For casual observers at Melbourne City’s training sessions, there may be an unfamiliar young face amongst the senior group.
17-year-old Jordan Hall has enjoyed a quick rise up the hierarchy at La Trobe since joining from Blacktown City in NSW this year, plucked by John van ‘t Schip to train with the first team after impressing in Joe Montemurro and Joe Palatsides’ youth sides.
The tall defender’s most recent performance was in the National Youth League, where his side played out a 3-2 win over Adelaide United.
“I thought the boys did really well, it’s good to get the win obviously, bounced back nicely from the draw [against Perth Glory],” Hall said.
“It’s not good to concede goals, but we did make a couple of changes and had a couple of wingers play at fullback, but it’s also good to get the win at the end, grind it through the last couple of minutes.
“I thought we did well for the first 60 minutes and then we made a couple of changes, couple of injuries, but apart from that, overall pretty good game.
“I thought I did alright, defended well, got the win so as a team we’re happy, as an individual I’m happy as well.”
Hall, like a number of prominent Australian footballers – namely Tom Rogic – comes from a futsal background.
He featured for the likes of Royston Rovers and Sydney City Eagles in his youth, at one point facing off against fellow Sydneysider Steve Kuzmanovski, who is now his teammate after being signed from Western Sydney Wanderers at the conclusion of the last A-League season.
The Sydney connection runs deeper for Hall, with the youngster rooming with Jason Trifiro, who is no stranger to football in Victoria having played for South Melbourne and Northcote City before his A-League move to Western Sydney.
“It’s been unbelievable [at Melbourne City]. I’ve been here about six months now and training with the first team every day, so it’s been good,” he said.
“I feel like I’m fitting in a lot with the boys now, they’ve made me feel welcome and John [van ‘t Schip] is a great coach.”
With Melbourne City recently promoting Wade Dekker, Stefan Zinni, Matt Millar and Hernan Espindola to first team action, National Youth League coach Joe Palatsides has tipped Hall as part of the next crop coming through.
“Stefan [Zinni] is another one of our really good young players, so is Matt [Millar], Jordy [Hall], Ali Eyigun, and those [others] that have tasted first football this year,” Palatsides said.
The brush with the first team continues to motivate the youngster, who has set his sights on working towards senior action with the club.
“[My aim is] to get in the first team squad and hopefully get a couple of minutes,” he said.
“I’ve had a couple of chats to John about my game and what I need to improve on and I’ll just go from there.
“When we see a couple of young boys go up [to the seniors], it’s always good for us to see that the coach is looking at the youth team to bring the boys up to the senior squad.”