Isaka Cernak

Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert has added to his attacking midfield options by signing Australian under-23 international Isaka Cernak from Melbourne Victory.

Cernak, 23, has made 21 appearances for Victory since signing for them at the start of last season, and has also played for Brisbane Roar and North Queensland Fury.

Herbert said he was pleased to get Cernak, who has signed with the Phoenix for the remainder of the Hyundai A-League season, and is likely to include him in the squad to play Newcastle Jets on Sunday.

“Isaka will add something attacking wise in the midfield,” Herbert said.

“He is coming to us with experience at good A-League clubs and it is an opportunity for him to stake a claim for a contract next season.

“I’ve always liked him and when the chance came to have him for the rest of the season I jumped at it.”

Cernak made 15 appearances for Roar in his two seasons with the Brisbane club before joining North Queensland Fury when that club joined the A-League.

Fury was unable to extend his contract when the FFA took ownership of the club and Cernak was snapped up by Melbourne Victory.

Wish him all the best, hopefully he can impress. Definitely worth a punt especially considering our current state. Late finals surge here we come!

 I reckon he'll play the Sanchez role and while I'm not his biggest fan (in fact I suspect I am on record rubbishing him) I doubt he'd be a step down from Dani on recent form.

Like with Hogg, this sounds like a 3 month trial, and it seems as though he is taking the spot that Pav vacated. Worst case scenario is he turns out to be honking and we don't play him, so we are no worse off than if we hadn't signed him. Best case is that he is the messiah and single-handedly leads us to the grand final. Anything in between is a bonus, and it's not like we've committed to him long term.

 who in the starting lineup does he replace? Dani? Lia? Manny? Fenton?

Whats his defensive capabilities like. Yes he is sharp on attack but if he is rubbish on defense then he will be staying at the front end of the pitch.

 I don't see him starting but if we had a midfield three of Manny, One of Smith/Vinnie, Sanchez to me he'll replace Sanchez.

Positives: fast, keen, shows some great skill on the ball, still young enough for there to be hope that he can improve his overall game, not a cock.

Negatives: inconsistent, loses concentration and does dumb stuff, delivery into the box often frustratingly poor, often seems to lack a football brain.

To be fair the negatives pretty much apply to most of our team at the moment. He might work out, he might not.

Replace Lia? Has he turned up this season?

I thought the question was more positional than formwise.

Although in a sea of Honkingness in the game which shan't be mentioned (see podcast) I thought he stunk up the place as bad as anyone.  Just non-existant.

Dani has been pretty ineffective alright, and too lightweight on the ball to play back deeper where the hard yacker is done. Still, a lot of the attacking is about combinations and a new sighing should need a decent amount of settling in time.

Although this is different from the Hogg situation, I am not a fan of this approach.  We either sign people, or we don't - this "come for 3 months and if you are any good we might offer you an extension" thing has many flaws, namely being that if he comes and does well there is a good chance someone else will offer him another/a better contract and off they toodle away from our club (I may be wrong, but isn't this what happened with Reddy?).  We either have faith in our scouting system and we sign players who we think can benefit the club, or we stay with the existing bunch of 20-odd players until they eventually drop dead.  This wishy-washy, half-assed approach is not of any long term benefit.

I'm just happy we're having a crack. Sometimes players fit different systems and you just never know he might fit perfectly with our , admitadly unknown, style. He's young and has shown potential so let's see what he can do in the stripey. Would absoutely love him to fuck up the Victory in last game of season!

Willing to give him a chance to prove me wrong, but just feel a bit meh about signing him. Really hope he regains his form from 10/11 pre-injury.

I'd like to asee him replace Smith/Lia - he's physical, can graft but adds more going forward than the other too. Smith was awful last time out - couldn't even pass to one of our own - not that he was the only one just stood out.

He's not physical and he's not a grafter. He is a Totori/Bertos type wide player who likes to get up a good head of steam and run at defenders. Definitely not a replacement for Lia but a step up from Totori in my opinion.

In before Gareth Morgan labels Cernak 'pathetic' and proposes to drown him. 

"Positives: fast, keen, shows some great skill on the ball, still young enough for there to be hope that he can improve his overall game
Negatives: inconsistent, loses concentration and does dumb stuff, delivery into the box often frustratingly poor, often seems to lack a football brain."

So we've replaced Pavlovic with a Pavlovic?

"Positives: not a cock."

Sorry... as you were.

 He's better than Pavs.

Probably be the fittest player in the team plus a bit of first game enthusiasm, he'll do well.

Lets be honest if he's no worse than Sanchez then this move could spell the end for the Spaniard. Similar positition but frees up an import spot for next year.

Fact.

I do think Sanchez has more about him but his form is as awful as the rest of them.

I like this signing. 

Thought he was under-utilised in the aura-era victory last season, showed some sharp touches and 'quickness of thought' that made me wonder why he didnt get more minutes.

aura-era is fun to say

also disappointed theres no mention of this signing on stuff as far as I can see

lots on morgan though

It is on stuff.. that's where I read it this morning.

Stuff != Dominion Post

Could be like Big Dadi and be the spark we needed...

he has a cool name, which is important.