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Lachlan Wales


IssySG
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  • 2 months later...

Was invited to watch the players train and go on a tour of CFA Melbourne yesterday.

Wales injured himself about ten minutes into the training, i didn't catch what he did but he spent the next fifteen minutes getting massaged on the pitch then subsequently went back into the physio rooms. Can't really speak to the severity, don't think it was anything too major. This may just affect how we lineup against WS on Wednesday as he has been starting most games as of late

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2 hours ago, IssySG said:

Was invited to watch the players train and go on a tour of CFA Melbourne yesterday.

Wales injured himself about ten minutes into the training, i didn't catch what he did but he spent the next fifteen minutes getting massaged on the pitch then subsequently went back into the physio rooms. Can't really speak to the severity, don't think it was anything too major. This may just affect how we lineup against WS on Wednesday as he has been starting most games as of late

As much as I want him to start from the bench, hope there was nothing too serious ...great opportunity to either start berenegeur or MOH or maybe both but I can’t see Vidosic getting benched 

 

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7 hours ago, IssySG said:

Was invited to watch the players train and go on a tour of CFA Melbourne yesterday.

Wales injured himself about ten minutes into the training, i didn't catch what he did but he spent the next fifteen minutes getting massaged on the pitch then subsequently went back into the physio rooms. Can't really speak to the severity, don't think it was anything too major. This may just affect how we lineup against WS on Wednesday as he has been starting most games as of late

What else you see? ie the other Visa players training 

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4 hours ago, Dylan said:

What else you see? ie the other Visa players training 

Everyone was in training, even our new marquee. Warren came over before it started and explained it would be a light training session due to they'd just had the game with Adelaide. Some passing drills, nothing to major

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  • 1 month later...
Quote

Lachy Wales on why he left the Mariners for Melbourne City

October 25, 2018

PROMISING attacker Lachy Wales was officially Australia’s lowest paid professional soccer player last season - man or woman - earning a meagre $80 a week.

He was celebrated as an A-League breakthrough star, yet barely earned enough for petrol, let alone joining his then Central Coast teammates for lunch. “I was on $80 a week. I was doing everything as a professional footballer, come the end of the month I wasn’t getting paid like one,’’ Wales said. “I quit Uni (teaching degree) and said I’ll give it one last crack. Doesn’t matter if you can’t pay me I’ll train everyday. “I would do (refereeing) in the afternoons for extra money. After training I would change into a referee kit and go. “They paid $15 a game, 30-minute games. Once I started playing (A-League), the (players) go ‘are you…?’ I’d say ‘yeah’. They’re like, ‘what are you doing here’? “That’s just what I had to do for opportunity.”

Wales, who provided a goal assist with his first A-League touch last season and impressed in 10 games, revealed his budgetary tricks. “It was tough. My dad saved me. For my 18th birthday my dad bought me a Subaru Forrester to drive to training,’’ he said. “Dad cooked me every meal. If I needed fuel or if the boys were going out or I wanted to go to the movies, he’d help.”

Living off a $4000 annual soccer wage (W-League minimum was $10,000) wasn’t the hardest part for Wales, who admitted the death of his mum to cancer several years ago kept him focused. The reality check came in April, which prompted his move to Melbourne City, where he is a starter. It’s understood the Mariners withdrew a two-year offer and pressured him to sign a one-year contract.

Saturday marks his first return to Gosford since leaving and it will be mixed emotions after the stunning exit of the local Central Coast kid and former Mariners ball boy, who attended most home games and even stalked then Mariners striker John Aloisi at his hotel for hours.

“I was shocked. I’m very relaxed, not impatient. Things wanted to be rushed,’’ Wales said. “I just wanted to play there. No hard feelings, football’s a business. You can’t always be the local kid that gave everything to a club. At some point they have to give something back. “People said I went for the money. I’m on the same here (he would’ve got at the Mariners). “I signed at City for two seasons. That’s all I wanted, two seasons. “Since I’ve got here I realised this is the place to be. The gym, facilities. I’ve put on 4 kilos.”

