Brisbane Roar’s ‘perfect fit’ as coach names four young guns ‘in contention’ for debuts

Brisbane Roar head coach Ruben Zadkovich hailed talented young gun Thomas Waddingham ahead of Saturday’s 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season opener away to debutants Auckland FC.

The Roar will kick-off the new season with a trip to Go Media Stadium to face newcomers Auckland.

Zadkovich and the Roar will be relying heavily on Waddingham after the 19-year-old’s breakout season in Brisbane, where he has enjoyed a meteoric rise after scoring a joint team-high seven goals in 2023-24.

The talented striker also became the youngest Australia Cup final scorer since the tournament recommenced in 2014, having found the back of the net for Brisbane in their defeat to Sydney FC in the 2023 decider.

Waddingham’s exploits last season have seen him linked with Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham in the Premier League, German giants Bayern Munich – who have already prised Nestory Irankunda from Adelaide United – and Serie A’s Udinese among others.

“I’ve said it so many times, Tommy represents the club perfectly. He is a great fit,” Zadkovich told reporters.

“He is a very respectful young man. Intelligent, articulate, wants to get better, works hard. He is a Roar fan at heart. He is just a perfect for us in this space the club’s in at the moment.

“We have big expectations on his ceiling and where he can get to. We are working really hard with Tommy one on one to try and fix some areas in his game where we think he can improve.

“The best part is he just wants to train and work, he wants to listen. I’m really excited to see Tommy again this season and he’ll be up front leading our line for sure.”

Zadkovich also hinted at debuts for some of Brisbane’s young guns, including 17-year-old defender Lucas Herrington.

Herrington has already been labelled as the “best defender” in Australian football by Zadkovich after the highly-rated academy prospect sign a three-year scholarship contract at Suncorp Stadium.

“Oh, that’s a good question,” Zadkovich replied when asked if there could be some young debutants against Auckland.

“We’ve had some really good additions. We’ve promoted a few of our young ones from the youth team. We had an NPL season that was growing the longer the season went on and there were some real standouts in that. Guys like Lucas Herrington who have been rewarded.

“Along with a few of those guys, we’ve found someone like Sam Klein. He was with us and then he went out to the NPL and played some first-team football there. He’s grown and now he’s back in with us. He’s training really well.

“Then a couple of young guys like (Jacob) Brazete and Pearson (Kasawaya) from Sydney FC that are still works in progress but have bundles of ability.