AFW had a quick chat with Perth’s midfield workhorse.
Have you treated yourself since signing your two-year deal?
Maybe a new shirt and tie, or a new pair of black shoes – I-ve got to get a new pair to match my suit.
You-re pulling my leg…
Ok, a new pair of board shorts.
Moving on…
Actually, I-m shopping with (Nick) Rizzo at the moment and he-s forcing me to buy Giorgio Armani, he-s an Armani freak. If our kit could be Armani he-d wear it out.
Rukavytsya was the face of Perth fashion week, has he got better dress sense than Rizzo?
Nikita has a stylish dress sense, more fashionalistic-shirt-with-a-vest-on dress sense; pop-star look with slacks and Converse on. He has a life after soccer: a catwalk model in Milan.
Who has a hopeless dress sense?
Nicky Rizzo put Jamie Harnwell down last time and I-ll second that. His sponsors are very happy; they-re bringing out a Kelme suit for him to wear [laughs]. Wayne Srhoj has brought out the white shorts with pink polo a few times… It-s very Miami Vice and he-s even started up with the aviator sunglasses.
Disgusting… Rizzo said your nickname-s Pedro, why?
Pre-season trip to China, one of the boys knew my surname was Pellegrino and for some reason thought my name was Pedro Pellegrino so he started calling me it, then the boys started taking the mickey and calling me Pedro… When I signed with Glory, no one remembered Pedro and one day at training Mitch (coach David Mitchell) has gone, “Hey, Pedro!” and all the boys started laughing and it-s stuck. It-s not good because me and Dino Djublic are the club ambassadors for Movember and we-ve got dirty old moustaches and the boys think I look like a Mexican because my name-s Pedro and I-ve got a moustache.
Has Amaral gone in the ocean yet?
We keep telling him there-s shark attacks really close in to shore, so he stands right where the water meets the sand and just splashes himself with water. The other day he-s gone in about waist deep and a few boys said he better be careful because the sharks are going to mistake him for a seal, because he-s small, black and has a shaved head.
Poor Amaral! You-re a Gemini, are you entertaining?
Yeah I like to have a laugh when we-re travelling, or nick someone-s shoe or something.
Who you gonna stitch up next?
We might have to hit up Amaral. He-s come out of his shell the last few weeks and he-s opened up. He-s starting to call people nicknames and take the mickey out of people, so he-s got to be brought back down.
Poor guy. A singer is also an ideal profession for a Gemini, what do you think of that?
No! I did my dose of singing with Eugene (Dadi) in pre-season; we sung a Bob Marley song. We did it as a duet in Indonesia because all the new signings have to sing so we got up on stage with the band and everything. Eugene was doing the dancing and I was doing the singing.
See you at the ARIAs next year…
We-ll be there, a white man and a black man: Eminem and Bob Marley.
What-s your favourite biscuit?
Arnott-s Yo Yo biscuit, it-s a cracker. Dip it in a latte and you-ll be fine.
So what-s your tip for the Hyundai A-League, EPL and Serie A?
Glory for the A-League, we-ll secure our spot in the top four as the underdogs and we-ll knock off anyone that comes in our path.
What team will you beat in the grand final?
Don-t know, don-t care!
EPL and Serie A?
Don-t know and I don-t watch it.
I don-t watch much soccer apart from the A-League.
Nice one Adriano. Happy shopping – and say hi to Rizzo from us!
