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The "Where are they now?" thread


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  • 2 weeks later...

Fringe Socceroo Stefan Mauk says his future is in limbo after being frozen out at relegation battling Dutch club NEC Nijmegen.

The 21-year-old, who left champions Adelaide United for NEC in July, has been left on the sidelines after being hauled off at half-time in the Dutch club’s opening Eredivisie game of the season.

NEC boss Peter Hyballa told Mauk, an attacking midfielder, he needed to work on his defensive game and speed, and hasn’t given him a look-in since. The situation has stalled Mauk's promising career and led to him exploring his options in January.

However, Hyballa was sacked by NEC last week after seven straight defeats with the club slumping into the relegation play-offs positions with two rounds to play.

That's left Mauk in an uncertain position, with the club still yet to appoint a new boss, with assistant Ron de Groot stepping up as caretaker.

“I’ve been in limbo the last few months,” Mauk told FourFourTwo.

“For myself it’s more of an opportunity now with a new coach coming in now, hopefully I can impress him.

“There’s certain things which could happen. A lot depends on when the new coach comes in and if we stay in the first division or get relegated.

“I’ve got a few options for next season but I don’t think anything will be certain until the season is over.”

Stefan Mauk at under-age level for Australia

Mauk revealed he had come close to joining an English Championship club during the January transfer window but the deal fell through at the last minute.

He acknowledged the Championship, where several Australians ply their trade nowadays, was an enticing option as he weighs up his future.

“There was a loan move and a permanent move in the UK in January,” Mauk said. “It just didn’t get through in the last few days.

“It was another challenge to get through, when I was excited for a new thing and to find out on the last day it wasn’t going through, it’s disappointing but it’s part of football.”

Mauk said his decision to seek a move away from NEC in January had also harmed his first-team chances having worked hard in training to get back in the fold.

“We spoke in January when the transfer window was open,” Mauk said.

“I said ‘hopefully if there’s a chance for me to leave, I’d prefer to leave as I don’t think I’m going to get a game’.

“He said ‘okay, if you get a move then you get a move. You’re a good footballer, technically you’re one of the better players here but at the moment we’re just not looking for that’.

Mauk won Adelaide's 2015-16 Rising Star award

“It was a situation where I wasn’t ever really going to win and when I didn’t get the move away in January that set me back even more with the coach.

“Obviously he thought I wasn’t interested in being here. I was never going to win that fight. When he made his mind up, he was pretty strong to stick with that.”

Mauk’s story is remarkably similar to Sydney FC’s premiership-winning midfielder Josh Brillante who returned to the A-League after two seasons in Italy after joining Fiorentina.

Brillante’s career has turned a corner since his return to the A-League, but Mauk’s story is one plenty of Australian footballers trying their luck in Europe know well, for better or worse.

“When I first came in I played the first two friendly games as soon as I got here,” Mauk recalled.

“I was starting in the first game against Zwolle, we were losing and the coach decided to make a couple of changes. Myself and another player got taken off.

“I didn’t play again for a few weeks. His words to me were you need to spread quicker and defensively be a bit stronger.

“Hearing those words weren’t that encouraging as it’s not my strengths. The make-up of me as a player, I’m not a really fast player.

“I felt like what he was asking me to do was going to be a bit of a challenge. That’s where it’s all stemmed from.”

 

Since those promising early days, Mauk has been frozen out, giving him a harsh lesson on European football.

He added: “I felt as if there were weeks where I’d trained quite well and I thought I’d be in with a shot this week but it’s disappointment after disappointment.

“You just have to be ready, mentally and physically. The hardest thing is you don’t know when that chance is going to come.

“Trying to make sure I stay as positive as possible and as soon as I have a bad day I need to try and forget about it.

“These are some of the challenges that a lot of Australians face over here, you come over and start from scratch.

“In Australia you’ve got a reputation for what you can do. Over here you start from the ground up and it’s something I’ve learnt the hard way.

“In the future I’ll definitely have some coping mechanisms and different ways to handle different situations.”

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On 4/29/2017 at 6:45 PM, jw1739 said:

Should we have worked harder to give him a second chance at City instead of dumping him?

From what I understand he showed little to no remorse over the incident, was consistently late to training and was demanding Marquee wages.

The guy had ability and was fun to watch for sure, but I think the club made the right move.

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1 hour ago, Embee said:

From what I understand he showed little to no remorse over the incident, was consistently late to training and was demanding Marquee wages.

The guy had ability and was fun to watch for sure, but I think the club made the right move.

From his comments in the article it seems like he is trying to shift blame for his deficiencies. Guy is a prima donna and doesn't handle it when people dont think he is as good as he thinks he is.

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12 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Lol Mauk. Couldn't happen to a nicer cunt. 

