Sadler Saddles Up For The Strikers

Thursday 18th Feb, 2010

The Brisbane Strikers have added another player to their 2010 senior Hyundai QSL squad, with young utility player Rylan Sadler having agreed terms.

Sadler, who comes to the club from the Far North Queensland Bulls, will add height and versatility to the squad and brings to eighteen the total number of players who have committed to the senior squad so far. Together with former North Queensland Razorbacks player Sean Burke, he will add a touch of northern flavour to the Strikers’ playing stocks this year.

Sadler has been training with the squad for some time and was given several opportunities in the recently-concluded Silver Boot tournament to press his claims, mostly at right back. He did well enough for coach Stuart McLaren to offer a permanent spot in the squad to a player he rates as one for the future.

“Rylan is a young lad who probably needs a bit more work than any of the others to get to the levels that he aspires to, but he is full of enthusiasm and ability and it will probably be the second part of the season when we will see the best from him”, McLaren said today.

“He has a lot of pluses – he is versatile, intelligent and physically capable of playing in all three areas of the park, whether it be at the back, in the midfield, or even up front”.

In other news, the Strikers’ Youth team will be co-coached by Martin Large and Milos Strugar. The co-coaching concept was last used by the club for its Brisbane Premier League Reserves team of two years ago, when Jamie Lowndes and Steve Unsworth successfully pooled their knowledge to excellent effect.

“Both Martin and Milos have been involved at good levels of youth coaching before”, McLaren said. “Martin was Premier Youth coach at Capalaba, while Milos was last at Olympic FC”.

Meanwhile, McLaren is looking to build on the pre-season momentum established by his squad’s successful participation in Brisbane’s Silver Boot tournament by programming friendly matches against QSL opposition. The Strikers will play the Capricorn Cougars at Perry Park on Friday, 5 March before travelling to Mareeba on 13 March to play the Bulls.