The 21 year old found the net five times last season from 20 games and helped create another two goals.

But the return of one strike every four hours or so had failed to impress Fowler, whose prowess in front of the goal for Liverpool was legendary.

Today though Fowler admitted he had got it wrong.

"I was massively impressed with Dylan in pre-season," Fowler said today. "I think he's looked a really good player. No disrespect to the player, but far better than what I thought.

"I've seen him from far away, further away than what I would have liked, and wrongly you get an impression of certain players because you only see them in some games.

"But I'm watching the lad here and his attitude is actually first class. He's a great lad, he's a great player. I think the lads love having him about and he was chomping to play last week."

The young hitman is currently sidelined after a "silly tackle" injured his knee.

"It won't be long until he's back playing," said Fowler. "He's a great lad and a real good player."

Fowler said he was working on the basis of a short EPL-type preseason rather than targeting simply the start of the A-League, with his eye on the FFA Cup clash with Sydney FC in a few weeks.

"I've gone down the route of getting a six week preseason," he said. "As far as I'm concerned we've got a massive game coming up so we were gauging for that.

"We want to try and be as fit as we can in the lead up to that."

He said he was thrilled by the chance to pit his newly-created side against the best in the league as his opening competitive fixture.

Fowler added: "I'm made up.

"Don't get me wrong, Sydney are champions and it's probably the toughest game we could have had, but it's a real test for us.

"Probably all the pressure is on Sydney. All the players will be relishing the chance to play the Champions in the first game.

"I think it's special."