Wales may be on minimum A-League wage this season ($63,000), but he couldn’t be happier with the pay rise.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/lachy-wales-on-why-he-left-the-mariners-for-melbourne-city/news-story/8fd0a6be309e5e64009b4e391fc96942

 

If hes only on minimum wage for the next 2 seasons, ive got nothing bad to say about him anymore. We got a bargain!

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11 minutes ago, haz said:

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/lachy-wales-on-why-he-left-the-mariners-for-melbourne-city/news-story/8fd0a6be309e5e64009b4e391fc96942

 

If hes only on minimum wage for the next 2 seasons, ive got nothing bad to say about him anymore. We got a bargain!

If the article is correct, he must have been on some sort of youth/Scholarship contract contract at Central Coast. If he was on a senior contract he would have to have been on the minimum wage.

See also https://dailyfootballshow.com/i-just-needed-a-new-challenge-lachlan-wales-excited-about-playing-under-warren-joyce/

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On 27/10/2018 at 10:04 AM, n i k o said:

He never was expected to be as good as Kamau. Wales is expected to be a bench player at best that's stepping up whilst we've had some outs. 

If this was the case why was he selected for all the preseason games before O'Halloran? As I said in a previous post if O'Halloran had been given the same amount of game time as Wales, he would have been match fit and may not have got injured. 

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On 27/10/2018 at 8:04 PM, n i k o said:

He never was expected to be as good as Kamau. Wales is expected to be a bench player at best that's stepping up whilst we've had some outs. 

Expected by whom? IMO Kamau was a complete disaster for us and went backwards from the moment he signed.

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11 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

If this was the case why was he selected for all the preseason games before O'Halloran? As I said in a previous post if O'Halloran had been given the same amount of game time as Wales, he would have been match fit and may not have got injured. 

Unfortunately for O'Halloran that's not the way Joyce works. You have to prove yourself to be super-fit mentally and physically at training before you get match time. I'm not saying that's appropriate - and I'm sure it's not for certain players - but that seems to be the way Joyce works.

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1 minute ago, Inchcolm said:

Therefore DeLaet proved himself very quickly!!! He did in 3 weeks what O'Halloran could not in 3 months. The problem must have been mental as he was one of the fittest players in SPFL.

And Baccus walked through the door at CFA and straight into the team...

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25 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

If this was the case why was he selected for all the preseason games before O'Halloran? As I said in a previous post if O'Halloran had been given the same amount of game time as Wales, he would have been match fit and may not have got injured. 

Because O'Halloran wasn't ready for whatever reason. Maybe his body needed some extra care before starting games. Clearly he has some issues so my point is valid I feel. 

15 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Expected by whom? IMO Kamau was a complete disaster for us and went backwards from the moment he signed.

The expectation at the time of signing by almost everyone. Kamau was the next best talent in the Aleague when he came to us. Wales is an average player that couldn't get a gig with CCM. That the difference in expectation I'm speaking of. 

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Never needed any extra care when playing in the SPFL nor when playing against the Indian team in the first preseason game. But may be the A league is different. I believe the only person who can answer the question is Joyce, we can talk about this until we are blue (Melbourne blue) in the face and we are only speculating.

Edited by Inchcolm
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On 28/10/2018 at 9:02 PM, Inchcolm said:

Therefore DeLaet proved himself very quickly!!! He did in 3 weeks what O'Halloran could not in 3 months. The problem must have been mental as he was one of the fittest players in SPFL.

It's honestly getting kind of cringey how much you champion for O'Halloran. The man will play when he's recovered from injury and he's fit and firing, for now just take a beat, it'll happen when it happens.

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1 hour ago, IssySG said:

It's honestly getting kind of cringey how much you champion for O'Halloran. The man will play when he's recovered from injury and he's fit and firing, for now just take a beat, it'll happen when it happens.

He's a proud father, give him a break

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  • 5 months later...

Good luck to him. Another example showing that hard work and perseverance can pay dividends.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/late-bloomer-wales-stuck-it-out-and-is-now-reaping-the-rewards-at-city-20190409-p51cgn.html

Late bloomer Wales stuck it out and is now reaping the rewards at City

By  Michael Lynch

April 9, 2019 — 4.40pm

Being a late developer – in football terms – can pay dividends.

