With 23 appearances, two goals and numerous assists, Chok Dau has made a very significant contribution to what has already been a hugely-impressive NPL WA campaign for the PGFC Academy First Team.
John Gibson’s side can secure the club’s first ever NPL title with a positive result against Subiaco on Saturday and like the rest of his teammates, Dau is desperate to get his hands on some silverware.
“We’re all pretty excited for this Saturday as we know we have a massive opportunity to achieve something great for the club,” he said.
“We’ll be coming out to get the win and get the job done.
“Coming off the last couple of games of the National Youth League season, I thought we had great momentum going into the league and looking at our boys, I had great belief that we could achieve good things.
“It was a bit surprising that we haven’t done as well in the past given the talent that we’ve got and it’s fantastic that we’ve lifted this year.
“Credit has to go to everyone who’s been involved.
“There have been lots of times when we’ve had massive squad changes and whoever has been called up has been ready to come in, work hard and get the job done.”
Having a ball – Dau at work in the gym
Glory have rattled in a remarkable 72 goals during their 25 games so far this term and unsurprisingly, the pacy forward has relished playing in such an attacking, free-scoring side.
“It’s great having the likes of Yak [Yagoub Mustafa], Stynesy [Daniel Stynes], Michael Domfeh and Michael McDougall around,” he said, “they give us so much firepower up top. It makes it easy for me to play my game having them around me. Michael [Domfeh] gets himself in the box and hustles every time. He always finds a way to be in there and score a goal.”
Dau and Mustafa were among several NPL regulars who joined the senior squad for their trip to Malaysia earlier this month.
And the 19-year-old, who scored in both tour games, relished the whole experience.
“I was a little bit surprised to be asked to go,” he admitted, “but a couple of injuries had come up and I’d been working hard and the chance came up, so I was pretty excited.
“It was good having some of the boys from the NPL team over there, some people to talk to, but a lot of the senior boys were very nice as well, saying lots of encouraging things and being really helpful. And Tony Popovic kept saying well done after the games to encourage me which was also great to hear.
“It was a massive difference coming from winter here to playing in the hot and humid conditions up there. It was hard, but we’re kind of used to it having played in the NYL season which goes right through the middle of summer.”
Dau training alongside NPL teammate Walter Scott
Looking to the future, Dau is keen to see the Academy side roll into a successful NYL campaign later in the year while furthering his own first-team ambitions.
And he also has plenty of work lined up off the field.
“I want us to carry what we’ve done in NPL into NYL and look to win it,” he said. “That’s the aim.
“Personally, I want to do well in NYL, keep training hard and hopefully get more chances to train with the first team and keep progressing.
“I’m also in my first year at uni studying engineering. It’s tough, but a good challenge.”
Glory’s crunch clash with Subiaco will take place at Rosalie Park this Saturday [August 25th] with a kick-off time of 3pm, so do get along and lend Chok and the lads your support if you can.
#OneGlory
