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So, it has finally happened. After months of speculation and frustration, The Block reached its finale last night. No I’m joking of course. After months of waiting, Harry Kewell signed a deal with the Melbourne Victory.
The deal is a three-year one and as Victory Chairman Anthony Di Pietro said on Saturday “the biggest signing in the history of Australian sport”.
Saturday was a great day for the Victory and the A-League itself.
As a Victory fan, I am very pleased that Harry will play here. As an Australian football fan, I am even more pleased.
This is a serious opportunity for our fledgling competition to get some much needed publicity and oxygen in the media.
Some reporters covering the signing for the 6pm news bulletins were standing outside AAMI Park and the season is a month and a half away.
Off the field, Harry will be huge for the club and the league itself. Melbourne Victory reported last night that its membership website was having difficulties coping with the increasing traffic to the website. I wonder why.
Harry could be the face of a new marketing campaign for the A-League. Or even better, a grassroots campaign with Harry being front and centre of it.
Activities like going to visit schools and local football clubs would be a great experience for the kids involved and raise interest in the A-League.
On the field, well you would have to admit that is a less certain prospect.
We all know about Harry’s injuries, especially his recent horror run with his groin in the last couple of season. I think he can give the Victory at least two decent seasons.
I am, in particular, pleased with the form he showed in this year’s Asian Cup. Can anyone forget that header from a Matt McKay cross against Iraq? Or the goal against the Uzbeks?
I would love to see him start the majority of games, but starting out he would have to be managed with care.
I would like to see Kewell play as a striker or behind the strikers.
I think his days as a winger are over. I don’t believe he has the pace to do that anymore, and Isaka Cernak and Marco Rojas should be making the wings their own in the coming season.
This, of course, will put Carlos Hernandez under pressure. Carlos is going to be in a position where he needs to earn his spot in the team and that can only do good things for the team and Hernandez himself.
He needs to get himself in the right physical shape and as captain Adrian Leijer said “earn back the respect of his teammates”.
All in all, the signing of Harry Kewell is a masterstroke by all those who pulled it off.
I can’t wait to see him in a Victory shirt this season.
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