M’sian reject Chianese overcomes dengue, doubters to taste A-League glory

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Joel Chianese (second left) with (from left) Andrew Nabbout,, Alex Smith, Taylor Regan at Negeri Sembilan FA in 2016. — Photo by Jason Dasey

ONE player deemed not good enough for Malaysian second division side Negeri Sembilan FA ended up at last year’s World Cup after earning a lucrative contract in Japan.

And now, another discarded import has won a major trophy in Australia’s A-League.

Proving a point in graphic style to the same club that cut them less than three years ago were forwards Andrew Nabbout and Joel Chianese.

This week, Chianese celebrated clinching the Premiers Plate at Perth Glory with two games after a 1-0 victory over Newcastle Jets. The trophy goes to the top A-League club at the end of the regular season before the playoffs decide the overall champion.

In 18 starts with Perth this season, Sydney-born Chianese has scored five goals, and provided eight assists, which is the A-League’s equal-top with Melbourne Victory’s James Troisi.

Chianese seems to be following in the footsteps of Nabbout, who clinched the A-League goal of the year award with Newcastle Jets in the 2017-18 season before being signed by J.League club, Urawa Red Diamonds.

Nabbout has since played nine times for Australia, scoring twice, and featured in two of the Socceroos matches at Russia 2018, including the opener against eventual champions, France.

In 2016, the pair was part of a quartet of Australians at Negeri Sembilan, recruited by former championship-winning coach Gary Phillips, joining defender Taylor Regan and midfielder Alex Smith.

Based an hour south of Kuala Lumpur, Negeri were in rebuilding phase, having fallen on lean times just five years after lifting the prestigious Malaysia Cup for a third time in 2011.

Initially, the injection of the Australians put Negeri in pole position for promotion from the second tier. But after a couple of draws slowed their momentum, the club’s impatient management over-ruled coach Phillips to cut the two forwards in the mid-season transfer window.

At the time, Chianese had scored 10 goals in 15 games in all competitions, and Nabbout had nine in the league. The decision shocked the squad and the club’s fans.

Negeri’s fortunes declined, despite the arrival of new imports, and they missed out on promotion. Nabbout would still end up as the club’s top scorer for the 2016 season, despite having played only half of the matches.

To make matters worse for the stunned Chianese, he contracted dengue fever shortly after losing his professional contract.

Fortunately, things would improve for the Sydney-born winger and striker later in 2016 when Perth Glory signed him.

The under-performing Western Australian club were desperate to transform their fortunes. In the A-League era, Perth had failed to replicate their success from the early 2000s when they made four Grand Finals, winning two titles.

Chianese has blossomed under former Asian coach of the year, Tony Popovic, who led Western Sydney Wanderers to AFC Champions League glory in 2014.

His ability to time his runs in behind defenders has helped Perth score a league-best 51 goals in 25 games. Chianese’s interplay with ex-La Liga winger Diego Castro and former Wolves striker Andy Keogh, has thrilled fans at HBF Park.

There is no doubt that his tough times in Malaysia – he also played 14 games on-loan with second tier Sabah in 2015 – have added steel to Chianese. At the end of the 2013-14 season, he was cut for being ‘mentally weak’ from Sydney FC, where he had been a junior player.

Ironically, the man involved in that decision was then-youth coach Steve Corica, the current manager of Sydney FC. Corica’s side were denied their chance at Premiers Plate glory when the Chianese-inspired Perth beat Newcastle Jets last Sunday.

“He’s done well and I think he’s had a great season for Perth,” Corica told The Sydney Morning Herald. “Really, this is the first year, he’s shown his potential.”

As for the other members of the Negeri Sembilan quartet from 2016, Taylor Regan returned to Malaysia this year to join glamour club, Selangor, while Alex Smith is playing for Brisbane’s Olympic FC in Australia’s lower divisions.

And Chianese could complete his career transformation by earning national selection. With the Socceroos in transition after their quarter-final exit from January’s Asian Cup, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he could join Nabbout in the squad for Australia’s arduous 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Not bad for a player cast aside from a Malaysian second division club just three years ago.

Jason Dasey is CEO of Singapore-based Cockatoo Media and the emcee of corporate events in Borneo