Everyone knows the story of the Three Musketeers, and how D’Artagnan, at the end of the book became a fourth. We would like to acknowledge someone we feel is in the D’Artagnan mould at the present time.
At the Football West Awards Dinner last night the goalkeeper of the year award was shared by three keepers, Ollie Taseski from Inglewood, Fraser Siddall from the Western Knights and Curtis Aspden from Sorrento; All three very worthy recipients.
Taseski’s award was his third and lifts him level with Robbie Zabica and Phil Straker as the ‘keepers to have won this award the most.
All three of these ‘keepers played a key role in their team’s success, and could not be separated by a count back, but we would also like to acknowledge the form of Lewis Italiano at Balcatta.
Lewis is a young goalkeeper on the rise, who played a critical part in Balcatta winning the League. His coach Michael Roki believing he was worth at least nine points this season. Unfortunately in a team that is playing well and has a number of quality players the goalkeeper is often overlooked, because the team is winning. Fraser Siddall would be aware of that after an outstanding season in 2009, which saw his performances going unacknowledged. That is the life of a goalkeeper.
Lewis was not at the awards last night as he had been drafted in to the Perth Glory squad following an injury to one of their goalkeepers. He has been training with the A League club and has shown that he has the game to take that next step, just as several of the outstanding goalkeepers we have in Western Australia are, but age may be against them as well as opportunity.
He may not have won an award but he played a key part in Balcatta’s season and we would like to give him an honorable mention.
