Melbourne Knights FC posted on December 05, 2009 20:50
The Melbourne Knights have always been a club that has been proud of turning it's young starlets into world-class players. The golden generation of the Knights and Australian football for that matter, the mid 1990's has passed. Players such as Mark Viduka, Joe Simunic and Danny Tiatto have all but retired.
Here, we have compiled a list of all the players the Knights have produced which are currently playing in the A-league, as well as an ex-Knights A-league XI line-up.
Eugene Galekovic the Adelaide United Goalkeeper who got his NSL start with the Melbourne Knights in the 1999 season.
Tomislav Milardovic, former Adelaide United defender who came to the Knights after being a St. Albans Saints stalwart for years as a youngster, he played in four seasons for the Knights from 2005 to 2008, racking up 74 games and scoring 9 goals as a central defender.
Ivan Franjic, another St. Albans Saints junior who blossomed as a winger in the Victorian Premier League with the Knights before heading off to Brisbane Roar – recently signing a three-year extension on his contract.
Danny Tiatto, one of the A-league’s elder statesmen got his National league start at the Knights in 1994 after eccentric coach Mirko Bazic plucked the youngster from Bulleen’s under 19’s side. Played in the two championship seasons for the Knights in the club’s golden-generation.
Daniel Piorkowski started his career as a Knights academy player way back in 1999. Matured to a first eleven position in 2001, playing for the club until the end of the NSL in 2004. Stayed on in 2005 with the Knights until Melbourne Victory picked him up as one of its first signings early on in the season.
Steve Pantelidis, one of the Knights’ back four in the last season of the NSL (which incidentally was the back four which Melbourne Victory had playing together at one stage – Vargas, Piorkowski, Pantelidis and Leijer) from Aarhus Fremad in Denmark.
Andrew Barisic, the Gold Coast United striker played 66 games for the Knights after being discovered by 2005 coach Zlatko Vego – who brought the solid target man over to Melbourne from Canberra Deakin.
Rodrigo Vargas is the current Melbourne Victory vice-captain who spent 5 seasons at the Melbourne Knights from 1999 to 2004. The quick defender racked up 127 games for the Knights, scoring four goals.
Joel Porter was picked up by the Knights from ex-NSL side West Adelaide Hellas in 2000 to partner Angola international Toto Da Costa. Having played two seasons for the club – he was sold to Sydney Olympic before moving on to play in England at the demise of the NSL – returning to Australia only this year to play with Gold Coast United.
Adrian Leijer signed for the Knights in early 2003 from the Victorian Institute of Sport. A young defender who was then quite raw still had a lot to offer the club. He was sold to Fulham by the Victory in 2007 but never got a first team gig – returning to Victory this year.
Tommy Pondeljak started his career in the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) before playing for St. Albans making 62 appearances in his 2½ year spell at the lower league Victorian club. He was then brought into the National Soccer League (NSL) by the Melbourne Knights - helping the club to victory during the 1995-96 NSL season. After playing another 3½ years and a total of 97 appearances for the Melbourne club he moved to Sydney United. He played a total of 246 NSL games, and up until now a total of 88 A-league games with two clubs, Central Coast and Melbourne Victory.
Mate Dugandzic was picked up by the Knights in 2005 for the youth team after being an outstanding St. Albans junior. He burst onto the VPL scene in 2006, making 7 explosive appearances. He has always been a cut above the VPL and was loaned out to ex-Knights sister club Dinamo Zagreb in 2007 who then loaned him out to Lokomotiva Zagreb where Mate spent a season with Knights teammate Dane Visevic. Dugandzic played in 14 games scoring 6 goals. He returned to the Knights in 2009 but was later signed by the Victory – making an immediate impact by scoring two goals in his first full start.
Ljubo Milicevic was a Melbourne Knights academy player and first team player in the 1998 -99 season, before being sold to Perth Glory. He spent a few years overseas including stints at FC Basel and FC Thun in Switzerland. He currently plays for the Newcastle Jets.
The Melbourne Victory recruited aggressively this year for their youth squad which includes 5 former Knights players - Simon Tolli, Bradley Norton, Antonio La Verde, Dimitri Hatzimouratis and Australian under 17’s captain Petar Franjic.
The ex-Melbourne Knights A-League First XI.
GK - Eugene Galekovic
LB - Adrian Leijer
RB - Daniel Piorkowski
CB - Steve Pantelidis
CB - Roddy Vargas
LM - Danny Tiatto
LCM - Mate Dugandzic
RCM - Tommy Pondeljak
RM - Ivan Franjic
LCF - Andrew Barisic
RCF - Joel Porter
Substitutes
Tomislav Milardovic
Simon Tolli
Bradley Norton
Antonio La Verde
Dimitri Hatzimouratis
Petar Franjic
