North Queensland FC striker Jeremy Brockie has declared he is 100 percent fit and ready to make his club debut when the Fury take on the Wellington Phoenix at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Round 11 of the Hyundai A-League.
The 22-year-old has been working his way back into contention after recovering from a thigh strain he suffered late in the pre-season.
He was named in an extended squad for last week’s trip to Central Coast but wasn’t handed a plane ticket.
This week he’s in the top sixteen and looks a certainty to suit up.
“Yeah I’m 100 percent,” Brockie said.
“I’ve been a hundred per cent for the last couple of weeks, I’ve felt good at training and hopefully I’ve done enough…”
“Nobody likes to be injured but unfortunately that’s part of the game,” he said.
Coach Ian Ferguson thinks he’s proven himself, and is likely to play the New Zealand-born striker wide in the midfield in the hope he’ll provide better service to goal-scorers Robbie Fowler and Daniel McBreen.
“He’s been very close to being in the team for three or four weeks and now he has his chance,” Coach Ian Ferguson confirmed.
“I want him to keep his width and get some passes into the box,” he said.
“Jeremy is willing to have a crack himself if he can work the play forward.”
Brockie says he’s going to take any chance he gets with both hands, stating there’s no room for sentiment against a team from his homeland.
But it’s not only his coach he’ll be gunning to impress, but New Zealand All Whites and Wellington mentor Ricky Herbert as well, in the hope of a recall to the World Cup Squad.
“It’s exciting he’s on the sideline,” Brockie admitted.
“Obviously I missed out on the last squad for the first leg of the World Cup qualifying game, hopefully I can get in the (Fury) squad for the next couple of weeks and make an impression to try and get back in for the second leg,” he said.
Brockie’s selection means one player will have to drop out of the Fury squad, whether key midfielder Ufuk Talay has recovered well enough from his hamstring injury remains to be seen.
If the Fury can overcome Wellington it would mark the club’s maiden home victory and boost it off the bottom of the ladder for the first time.
