Skipper’s future spelt out in capital

BURDEKIN Panthers skipper Jeremy Dal Santo is adamant he won’t be returning to the North Queensland Football fields next season.

Instead, the midfielder will chase his footballing dream further in the state’s capital, after trialling with NPL clubs over the past fortnight.

The apprentice boilermaker is expected to get signed off on his trade next month, and has already begun the hunt for potential jobs and a place to live in Brisbane.

Dal Santo ( pictured) was buoyed by his time trialling with teams in B r i s b a n e , which included Western Pride and Brisbane City, and believed he was a strong chance of linking up with one for the 2022 season.

“It was a lot of hard work down there, the first week I had three trainings with Western Pride and since I am definitely moving down, I was looking for work in the morning and apartments in the afternoon,” he said.

“I am still in contact with the coach from Western Pride, he was really impressed. They are looking for a defensive midfielder and that is what I trained as.

“I am also still in contact with Matt Smith, he is the director of the top side at Brisbane City, as well as their under-23 coach John Murphy. They said to get in touch when I move down there, so now it is just a decision process.”

While he admitted it would be tough to leave his childhood club, Dal Santo was adamant Burdekin was in good hands to steer them to a long-awaited finals berth.

“I think they have got a few boys who can easily fill that captain role, there is a lot of leaders in that group,” he said.

“We were a win away from the finals (this season). It was very good from the boys, the way we finished the year.

“We have got a lot of youth coming through and hopefully if they stick around, they will be ready to take the team further. Hopefully we can battle those Townsville teams for the premiership.”