He's spent the winter watching the Western Premier League from the sidelines but now 19-year-old Ollie Bayly will fill a massive void for the front running Waratahs FC.
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When the sky blues dropped their first game of the season against Orana Spurs, the biggest loss from that game wasn't the competition points, rather the season-ending injury to pivotal keeper, Adam Brakenridge.
With massive shoes to fill, Bayly spoke about what's one of the biggest games of his career so far.
"It's a pretty big step up from A-grade but I'm pumped," he said.
It's a pretty big step up from A-grade but I'm pumped.
- Ollie Bayly
"Obviously Brako's an important asset to the team. My mindset is just to go in and give it my all."
It only took the youngster a couple of minutes of training to realise what the WPL boys do much better than the local players.
"They can all hit the target," he said.
"I've been watching the league this year and there's been some crazy goals."
He's been an aspiring keeper for about four years and says he's drawn inspiration from Germany's Manuel Neuer, as well as Switzerland's Yann Sommer.
When asked what they enjoy about the position, you'd think most goalies would talk about the act of saving shots. In the case of Bayly, he went down a different path.
"I just love booting the ball 50 metres," he said.
While Tahs have been flying high all winter, so have a pair of Dubbo teams as Orana and Bulls are nipping at their heels heading into round 16.
Spurs are sitting just one point behind the sky blues, while Bulls are a couple of points back in third position.
Translation, Adam Scimone's men must keep winning if they want that key home semi.
The two sides will kick-off at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.
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