Thomas Waddingham is part of the next wave of exciting number nines impressing in the Isuzu UTE A-League and the Brisbane Roar young gun might be closer to the national team than people may think.
That is according to Sydney Morning Herald reporter and Total A-Leagues host Vince Rugari, who was analysing the Subway Socceroos’ depth chart on this week’s episode.
Waddingham has been spoken about in the same breath as Australian legend Mark Viduka following his exploits for Brisbane, where the 19-year-old has 10 career goals in the Isuzu UTE A-League – the second-most of any player before turning 20 in competition history – only behind Nestory Irankunda (16), who moved to German juggernaut Bayern Munich at the end of last season.
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Linked with Bayern and Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham in the off-season, Waddingham has scored three goals in 2024-25 after his two-goal haul in last week’s wild 4-4 draw at Macarthur Bulls.
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Amid the hype and expectations, the Australia youth international has not been impacted.
Rugari asked co-host Tommy Oar: “Tommy, how old were you when you first copped the next Harry Kewell? Do you remember?”
Retired Socceroo Oar answered: “I think I made my debut for Brisbane at 16, but it was when I was 17. When I started to play regularly that kind of happened, and got into the Socceroos. So I was 17, 18, around that that age.
“Because he’s 19, I think last season, he copped a little bit of the next Mark Viduka,” Rugari said. “That can’t be easy, like when you’re slapped with something like that and even if you know you’re good.”
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“It’s part of football though, right? How can you regulate that? How can you stop fans from being excited about a kid like this?,” Rugari questioned.
Oar said: “No, I mean, it’s not helpful. But at the same time, I think his performances since getting tagged next Mark Viduka haven’t dropped at all. So don’t think he’s taking too much notice of it, or it hasn’t affected him negatively, at least.
“Sometimes there can be a distraction, but with him he’s gone from strength to strength and I think he’s a huge asset for Brisbane and in a team that hasn’t particularly performed that well. For him to be scoring goals and to constantly look like a threat, I think he’s been one of their bright spots for sure, so far this season, definitely.”
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All of Waddingham’s 10 goals to date have come inside the penalty area, with a shooting accuracy of 62.5%.
Waddingham’s 10 goals up until this point have been from an expected goals (xG) of 9.49 – placing him 10th among players aged 23 or under in the history of the A-Leagues.
He is also scoring a goal every 182.3 minutes – a number better than the likes of Alou Kuol (236.8) – who played for Stuttgart before returning to Central Coast Mariners – Western United’s Noah Botic (213.5),Sydney FC’s Patrick Wood (198.5), former Wellington Phoenix star Ben Waine (186.9) and Melbourne City’s Socceroo Marco Tilio (247.8).
His shot conversion rate stands at 25% – superior to that of Western Sydney Wanderers’ 23-year-old Socceroos hopeful and Golden Boot leader Nicolas Milanovic (24.1) among forwards under 23 in Isuzu UTE A-League history.
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Oar continued: “He scores different types of goals. He loves to be on the shoulder and running behind. He’s also there in the box, scoring the unglamorous goals, like we saw on the weekend against Macarthur.
“He was there to pick up the scraps. For a striker, that’s important, and for him to be doing that at already such a young age is very encouraging because even the likes of Jamie Maclaren, the highest goal scorer in A-League history.
“He was always loved to run in behind, and was really dangerous making those runs but it took him a little bit of time at Brisbane Roar under John Aloisi, to kind of develop that ability to be a poacher in the box.
“For him (Waddingham) to already have that kind of ability so young is definitely encouraging.”
“I think the fact that he hasn’t collapsed under the building hype is a really good sign as well,” Rugari said.
Waddingham’s emergence come at an exciting time in the Isuzu UTE A-League, with a talented crop of number nines breaking through in the competition.
From Western United’s Noah Botic, to Adelaide United pair Archie Goodwin and Luka Jovanovic and Melbourne City’s Medin Memeti.
Rugari feels an injury in the Socceroos set-up could open the door for Waddingham.
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“We’ve got some, for the first time in a while, it feels like there’s some young Aussies who are playing in the nine position,” Rugari said. “Like usually it’s filled by foreigners.
“This season we’ve got him, got Noah Botic, we’ve got Luka Jovanovic, Memeti, Archie Goodwin, a few others coming through as well. The interesting thing is, Tommy, we’re talking about this before you go through a depth chart of strikers, and you get through probably Duke, (Kusini) Yengi, Mohamed Toure.
“Then you hit a (Adam) Taggart. Then you probably bypass, with all due respect, all the boys who are based in India, because they just don’t seem to be on the radar for the national team. You pretty quickly hit these blokes, don’t you, and you pretty quickly get into a Waddingham.
“So if there happened to be like a, not even silly injury crisis, just a couple of injuries, he might find himself in a squad.”
Oar: “I completely agree. Because if you look at the A-League and the number nines we’ve produced since Jamie Maclaren, Adam Taggart and Mitch Duke, all you know, in their 30s now.
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“There’s kind of a bit of a gap there, for five or six years after we didn’t develop too many number nines in that period, a lot of A-League marquees were probably number nine so they weren’t getting local kids weren’t getting the chance.
“It’s so encouraging to have so many promising ones breaking through. I still think it’s premature to have any serious chat about Socceroos with any of these players.
“But at the same time, they’re doing all the right thing so far, and if a couple of them can kick on, it’ll be fantastic for the national team.”
