SEASON 2020 | Leigh Minopoulos joins Essendon Royals
Leigh Minopoulos is the latest player to join Vitale Ferrante’s Royals revolution.
The South Melbourne great brings plenty of experience and quality to Ferrante’s Essendon Royals squad for Season 2020, having served his former club with such distinction over many years of service.
A two-time National Premier Leagues champions with South, Minopoulos arrives at Royals having accumulated over 150 appearances for the club.
In his time at South, Minopoulos had a knack for scoring crucial goals, scoring in no less than three finals during his time at South, including in the 2016 NPL Victoria final, the 2015 Dockerty Cup and 2015 Charity Shield.
He also remains the only South Melbourne player to score against A-League opposition, having scored against Sydney FC in the 2017 FFA Cup semi-final.
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
Minopoulos called time on his career at South Melbourne at the end of last season but said he was drawn to the Essendon Royals after speaking to assistant coach and former team-mate Carl Recchia.
“To be honest after I finished up at South last year I didn’t have an idea about what I was going to do next season,” he said.
“You’re a long time retired so I started to think about where I would play and I just happened to bump into Carl and we had a chat.”
Minopoulos said after exploring the Royals option with Ferrante and Recchia he was excited at the prospect of joining the duo at Essendon.
“I’ve known Vitale for a long time and I played with Carl for a little bit so there’s a huge amount of mutual respect there,” he said.
“Obviously I’ll look to bring my experience from South with me, but for me, I think it’s about enjoying the game and enjoying football like when I was 21 again.”
Reflecting on his stellar career with South, Minopoulos said he looked back on his time at his former club with a lot of pride.
“We had a lot of success at that time. We finished first or second most of the years I was there and we won two NPL titles over that time,” he said.
“The championship-winning seasons stand out, so they’re the highlights, alongside the FFA Cup semi-final against Sydney FC in 2017.
“I won a best-and-fairest [in 2018] as well. I think I achieved everything I wanted to achieve at South other than the golden boot because Milos Lujic was always banging in 30 goals a year!”
Minopoulos adds considerable firepower to the Royals lineup.
He is the club’s fourth new signing ahead of the 2020 campaign, joining defensive trio Mario Piraino, Adam Nakic and Greg Lombardo.
Fellow forward Davey Van’t Schip, who arrived at the Royals mid-season in 2019, is the other player to have re-committed to the club for season 2020.