Teenage defender Brendan Hamill has called upon his fellow youngsters to stand up and be counted next season following Melbourne Heart FC’s disappointing elimination from the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
Teenage defender Brendan Hamill has called upon his fellow youngsters to stand up and be counted next season following Melbourne Heart FC-s disappointing elimination from the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
Heart bowed out in unfortunate fashion as the side produced arguably its poorest performance of the season to fall 3-0 at the hands of Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Sunday.
Shane Smeltz ultimately justified his pre-match billing as Glory-s key figure, acting as Heart-s tormentor with a hat trick of the highest quality, showcasing his formidable attacking wares.
Despite Heart fulfilling its pre-season expectation of featuring in the Finals Series, there remained a sense of an opportunity lost at the final whistle, as a campaign which at times promised much, petered out in a style barely reminiscent of the football the side had produced for much of the campaign.
With attention now turning to how Heart can take the next step, Hamill said it-s critical the Club-s emerging stars assumed greater responsibility and demonstrated further leadership on and off the field.
“A lot of the young players have put their hands up and stood up but we need to do that more next year,” he said.
“Next year we need to be leaders as individuals and lead the team collectively rather than wait for someone else to do it.”
The defeat marked the end of Head Coach John van ‘t Schip-s tenure at the helm of Heart, closing a significant chapter in the Club-s albeit short history.
While van ‘t Schip was eager to play down the significance of his departure and its impact on the playing group in the lead-up to the match, Hamill reflected the mood in the camp as he bemoaned the side-s inability to provide the Dutchman with a fitting farewell.
“I am just disappointed and empty about the way we played tonight. ‘JVS’ has put so much into this club and I think we owed the boss a better show than what we delivered,” he said.
