Young talent comes of age
EVEN 14 years ago, the characteristics are the same – the apparently lazy stride, the foot rolling over the ball, the dart into space, and defenders left in his wake.
There was a moment last Saturday when Tom Rogic ran at the Hungarian defence, or rather through it, and it’s eerily similar to footage of the Socceroos playmaker aged 10 doing exactly the same thing.
Australia’s No. 10 always had magic feet – it just took the professional game a long time to appreciate those gifts in an awkward, ungainly teenage body.
For a long time that frustrated Ron Smith, viewed in many corners as one of the most astute coaching brains in the country and who first came across Rogic as a 10- year- old in Canberra. It was Smith who, nine years later, put Rogic forward for the global Nike Chance competition that offered a leg- up to players who had missed out on a professional contract.
That was the break he needed, leading to a year with the Central Coast Mariners and then the move to Celtic.
“I’ve always believed Tom is a game- changer, with a special talent that not many players have,” Smith told News Corp.
“But if you don’t live within travelling distance of an A- League club it can be very hard to get noticed. Also physically, I’d watch him as he grew up now and again and he was one of the youngest in his year but with a big body, one that was hard to lug around the field.
“You can’t rush nature, and it took years for him to grow into himself.”
That process only seemed to come to an end quite recently – Rogic missed the last World Cup and the subsequent Asian Cup through a groin injury that required surgical intervention eventually.
“These things happen – injuries, setbacks, it’s just part of football,” the player himself now says.
“I don’t have the thought that just because I missed the World Cup last time, that I have to make up for it somehow.
“It was an unfortunate time in my career, and I received a setback that was out of my hands.
“I think I can proudly say that since then I’ve bounced back, I’ve learnt a lot and become a better player and a better person.”