Milestone man Nikolai Topor-Stanley says while the A-League is currently lacking star power, the “overall standard” of the compxjmtzywetition has improved since its inception 17 years ago.
Topor-Stanley is poised to become just the second player to make 350 A-League appearances when his Western United side meets Melbourne City on Saturday night at AAMI Park.
United is the 37-year-old central defender’s fifth A-League club in a top-flight career that started in 2006 with Sydney FC.
He has therefore seen the best the competition has had to offer in terms of quality players, big names such as Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono, and those who have become well-known because of their A-League exploits, including Thomas Broich, Milos Ninkovic and Besart Berisha.
The consensus this season has been the A-League‘s quality is down from past years.
However, Topor-Stanley is adamant the competition still has plenty to offer.
“The overall standard of footballer (in the A-League) has risen dramatically,” he said.
“As a youngster … there was a handful of great players in every team that made the difference week in and week out, like (Sydney FC pair) Dwight Yorke, Steve Corica; these are the type of players I played with that if they weren’t on, our team struggled.
“But the standard from (player) number one to number 20 has dramatically risen, the coaching level has risen, the professionalism has risen, the sports science (is better), which is one of the reasons I’m still able to play.
“Perhaps we (now) don’t have the Thomas Broichs, but maybe there’s one to be uncovered.
“Who knows who’s going to have a breakout year that might be the next superstar of the league?”
While the tough and reliable Topor-Stanley has never been regarded as a superstar, he has enjoyed a decorated career that has included four Socceroos caps and his highlight playing achievement – winning the 2014 AFC Champions League with the Western Sydney Wanderers.
“That was a huge moment for not only me personally, but also for Australian football; that was a huge moment for us,” he said.
“It put us on the map in an international sense.”
However, Topor-Stanley is more thrilled about his children having had the chance to see him play.
“Walking out with my kids (on the field) for the first time, I didn’t think I would experience that emotion,” he said.
“Knowing that they can watch me on TV, and hopefully they have some memories of it, that’s probably the most special thing to me at the moment.
“Hopefully they’ll be there on the weekend. It’ll be a little bit past their bedtime, but it’ll be nice to have some photos and memories.”
