Riley McGree capped off a phenomenal season upon his return to Adelaide United after clinching the prestigious Aurelio Vidmar Club Champion award.
At 21 he is the youngest to ever be presented the accolade in the Club’s history and McGree said it was a fabulous honour.
However, he did not hesitate in pointing our areas for improvement in his game.
“I’m very proud and very humbled to be winning it and to be given the opportunity by the coaching staff and my teammates as well,” he said.
“… I think as an individual I was fairly consistent and gave myself the opportunity to score goals and have good games.
“But there’s definitely things I need to work on, towards the end of the season the last five games after the COVID-19 lockdown, I really didn’t have too much of an impact.
“As I get more experience I think these things will come.”
McGree finished as the Reds’ top scorer to also claim the Hyundai A-League Golden Boot with a career-high 10 goals and laid off a further five assists in 23 league matches.
The dynamic attacking midfielder revealed he accomplished his scoring objective but fell short by one assist.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” he said, after a productive year from midfield.
“My goal this season was to score 10 goals and get six assists.
“I fell short by one assist but I reached my goals in terms of scoring goals, so I set out to do it and I did do it which is what I’m proud of.”
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The former Club Brugge man provided his analysis of United’s campaign as they agonisingly missed out on finals football.
Despite being unable to secure a top-six finish, he thought the resilience and attitude displayed by the playing group in the hub was excellent.
“As a collective we had our ups and downs as a team and we fought hard towards the end definitely and throughout the season,” McGree said upon reflection.
“We just couldn’t get over the line but there was definitely intent, and there was definitely some good football played.
“So I couldn’t be prouder of the way the players and staff dealt with the situation that was thrown at us.”
McGree admitted next season is shaping up to be an exciting one, given the team’s invincible finish to the campaign and the number of young South Australian’s in the squad.
“I think next season is looking like very exciting times,” he predicted.
“We’ve got young players coming through and the football we were playing was very positive and very enjoyable to watch.
“The future looks very bright for the Club definitely moving forward.”
