Wollongong Wolves' newest addition Vedran Janjetovic has shown already in his short time at the club how much of a valuable asset he is.
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The former A-League goalkeeper has hardly put a foot wrong in the Wolves' opening seven matches.
In fact he has been their savour on many occasions and with another in his place, the Wolves perhaps would not be as high on the ladder as they are now.
David Carney's side were dealt a bitter blow in their last game against the Wanderers. A win would have seen them go outright top of the ladder. But the script was not written in the Wolves' favour, with Western Sydney coming away from Wollongong with three points.
Janjetovic impressing
Despite the loss, Janjetovic showed his quality by firstly saving a second half penalty, as well as preventing an almost certain goal for WSW just shortly after.
It's not the first time he has been called into action to save his team, with big saves needed in games against Marconi, Blacktown, and Sutherland.
One thing the Wolves struggled with in 2023 - especially early on in the season - was keeping clean sheets. So far, Janjetovic has kept three out of seven games.
Ahead of the Wolves' clash against Sydney Olympic at Belmore (Saturday, March 30), head coach Carney said his goalkeeper had been immense.
"This is why we brought him in," Carney said.
"Goalkeepers are really important and they can save you 10-13 points or even more. Just his experience, his game management, you can see why he's played at a good level. He just brings that into a side with a lot of young faces.
"He's been fantastic and he knows himself, he loves training hard and he's going to get better but so far he's been excellent."
Carney and Janjetovic's paths crossed during their playing days in the A-League, when they were both part of Graham Arnold's Sydney FC squad.
Whilst Carney said his starting goalkeeper in 2023 Tomas Butkovic was 'excellent' last year, he said that Janjetovic had added another aspect to his Wolves team.
"You can't buy experience, and he's just got that," he said.
"He brings in a lot of qualities. He's a talker and he's a leader. He's been a great signing so far."
Olympic test
Ahead of their fixture against Labinot Haliti's side, Carney said he believed his Wolves troops were more than capable of bouncing back from last week's loss against Western Sydney.
Wollongong will be up against some familiar names to A-League diehards, with Olympic boasting the likes of Roy O'Donovan, Abraham Majok, and Ziggy Gordon, all former professionals.
"They [Olympic] had a rocky start, but you know they can go and perform," he said.
"They beat United at their ground 6-0. So you know they've got good performances in them. It's definitely going to be a hard game. When you play these clubs, they have high expectations and they have a big budget regarding players. We've got to be fully at it to get three points.
"But overall, player for player, I think we've probably got a better team I would say and we're playing in a better way I think.
"I think if we can turn up and play the way we can, we should get the three points."
Kickoff for the match is 5pm, with the U20 fixture to be played after at 7pm. The game can be streamed on Football NSW's YouTube channel.
Around the grounds
The Illawarra Stingrays will also be in action this Easter long weekend. Steve Gordon's side are currently flying after their 5-1 smashing of Blacktown in their last game.
That match at Macedonia Park was overshadowed by a horrific injury to Stingrays player Tara Cannon, who was taken to Wollongong Hospital in an ambulance following a collision with the Spartans goalkeeper.
The Stingrays will be in action away from home on Easy Monday (April 1) against Sydney University.
Kickoff for the match is 5pm and can again be streamed on Football NSW's Youtube channel.