From this week's Flying Kiwis.
One of the major narratives leading into the weekend’s
Premiership Grand Final was the absence of Logan Rogerson for Auckland City after he’d scored 8 goals in 13 games to get them to that stage. Safe to say they missed his presence running in behind the defensive line too but that’s another story. Rogerson had picked up a pro opportunity in Europe that he initially was gonna take at the end of the Premmy season but then the season got pushed back by a week thanks to the ol’ lockdown and that was a little too late to change the plans so he missed out on that last game.
With that one in the bag though, the focus turned to where exactly he was off to. Initially “a professional opportunity in Europe” was all the crumbs we were left to feed upon, which led to the obvious speculation of Scandinavia given the impending start of their season. Now the riddle has been solved as Rogerson’s been unveiled as a new signing for HJK Helsinki in Finland.
The contract is for the 2021 season with a two-year option that the club can pick up if they like what they see. HJK Helsinki just so happens to be the biggest club in Finland. Reigning champs from 2020 with thirty league titles in their history, including nine of the last twelve. HJK is the only Finnish club to have competed in the Champions League (back in 1998-99) plus they also made the Europa League groups back in 2014–15. Every season they get a qualifying campaign in for one or the other competition (or both). They’ll enter the first round of UCL qualifying for next season’s tournament in the midyear.
It’s also the club that a previous Auckland City FC hero, David Browne, happens to play for. Papua New Guinea international Browne signed on the same terms out of ACFC (with his two year option taken up) and played 14 times on the club’s way to the league title last year. Rogerson has been identified as having similar attributes as Browney... though there is a bit of acceptance that he may need time to adjust to the league. Rogerson previously played professionally in Germany for Carl Zeiss Jena but injury meant that stint never really got going. Of course, playing in Finland also means he’ll come up against Nikko Boxall (SJK) a few times across the journey of the season too.
Miika Takkula, HJK's Director of Sports and Development: “Logan is a speedy and technically skilled wide player who brings depth to our attacking department. He comes to us from a different operating environment, so of course we have to give him time to adjust. At his best, he will able to produce a lot of team-helping games in the third quarter of the season, so we are confident about the future.”
HJK have already eased their way through the league cup group stage, albeit not without a few scares, with a draw and two wins – Browne started the latter two and game off the bench in the first game adding up to 147 minutes, scoring in a 6-1 win vs KTP to polish things off. The league season begins in a couple days. Not sure we’ll see Rogerson so soon but you never know.
(Also if you’re wondering the line that he says at the end of the video is: “On vain yksi Klubi”. Which the club mantra – e.g. You’ll Never Walk Alone – and it means: “There Is Only One Club”... the more you know!)
Up Next: HJK vs Honka, midnight on the border of Wednesday/Thursday (NZT)