SIGNING NEWS: Jack Iredale joins Morton
We are pleased to announce the signing of former Perth Glory defender Jack Iredale on a six-month contract until 31 December 2017.
The 21-year-old was born in Greenock but moved to Australia as a child and attended the Australian Institute of Sport before signing for the A-League outfit.
Centre-half Iredale then enjoyed a short stint with semi-professional ECU Joondalup to keep him ticking over prior to his attempt to win a deal in Scotland this summer.
Following a trial spell, in which he played in matches against Turriff United, Largs Thistle, and Dunoon Amateurs, manager Jim Duffy offered Jack a deal until the turn of the year.
International clearance was received this morning and the registration approved this afternoon, meaning the former Australia Under-17 international is eligible to play a part in the Betfred Cup tie against Edinburgh City.
Speaking exclusively to gmfc.net, the Cappielow gaffer said: “Jack has played in a few matches and been training with us for the last few weeks.
“He’s left sided, he’s a strong boy, has good balance, good use of the ball, is aggressive with good physicality about him, so he’s got a lot of attributes.
“He’s a young lad who doesn’t really have any experience in this country, so we’re not 100 per cent sure of what level he can reach, but certainly in training he looks very accomplished and very comfortable.
“So, sometimes you go with that, but the bottom line is we need to see him in competitive matches, and until you throw someone in, you don’t really know for sure.
“But we think he has potential and that’s the reason why we’ve invited him to sign until the end of this year initially with a view to perhaps taking it a stage further.”
Iredale has also featured as a trialist for Forfar Athletic during his time in the country, and Duffy explained that going out on loan to a lower league club could be an option.
He added: “I’ve spoken to him and said there are a few possibilities. One is to start off with the Under-20s and get used to playing here.
“We were actually looking around for a young centre-back for the 20s because we felt were short in that area in the development squad.
“Two is to put him out loan and we’ve had a couple of clubs enquiring about the possibility of getting him on loan straight away because they’ve seen him in the bounce games.
“The final one is, because we have injuries to central defenders just now, do we pitch him right in. I’ve spoken to him about all threem he’s aware of the situation and understands it and he’s happy to give it a go.
“He knows himself that coming over here and playing is different. It’s not always the quality – it’s just a different style of football sometimes, different tempo, different expectations and different demands.
“But he’s certainly got something that we think is worth pursuing and if he does make his debut against Edinburgh City, we’ll see how he does, and if he doesn’t then we’ll look at it over the next few months.”
Image (main): Jonathan Mitchell
Image (inset): Gary Bradley
