Paracki’s not here for a holiday
Wellington Phoenix fans can be relatively assured Goran Paracki isn’t here for a working holiday.
Some A-League transfers this offseason have raised eyebrows because they look like old blokes cashing in after being let go by their clubs, but you get the feeling Paracki joined the Phoenix for the right reasons.
He was settled at Istra 1961, a club based in his hometown of Pula, Croatia, with whom he was a regular starter. He still had a year to run on his contract and must have been thinking, aged 30, it could be the last club he would play for.
He said a move to the other side of the world was not in his thinking as he worked his way through Istra’s pre-season.
‘‘The offer came and after that I was thinking about it. I knew only about 10 days before [I signed]. It’s very far away, but I’m enjoying it here.’’
Even though Istra 1961 accepted the Phoenix’s offer for him, as a contracted player he could have refused the move. While the money is better in the A-League - the average salary is roughly $35,000 more per year than the Croatian first division - a move to Wellington is a massive life upheaval.
As he mentioned in the press release to accompany his signing, he said his mum was ‘‘a little sad’’ about him leaving.
While Wellington has the odd nice day in summer, it’s no Pula, a seaside city enjoying 28 degrees Celsius temperatures as Paracki took to a converted rugby field on a frigid Tuesday night in Porirua for the Phoenix’s first pre-season hitout - a 0-0 draw with Western Suburbs.
So why then, after almost 200 matches in the Croatian first division, did he decide to accept the Phoenix’s offer?
‘‘I played in Croatia all of my life and I managed to achieve almost everything I can as a player, so I want a change in my football career and my life. This came up and I’m happy to be here.
‘‘It’s a little bit colder now - in Croatia it’s summer - so it’s a bit of a change, but no problem, this is football, you never know where you’re going to be. That’s life.’’
Paracki’s Phoenix career got off to a rocky start with two rough touches early on in Tuesday’s match, but he recovered to play well in the first half.
Once centreback Marco Rossi was sent off he was shifted into the backline and looked assured there, despite saying it was only the second or third time he’d played the position.
Overall, he was happy with the first hitout from his new team.
‘‘We lost one player so after that it was a little tough, but until then it was very good.
‘‘We mainly want to play like what we train defensively. That was very good and we had three or four good chances, but after that we lost one player so we only played in our half, so it’s tough to say something about what happened after that.’’