In the past few weeks, the media has dubbed Dimitri Petratos the ‘come-back kid’ and a ‘hat-trick hero’, high praise for the young Brisbane Roar recruit.
The praise is justified. The 20-year-old, who has previously struggled to get game time in the A-League, managed four goals in two consecutive games. On Thursday the attacker announced he’ll be playing for Brisbane Roar till the 2015/16 season, extending his current one-year contract, and will hopefully be starting in more games.
This has come after he managed a headline grabbing hat-trick against old club Sydney FC. His performance had coach Mike Mulvey thanking his lucky stars he played Petratos.
“(Petratos) was fully deserving of his opportunity because he’s got a fantastic attitude,” Mulvey said after Brisbane’s Sydney FC game that ended in a 5-2 thrashing.
“He’s got great character and I knew that when we released him onto the field. He’s got so much energy, he’s got quality that it doesn’t matter if he’s playing against Sydney FC or anyone else.”
It’s Petratos’ humble nature that has kept him in the first team and has helped Brisbane Roar stay on top of the ladder.
Quite a shy young man, when asking him if the added media attention has made him a little more nervous on the field, it’s easy to see that nerves don’t exist when his boots touch the grass.
“I am just maintaining my focus on my own game and concentrating on working hard at training and in matches,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“I’ve always been this way and I think that has helped with the added exposure.”
His grounding is thanks to his extremely supportive family. Originally from Sydney, the family were watching Petratos’ every move in his last two games, and clamoured to the phone to congratulate their boy.
“My family were really pleased after the Sydney match and they just said well done,” he says.
“My dad rang me after the Melbourne Victory game as well to say the same.”
Last week Petratos scored the last goal in a 3-0 win against Victory, the tenth win for the Roar this season.
As one half of the season is over, questions remain on whether Brisbane Roar can keep the momentum going and stay on top till May.
Petratos believes the team’s performance is directly related to their training regimen.
“We work hard during the week at training and we train the way we play, which makes it easier come game day,” he reveals.
If previous seasons are anything to go by, Mike Mulvey will be a little nervous going into the second leg of the season. Almost all teams that have been on top of the ladder in the first half have struggled to keep their position in the latter half of the season.
“He has said not to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Petratos says about Mulvey’s locker-room pep talks.
“We have set the bar and we know what we have to do to keep going to maintain our run of results.”
Petratos has been quite lucky in his career, even if it’s still early days.
Starting at Greek sponsored club Sydney Olympic in 2010, and spending time at Sydney FC National Youth League and playing for the Young Socceroos, Petratos was learning from the best and developing a strong style.
He was quickly poached into the first team of Sydney FC in 2010 but failed to get much starting time.
Petratos was released by Sydney in December last year, and went overseas to Malaysian club Kelantan, an experience he hasn’t regretted despite only
playing for the team three times.
His return to Australia for Brisbane Roar has been where he’s found his footing, and with mentors all around him, he hasn’t felt like the newbie for long.
“I definitely think I’ve grown as a player since I’ve been here,” he says.
“My main focus was to get game time and to continually improve and I’ve been pleased with my progress.”
Signing onto Brisbane Roar till 2016 will be a bit of a relief for the attacker, but would have left some clubs a little miffed they couldn’t poach him for themselves.
