Rogic dancing with the stars

Sharing a stage with A-League heroes Harry Kewell, Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson, the 19-year-old attacking midfielder, who is on a five-month contract, turned a few heads with an inspired first-half performance that had class and temperament written all over it.

He opened the scoring in the first half with a potent left-foot drive from well outside the penalty area that skimmed past Ante Covic and ended up in the bottom corner of the net.

Then moments later he tried a cheeky dink with the same foot and from the same position that narrowly went wide, with Covic again beaten.

”It was a great honour to be on the same pitch as Harry, Carlos and Archie and I won't forget the occasion very easily,” said Rogic, who grew up in Canberra.

”The goal felt pretty good but it was not my first intention to have a crack when I got the ball.

”The space just opened up for me and I said 'this is worth a try' and it went in.

”I was obviously very confident after scoring my first goal in the A-League and I had a few good touches of the ball too.

”Which is probably why I tried something different with my second attempt after the space kept opening up for me again.

”It wouldn't have been a bad one either.”

Rogic, who likes to consider himself as a classic No 10, is still trying to come to terms with the attention he has attracted.

The Nike Challenge winner last year failed to land a contract with Reading in the United Kingdom only because of work permit problems.

He recognises that his impressive 80-minute display at AAMI Park in only his second A-League start since joining the club in January may not earn him a spot in the team to face Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.

”I hope I've done enough to play against Phoenix,” he said.

”But it's been only one (good) match in only my third game so there is a long way to go for me to be a regular starter.

”So I'm not getting carried away.

”I definitely am not the finished product and I know that there are a lot of things I need to work on.”

Rogic is included in coach Graham Arnold's 30-member squad for the upcoming AFC Champions League campaign.

The Mariners are in Group G with Japan's Nagoya Grampus, Korea Republic's Seongnam Ilhwa and Tianjin Teda, whom they meet first-up on 7 March in China.