Super Montgomery adds spice to Wolves roster
After a tough start to the 2017 season, Wollongong Wolves Football Club have started to turn a corner come the midway point of the year.
After picking three wins in their last four starts, the club has started to make its way back up the competition ladder, knocking on the door of finals positions.
Amongst a change of fortunes over the last month, the acquisition of a certain someone has helped set a change of course for the remainder of the season bringing with him a wealth of experience from the highest of footballing levels.
After calling it a day on a professional career spanning seventeen highly successful years, twelve of which spent with former English Premier League side Sheffield United, Centre-Midfielder Nick Montgomery was lured down the coast to pull on the red of the Wollongong Wolves Football Club.
Making an immediate impact within the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition, Montgomery believes the time was right to step away from professional football and move into a less demanding level of the game.
“After training day in and day out since my early teens, I could sense my body starting give away. I loved every bit of my career, especially my five years with the Central Coast Mariners where I was able to win the league and be club captain. After calling it a day, the Mariners offered a coaching role within the club which I have taken up but I still wanted to play football at a decent level”
“So when the Wollongong Wolves Football Club caught wind of my decision to leave the Central Coast, they were quick to offer myself a spot. I sat down with the club CEO who shared his passion for the club and that was what ended up making my decision an easy one. I remember playing them a few years back in the Westfield FFA Cup and thinking what a great club they were as a whole. I wanted to keep playing and mentoring the future generation, so I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”
Since making the move South, Montgomery’s impact was seen instantly.
After bagging his first goal for the club last week, the Wollongong Wolves are starting to become one of the form sides in the competition with Montgomery controlling the centre of park whilst getting the most out the players around him.
“Since coming in I’ve loved every minute of it. We have a great mix of players and abilities and I feel that the advice I have to offer is really being taken in by the youngsters especially who have aspirations of going to the next level. It’s great.”
“I have been really impressed with the standard throughout the league. There are many ex-professionals plying their trade here which can only benefit the league as a whole. In saying that, I believe that although there are some tough teams out there, we have more than what it takes to be a side competing come finals time.”
Amongst this, Montgomery believes the toughest thing for the youngsters at the club is not be able to train with the squad every single day like a professional can.
With this, Montgomery has taken on the role of mentoring these players to train outside the club to take their game to the next level, which he believes will be the telling factor on how bad they really want it.
“There are plenty of Hyundai A-League scouts around that have their eyes on the league and so they should. On a team level I strongly believe that if we can all continue to work on our game every day we will be where we hope to be come finals time. For now I am loving my time here and can’t wait to see where the season will take me.”
-By Joseph Esposito
