19-year-old goalkeeper Jordan Thurtell may be an understudy to Ante Covic and Jerrad Tyson at the moment, but the youngster believes their guidance can aid him in his quest to emulate the likes of Mark Schwarzer.
“You learn a lot from them, they’re guys with lots of experience”, Thurtell said.
“The calmness of their game is a big influence I think,” the former AIS player added.
Glory fought off strong interest from Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC to acquire the services of the Sunshine Coast-born shot stopper in 2014, and he’s since been making his mark as captain of the clubs NPL team with a string of impressive performances.
Despite having quickly built a reputation for penalty saves, Thurtell has remained humble regarding his crunch time heroics.
“I think I got two out of four, so that’s not too bad. I’m just having a guess really, a bit of luck”, he explained.
The in-form keeper has been working closely with Glory goalkeeping coach and former player Danny Milosevic, who has been pleased with his progress.
“I think he’s in a good space”, the former Leeds custodian revealed.
“There’s no rush for Jordan, he just has to continue his development. We see him as a potential goalkeeper for Perth in the A-League.”
Having already represented Australia since he was just 13, including an undefeated U19 AFC tournament in 2014, the avid Chelsea fan has a bright future ahead of him.
However, Thurtell remains grounded with his focus solely on the current NPL season.
“My goals are for our team to be the best that we can,” Thurtell said.
“Hopefully we can get somewhere in the top half of the table and be really pushing for a finals place.”
Thurtell admitted he is hopeful of forging a career in England eventually, with an Australian all-time great providing the inspiration.
“My idol was always Mark Schwarzer growing up,” said Thurtell.
“He’s an Aussie over there in England and it’s really what I aspire to be further in my career, so hopefully one day I can get to that level”, he added.
Meantime Thurtell will lead the Glory NPL outfit this weekend when they host ECU Joondalup at Ashfield Reserce at 3pm.
Entry is free for Perth Glory FC members.
