Brisbane Roar is a club experiencing a changing of the guard and the door has been left open for youngsters like 20 year-old Luke DeVere to prove themselves amongst the best in the Hyundai A-League.
With the high profile departures of former head coach Frank Farina, marquee signing Craig Moore and playmaker Charlie Miller, the door has been left open for youngsters like 20 year-old Luke DeVere to prove themselves amongst the best in the Hyundai A-League.
DeVere’s opportunity came when former Roar skipper Moore announced his intentions to leave the club to prepare for this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Although disappointed by the move, DeVere said he was relishing the chance to take on the extra responsibility left by Moore’s departure.
“Of course it was disappointing (to see Moore and Miller depart),” said the tall Roar defender.
“Players of that sort of calibre don-t leave without being noticed so it was a bit hard for a few of the boys and it was a bit disappointing that they couldn-t stay on.”
“With someone like Craig you can-t help but not learn off him.”
“Obviously while he was at the club I did learn a lot from him and he helped me tremendously with my game.”
“But I like to have a bit more responsibility and I-m enjoying the challenge of playing without Craig,” he said.
Filling the boots of Moore is no mean feat, but the 186cm defender – who has just signed a new three-year deal, has done his best this season making 21 appearances and scoring twice for the Roar in a year in which the club has fallen short of expectations coming off last season’s third-place finish.
“I think everyone is a little disappointed with the way results have been going, we-ve played well in patches and not got the results,” DeVere said.
“I think people are just hoping we can continue to play some decent football and hope that things can shift our way.”
While the Roar’s fortunes may be in transition, coach Ange Postecoglou is attempting to re-shape the side and rediscover the form that earned the club preliminary final appearances in 2007-08 and 08-09.
Brisbane’s rebuild has given young players like DeVere, teenager Tommy Oar and 21-year-olds Adam Sarota and Michael Zullo the chance to gain important A-league experience.
In the midst of winless run that’s extended to five games, DeVere concedes the team’s confidence is not where it should be – but a turnaround is not far away.
“I guess it-s a case of a few young boys have been given a chance with Ange coming in,” he said.
“Obviously they will grow confident with more game time and more exposure.”
“I think the more experience they get then the more they will grow,”
Sitting equal-eighth on 27 points with Central Coast, Brisbane still has a mathematical chance of making the finals if it can muster results in its remaining three fixtures and the teams above – Wellington (sixth on 31 points) and Perth (fifth on 33 points) falter.
DeVere said players hadn’t given up hope of a third consecutive finals appearance, maintaining that the Roar will play right up until the final whistle in Round 27.
“Of course no-one likes to disappoint the fans and no-one likes to lose at all I suppose, but it is hard to front up each week and face the fans with continual losses,” he said.
“No-one has given up at our club yet.”
“If we win our last couple of games and things go our way then who knows what can happen so we-ll keep playing right until the end.”
