The North Sunshine Eagles have announced their second high-profile acquisition of the off-season after luring Reardo Luka to Larissa Reserve in 2017.
The forward spent 2016 overseas and was widely expected to return to the North Geelong Warriors for the upcoming season before electing to join the ambitious State League One outfit.
A Victorian Institute of Sport graduate who featured in several Joeys camps as a teen, Luke began his senior career with South Melbourne in 2007.
However his time at the Oceania Club of the Century was curtailed by a broken leg injury he suffered in a Hellenic Cup fixture that year.
Despite working hard to make a comeback, he never had the opportunity to feature for the first-team and departed the club in 2009 for State League Two side Werribee City.
A move to Elcho Park in 2010 followed, with the versatile attacker spending the next 18 months with the 1992 VPL Champions before joining sister club the St Albans Saints mid-way through 2011.
At Churchill Reserve he was reunited with his former Warriors coach Vinko Buljubasic with his stint at the club his maiden in Victoria’s top flight.
Despite the Saints relegation from the first tier of Victorian football, he was snapped up by newly promoted outfit Moreland Zebras, making a total of 11 league appearances for the club.
A return to North Geelong beckoned though, as Luka returned to the club mid-way through 2012 and spent the next three and half seasons in Lara.
He became a focal point of the Warriors attack in the promotion-winning campaign of 2014, re-energised like much of the club by the appointment of Micky Colina as head coach.
61 league games yielded 12 goals for the popular dressing room figure who departed the club at the conclusion of the 2015 season, its first in the top flight in 18 years.
Luka joins former Dandenong Thunder captain Shane Rexhepi as new additions to the Eagles playing squad following the centre-back’s return to his childhood club from Hume City.
The 28-year-old was delighted with the move and told the club he is “excited to be a part of a club that’s focused on improving on and off the park”.
“The professional environment and direction the club is heading was very appealing and I’m looking forward to helping the North Sunshine Eagles to do something special in 2017,” he added.
Eagles head coach Arben Isai echoed such sentiments and admitted Luka has been on the club’s radar for a number of years with the up-and-coming coach pleased with the acquisition.
“Reardo has been on the NSEFC radar for many years. He is a perfect fit on and off the field and to now call Reardo a NSEFC player, it’s safe to say I’m very happy for him and the club”.