Attend any one of St Albans Saints pre-season friendlies so far, and one common sight has been the ominous form of new signing Joseph Monek.
The youngster has been menacing for his new club, scoring three goals in four matches so far, with his enthusiasm and presence on the left-hand side earmarking him as one to watch in the upcoming NPL 2 season.
The 19-year-old is one of many youngsters on the books of 1998 VPL Premiers as new Manager Zeljko Kuzman hopes to engineer a promotion push for the upcoming season.
A Melbourne Knights junior, Monek was elevated into the U20s at Somers Street in 2014, where he was coached by Kuzman.
There he featured alongside current teammates Ante Kozul, Adrian Barresi and Reuben Quinn-Walters before making his senior debut towards the end of the season.
After seven league games for the in-form first-team, including a debut goal in the final fixture of the season against the Bentleigh Greens and a role in the Knights’ Dockerty Cup Final triumph, the left-sided forward attracted the attention of Melbourne City youth manager Joe Palatsides ahead of the side’s 2014/15 NYL campaign.
From there onwards, Monek featured for City during their inaugural NPL campaign, although his minutes with the side were primarily restricted to appearances for the 20s side under Lachlan Armstrong.
A lack of opportunities down the left-hand flank at Melbourne City saw the youngster move to Churchill Reserve to be re-united with his former mentor Kuzman, who has also recruited Josh Knight and George Tsiakalakis from Richmond, where he was the senior assistant coach in 2015.
Adelaide-born Kuzman is of full praise for Monek, although is quick to acknowledge that the teenager is far from the finished product.
“Joey is a tremendous talent who is still raw and one we in the game would call a rough diamond,” he says.
Kuzman, who coached the Saints 20s outfit in 2013, has been impressed with Monek so far, but admits there is still plenty more work to be done as competition for places in the starting eleven intensifies ahead of Dinamo’s first league clash against sister club North Geelong Warriors on February 21.
“We see him [Joey] coming along nicely, although he does have a couple of younger guys also breathing down his neck,” he says.
“It’s not going to be easy as you’ve got to maintain the performances we expect from him but so far in things are looking positive for him.”
Kuzman’s off-season recruitment has seen the club re-sign a number of key players including influential captain Ryan McGuffie and fellow veteran Barry Devlin, although a pattern has emerged with their new arrivals being young players looking to establish themselves at a senior level.
The 21-year-old Andrew Milicevic and 20 year-old Daniel Slovacek have joined the Saints from Port Melbourne and Avondale respectively, Josip Herzog has arrived from the Port 20s, while 17-year-old Daniel Duzel has been promoted into the senior playing roster.
Based on the early pre-season form Monek is the cream of the crop, but there is hope among the Dinamo faithful that these exciting youngsters will, under the wing of Kuzman and assistant Steve Bebic, lead the club into a new era for a club whose recent history has seen it produce the likes of Socceroos right-back Ivan Franjic and Adelaide United winger Mate Dugandzic.
A recent pre-season hit-out against near neighbours and friends Melbourne Knights saw the Saints fall short of victory with a narrow 2-1 defeat, which included a strike from Monek against his former employers.
Hopes are that fixtures against the likes of Knights are more competitive in the near future than their friendly nature of today, as Monek, Kuzman and St Albans begin their quest to take Dinamo back to the top flight for the first time since 2011.
Image: Steve Starek