Joining a two-time winning Hyundai A-League club could be intimidating for some but Brisbane Roar new boy Ben Halloran has been undaunted by his new surrounds.
Joining a two-time winning Hyundai A-League club could be intimidating for some but Brisbane Roar new boy Ben Halloran has been undaunted by his new surrounds.
After the demise of Gold Coast United at the end of last season, Halloran resisted the lures of other Hyundai A-League clubs to sign for Brisbane on a three-year contract in May this year.
While he was born in Cairns, the 20-year-old grew up in Brisbane and played his formative football years at Wynnum Wolves Football Club on the city-s bayside.
That, coupled with the warm welcome received from his new teammates, has made for a smooth transition into life under Head Coach Rado Vidosic.
“All the boys have been accommodating since day one,” Halloran said.
“They-ve have been patient with me while I-ve adjusted to the new system.
“I-ve also had to get used to a different set of players but I had a long pre-season which gave me ample time to get used to it.”
Despite the struggles of Gold Coast last season, Halloran-s form was a highlight even for opposition supporters with his solo effort against Central Coast Mariners at Skilled Park regarded as one of the best of the entire campaign.
The youngster says he does feel the pressure to perform – but only in order to win the respect of those closest to him.
“There is always a fair bit of hype chucked on young players when they string one or two good games together,” he said.
“But to be honest, I-m more worried about internal pressure than the media.
“So as long as I can perform and have the respect of the boys around me, that-s all I-m thinking about.”
And if that-s what his concern is, it seems he already won the admiration of his teammates, including Erik Paartalu and Besart Berisha.
“For a young guy, Ben has a really mature head on his shoulders,” Paartalu said.
“You can see even from training, he-s learning when he gets into scoring positions, to make his best option the right one.
“I think for Benny and the boys that have come in, there-s an adaptation period and he-s taken to it like a duck to water.”
Last season-s 21-goal hero Berisha said he was looking forward to combining with Halloran in Brisbane-s front third, starting with this weekend-s season opener against Perth Glory at Patersons Stadium.
“I-m very happy that we signed Ben Halloran,” he said.
“He is a really good player with unbelievable quality.
“Especially with the way we play attacking football, he can help us a lot because his speed is fantastic.”
Brisbane Roar-s highly-anticipated Grand Final re-match against Perth Glory at Patersons Stadium is this Sunday, 7 October 2012, kicking off at 2pm local time (4pm Queensland time).
The match will be live and exclusive on Fox Sports and for those without Foxtel, find all the important match updates at Twitter.com/BrisbaneRoar