But yet again another example of a young player not completely establishing themselves in any league before making a move. 

Poor advice (assuming agent ) and lacking a full understanding of what level he was actually as at. 

Even players that have been reasonably dominant at A League level have failed in Europe. 

Troisi Rojas Brattan(before us which is another discussion ) Brilliante and Mauk never even got close to these.

I would put Maclaren in the same boat. Not good enough for Europe. 

 

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36 minutes ago, malloy said:

From his comments in the article it seems like he is trying to shift blame for his deficiencies. Guy is a prima donna and doesn't handle it when people dont think he is as good as he thinks he is.

Pretty much. Given how often he bounces from club to club I'd assume he takes that stance pretty frequently,

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35 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Not too dissimilar to one Mr E Paartalu

Probably explains the lengthy deal we gave him haha; either he'll get it together and we've locked him in or he'll crack the sads and we'll sell him to an Asian team

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1 hour ago, Jovan said:

Poor advice (assuming agent ) and lacking a full understanding of what level he was actually as at. 

Even players that have been reasonably dominant at A League level have failed in Europe. 

Troisi Rojas Brattan(before us which is another discussion ) Brilliante and Mauk never even got close to these.

I would put Maclaren in the same boat. Not good enough for Europe. 

A lot of of our players don't seem to realise that they are swimming in a very small pond and just how much the competition is in Europe. Mauk would probably go OK in the National League/League 2.

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1 hour ago, Jovan said:

Poor advice (assuming agent ) and lacking a full understanding of what level he was actually as at. 

Even players that have been reasonably dominant at A League level have failed in Europe. 

Troisi Rojas Brattan(before us which is another discussion ) Brilliante and Mauk never even got close to these.

I would put Maclaren in the same boat. Not good enough for Europe. 

 

Brattan just seems to be so slow of thought, I wonder whether the league has just improved that extra bit since he was at Brisbane or whether the players/system up there protected him somewhat, he looked awful for a bit of this season.

MacLaren would get a gig in League One for sure, possibly at a lower Championship team. I think he ends up at New York though.

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5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

A lot of of our players don't seem to realise that they are swimming in a very small pond and just how much the competition is in Europe. Mauk would probably go OK in the National League/League 2.

To be dragged in his first league game at half time is pretty much how below the standard necessary. 

For his sake and FWIW after his cheapshot I'm no fan I hope he sticks it out and battles and works super hard. If he returns for an easy contract he will never get another chance. 

Easy to say obviously. 

2 minutes ago, Embee said:

Brattan just seems to be so slow of thought, I wonder whether the league has just improved that extra bit since he was at Brisbane or whether the players/system up there protected him somewhat, he looked awful for a bit of this season.

MacLaren would get a gig in League One for sure, possibly at a lower Championship team. I think he ends up at New York though.

No chance of New York. They wont waste a foreign spot on Maclaren. 

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3 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but Brattan played under Ange yeh. Does much more really need to be said on the matter. 

Ange was successful for brisbane and victory but they also had the best teams in the A league at the time. But he doesnt done much for Australia atm. Idk with bratten, he has good games but then other games he plays off. I think brattrn needs to be positioned right and in my opinion he should be playing a De Rossi role of a low dm

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2 minutes ago, xXCiTyZeNXx said:

Ange was successful for brisbane and victory but they also had the best teams in the A league at the time. But he doesnt done much for Australia atm. Idk with bratten, he has good games but then other games he plays off. I think brattrn needs to be positioned right and in my opinion he should be playing a De Rossi role of a low dm

Just judging Brattan by the little that I know of him through his Instagram account but I'd imagine he would respond well to someone very authoritative that gave him boundaries to play within. 

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26 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Imagine the stories this bloke will tell his grandchildren.

"And then, after keeping the bench sufficiently warm all season and providing Vuka with the encouragement he so desperately needed each day at training it was time for my moment in the penalty shootout. As Rojas strode up to take his penalty, I glanced to the bottom left of the goals, indicating to Vuka that that's where the penalty would go, and that's where he went, we saved it! The rest is history"

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16 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Andrew Redmayne is the most successful keeper in A League history in terms of medals won. he has an unbeatable formula, the less he plays the more his teams win. maybe we could rehire him as Ticker?

What Theo including his Klitos days.

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53 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Andrew Redmayne is the most successful keeper in A League history in terms of medals won. he has an unbeatable formula, the less he plays the more his teams win. maybe we could rehire him as Ticker?

Following in the footsteps of Mark Schwarzer. 

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Simon Colosimo was in the Dandenong Thunder side that defeated our NPL team today 4-2, even scoring a goal. Also in the Dandenong side was Alon Blumgart, who as a youngster was tipped to have a big future by Heart under Aloisi.

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