When Melbourne City's young forward Lachlan Wales was crafting  his game as a junior in the relative backwater of the Central Coast, he failed to capture the eye of national team scouts and coaches.

Wales missed out on selection for any national under-17 squad (Joeys) nor any Young Socceroos (under-20) group.

But now, at 21, he is an established A-League player and, equally importantly, a member of an Olyroo squad that are just a few games away from qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Wales' rise this season – his first with City having joined from hometown team Central Coast Mariners last winter – has been one of the best stories of the A-League this season.

The unheralded youngster wasn't actually expecting to play much when he came south, given that Bruno Fornaroli was the spearhead of the City attack and coach Warren Joyce had brought in former Scottish Premier League forward Michael O' Halloran.

But Fornaroli's fallout with Joyce and O'Halloran's decision to return home presented Wales with a chance he was only too happy to take.

''The move here has really given me a big opportunity to develop my game and I have had a lot of opportunities from the gaffer and I have been pretty happy,'' he says.

''A trip away with the Olyroos [for the recent qualifiers in Cambodia] was a massive experience for me.

''I have surprised myself. But in the end football is about taking opportunities and I have worked extremely hard to develop my game, on the pitch and in the gym.

''Once you get a chance it's all you dreamed of as a kid, so you get out there and give it your best crack.''

Wales, who started out as a wide player and would still say that's his preferred position, says he has improved every aspect of his game this season.

''I always had the ability to run in behind, but I think I have used those runs a bit smarter this season, in a more central area at times and then on the wing where I can still make deadly runs that can get me in on goal.''

Not that he would ever complain about where he was asked to perform.

"You see many players under 21 and they are not playing at their clubs. Whether it was in the middle or out wide, I was just buzzing to play," he says.

''I am probably more of a winger than an out and out striker, but towards the end of my period of playing at striker I was getting better at holding up the ball, and I began to make smarter runs behind the central defenders.''

But to reach this stage Wales had to have self-belief when the chances weren't coming for him initially – and the strength of mind to resist the easier option of taking an attractive pay packet to drop into the NPL to play at a lower level.

''I was a small child, I didn't really grow until year 11, so I was a late developer," Wales adds.

''I was 19 when I got my debut, but I thought instead of being chucked in as a 17-year-old, at 19 I was ready.

''Maybe some boys when they are chucked in a bit younger aren't quite ready and lose confidence. But I knew I was ready for the A-League and excited to get a chance.

''There's a lot of kids around now who have maybe given up on football and see the NPL as maybe an incentive to go there to get quick and easy money.  If you worked a job it would have been easy to say yes to an NPL offer, but I just stuck it out maybe six months more and got the chance.

''Paul Okon [former Socceroos skipper and then Mariners manager] had many discussions with me at the Central Coast and told me to wait, he said, 'I like you as a player, I think you will do well when you are given the chance, I just want to make sure you are ready'."

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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 month later...
9 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

I tend to agree with @NewConvert.

A winger needs to be able to do more than dribble and run fast. He’s got a few months to learn how to pass and shoot or we give his spot to the next generation 

He is out of contract at seasons end. If he leaves us he will become a club hopper just moving from club to club. Has no finish tbh. 3 goals in 50 games 

Edited by CityBoyz
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15 hours ago, rayv36 said:

He’s a solid squaddie and should be used as an impact sub. Sure, he is frustrating but most teams in this league have a headless chook winger and he won’t be needed to start once we sign Rojas. 

He’s showed so much more coming off the bench late than as a starter. Completely turned the game around off the bench vs WSW. The reality is he’s still too raw to be starting and that pressure must be getting to him. Still a decent squaddie imo.

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1 hour ago, GreenSeater said:

He’s showed so much more coming off the bench late than as a starter. Completely turned the game around off the bench vs WSW. The reality is he’s still too raw to be starting and that pressure must be getting to him. Still a decent squaddie imo.

Agree. I like him - well worth a contract IMO. Exciting player, just the sort you want for the last 25 minutes when the defence is tiring. Every time he gets the ball you know something is going to happen. He'll get better if we keep him and develop him further.

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