Girdwood-Reich looks a smart acquisition. He\u2019s also well known to coach Steve Corica, who gave him his A-League debut at Sydney during the 2022\/2023 campaign. <\/p>\n
He made 11 appearances \u2013 all but two off the bench \u2013 before becoming a regular the next season with 23 starts. His time at St Louis has been fragmented, not helped by a mid-season injury which ruled him out for almost two months. <\/p>\n
He started seven matches \u2013 five in the second half of the season \u2013 and was used as a substitute in another 18 games, so the loan opportunity suits both parties. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Corica calls, you answer,\u201d said Girdwood-Reich. <\/p>\n
\u201cSteve has supported me a lot during my career, giving me a chance and trusting me when I was still a teenager.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaying that, I realise at 21 I still have a lot to learn, so being back in the A-League and back with Steve at Auckland FC is a great place to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Girdwood-Reich also adds versatility, having made more than half his professional appearances in central midfield. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have brough Jake in to play at centre back, but he can also play as a number six or at right-back,\u201d said Corica. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good passer of the ball; quick, strong and will set a great example to the other young players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Tommy\u2019s departure, we needed cover at the back. Jake\u2019s arrival will provide that and strengthen the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Girdwood-Reich is the fifth off-season signing at Auckland FC, following the arrivals of Oli Sail<\/a>, Lachlan Brook and Sam Cosgrove. Goalkeeper Scott Morris was picked up early in the transfer window but was forced to retire following advice from medical specialists.<\/p>\n Five weeks out from the start of the season, Corica said it was unlikely the club would be adding anyone else to the roster. <\/p>\n Auckland FC will open their campaign with a trip to face Melbourne Victory (October 18), before their first home match against Western Sydney Wanderers on October 25. <\/p>\n Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Girdwood-Reich looks a smart acquisition. He\u2019s also well known to coach Steve Corica, who gave him his A-League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51,1863,1550,3381,26850,3468,26848,26845,2082,305,18060,26847,111,139,69,26846,14004,26849,213,165,102],"class_list":["post-26996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-auckland","tag-back","tag-centre","tag-complete","tag-conundrum","tag-deal","tag-defender","tag-fc","tag-for","tag-have","tag-loan","tag-mls","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offseason","tag-signings","tag-solved","tag-sports","tag-their","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}