migrating here because this forum is way more active and well get better responses here from people that actually watch them play luke devere robert cornthwaite nathan burns alex wilkinson alex jovanovic( i went to school with this guy!) brendan hamill i noticed jovanovic made the team of the week here! how do you guys rate him as a player? rumors in australia saying he might get called up for our extended national squad for the world cup? he good enough? how many of these players are actually doing well in korea and which of them are not?
2 players are not doing anything. Burns has become famous for freeloading. Why he's still in Korea i'll never know. Didn't even do that well in the A-league from the looks of it. Hamill came here too young and faced a bit of bad luck with managerial changes. There's still some hope he finds his place in Korea as he's still 21 but as a foreigner you're more likely to get treated as a mercenary than a prospect. The rest are all getting playing time. Cornthwaite lost his starting spot with a managerial change but he'll get subbed in when they need to hoof it forward or protect the lead. He just started against Suwon yesterday and had a good match. Devere is also a 3rd choice CB but he's been starting more starts than Cony and isn't as useful as a sub. Wilkinson is the top Aussie in Korea no doubt. Very strong stopper and makes good decisions, even scores from time to time. Only problem he has is that he's a bit slow. I haven't seen enough of Jovanovic but at the start of the season he was on the bench and now he's a starter. Might wanna ask our resident Jeju fan for more info.
Jovanovic is proving himself to be a good starting CB at Jeju these last few games. He's a better partner for Oh Ban-Seok, who had to take care of the defense pretty much all by himself after Hong Jeong-Ho left for the Bundesliga last season, and Lee Yong has been nothing but a thorn in our sides. It's refreshing to see an Aussie showing positive results for Jeju after the disappointment that was Madaschi. On another note, I miss Sasa Ognenovski...
Only 8 years ago, he was a Carpenter on Melbourne construction sites. Before that he played in the National Soccer League (Semi-Pro) was the highest level here in Australia the time. When the A-league first started, he missed out on a contract. That's when he worked his way up again back playing in the Victorian Premier League (one of the states leagues here). Finally, he got offered a contract at Queensland Roar (now Brisbane) and the rest is history. Shame he didn't get more caps for Australia, great story nonetheless.
I remember Shin Tae-Yong mentioning this part of Sasa's life during one of his interviews. My respect for Sasa soared even higher that day.
Wasn't Shin Tae-Yong the person who brought Sasa to Seongnam? I think he played in season one of the A-league (2004-05) only playing one match with Queensland Roar, then he moved onto the coaching staff becoming an assistant manager.