progress to the Round of 16.
A confident Dezic is looking to use his breakthrough season to shine once again for the Knights as they look to improve their league position and re-qualify for the FFA Cup.
“The club’s aims are to obviously improve on our league finish this year where the ultimate goal will be to play finals football and to also have another successful cup run both in the Dockerty Cup and FFA Cup,” said Dezic.
With consistent performances, it comes as no surprise coach Andrew Marth has put his trust into Dezic once again.
It has always been the club’s mentality to develop and produce young players, and this move cements that.
“Stabba [Andrew Marth] has watched me play from when I was a part of the youth team, he has seen and helped with my progression as a player, so he knows my strengths and weaknesses and knows where I will best fit in.”
With the likes of Mark Viduka, Josip Simunic and Ivan Franjic as junior Knights players, it’s no doubt why Dezic has chosen to pledge himself with his junior club.
“I feel being a product of the club will help me in the fact that I’ve been playing here for a while now so I’ve worked my way into the senior team and earned my position in the squad.”
Anthony Dezic joins Marijan Cvitkovic, Jason Hicks, Tim Purcell, Milan Batur, Nikola Jurkovic and Fraser Chalmers as re-signed players for Marth’s 2017 campaign.
Knights have also been able to sign Tom Cahill (Hume City), Tomislav Fadljevic (Melbourne City), Jake Barker-Daish (Richmond), Danny Dixon (Hume City), Elvis Kamsoba (Croydon Kings, NPL SA) and Kym Harris (Hume City).
With the squad at Knights Stadium taking shape for coach Andrew Marth, young Dezic is hoping he will have a big part to play in what is looking like a potentially successful season for the two-time national champions.