Tuggeranong United may have unveiled a future star of the NPL competition.
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Harrison Truman has taken the NPL by storm this season, kicking three goals in his four starts, including a first-half double against Woden Weston.
Truman was plucked straight from the under-18s team and in his first year of NPL competition sits second in goals scored.
Although 18-year-old Truman is classed as 'old', Tuggeranong coach Mitch Stevens believes clubs will come calling for the striker.
"The only thing I would say that in the modern game now, Harry is almost perceived as old, being 18 turning 19. That would be the only thing I'd say goes against him a little," he said.
"But one thing I certainly do know, is that, even from an A-League perspective, if you're banging home goals at NPL level eventually people are going to be looking at you.
"Harry, at his first year of NPL jumping straight into first grade, getting three goals in four starts, it's only a matter of time before some people start looking and asking the question of, 'well how good is this kid, and should we be looking at him for an A-League spot'."
Tuggeranong United's player budget is far less than some other clubs in the NPL, meaning keeping players such as Truman can be difficult.
Stevens knows the importance of keeping a potential star like Truman at the club, and what it takes to keep them there.
"He's important to the squad now, and the future. Harry's going to be a big part of Tuggeranong's future over the next couple of years as well as this one," he said.
"We all know it's a small town, we know what players and clubs are offering elsewhere and there's one or two clubs that have triple, quadruple the budget that we have.
"So how do you compete with that? You offer a culture, a place where you enjoy working and coming and working hard, and people enjoy being around one another."
There are only two rounds remaining in the NPL competition, and a win against the Monaro Panthers this week could see Tuggeranong enter the top-four.
Stevens says it'll come down to hard work if his team wants to win this weekend.
"The blueprint will be pretty similar to what it was against Gungahlin, which is hard work," he said.
"They (Monaro) keep the ball, but if you can disrupt maybe their rhythm in terms of their passing and look to exploit some of the spaces they leave in defence, then you give yourself a chance of hopefully getting some points out of Monaro.
"You're really going to have to be organised, you're going to have to work hard and hope something comes from it from there."
