Avondale FC have bolstered their squad with the signings of youngsters Jem Berkant and Yitay Towns.
The former makes the short trip from rival NPL Victoria outfit Green Gully, while the latter joins the growing contingent of players moving north from NPL Tasmania.
Towns had a breakout season in the state’s Victory League with Northern Rangers, taking out the competition’s Player of the Year in 2015.
In comparison, fellow Tasmanians moving to Victoria – Emmanuel Tsakiris (Heidelberg United) and Luke Eyles (South Melbourne) polled 10 and nine votes respectively.
“I was probably happy to be a bit under the radar and not spoken about too much. I definitely thought I wasn’t going to get it and I wasn’t going to be disappointed,” Towns said at the time.
“I’ve been able to stay on the park the whole season. I only missed two games… it was good to get a full season in.”
The attack-minded midfielder’s form, yielding 10 goals, earned Towns a trial at A-League club Central Coast Mariners.
The Ethiopian-born 19-year-old had also been a target of Avondale’s for a number of months, telling the ABC: “They’ve asked me over for a couple of weeks in the next couple of months just for a few training sessions and a bit of a preseason for them and see how that goes.”
Berkant, meanwhile, swaps green for blue in 2016.
The youngster spent the past two seasons working to consolidate his place in Victoria’s top flight.
He made 14 appearances at Gully in 2015 as the club recovered from an early slump to finish in a mid-table position.
He also made 23 performances in 2014, scoring one goal.
The two signings accompany an ambitious, new-look Avondale outfit, with Baki Efe,
Jamie Cumming, Jonatan Germano and Spase Dilevski also committing to the club in 2016, while Massimo Murdocca and Francesco Stella have also re-signed.
Image: Mark Avellino (Berkant), supplied (Towns)