After three seasons with Heidelberg, Athiu has finally got the chance to play in the topflight.

The last two campaigns in the Victorian NPL has seen the lanky striker dominate. After scoring 17 goals in 21 games in 2016, his most recent season saw him top the Victorian NPL scoring charts and grab the Player of the Year award.

Athiu was only four when he and his family escaped the civil war in Sudan and then fled to Kenya where they lived for the next seven years. Then in 2004 Australia offered the Athiu family refuge.

“I came here when I was 11, with my six sisters, one brother and my mum and we came as refugees,” he said.

“It was very different to be honest. We came during the winter time, and coming from a really hot area to the Australian winter was a massive shock. We were out in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and ahh it was freezing.

“I don’t have much memory of the war that was happening back then but in Keyna it was good. We didn’t have a lot but we did have enough to get through life and survive.”

Growing up in Australia, Athiu found a local community in football and fustal and says his time in the suburbs of Melbourne were his formative years.

“When we came here there was a lot of people from the South Sudanese community so it wasn’t hard to settle into it,” he said.

“I didn’t speak much English but one of my cousins who came here before me used to play at a club in Keysborough, and they went and found a club for me which was South Springvale and that’s where I played all of my junior football.

“Obviously compared to now where football is more technical, with us as juniors we just had to learn playing together as a team.

"We didn’t learn a lot of the individual technical things the kids learn now. But we acquired a lot of good technical players and we just made ourselves better because everyone was that good, so we just kept on improving each other.”

After two years with South Springvale seniors and six months with Springvale White Eagles, Athiu made the move to Victorian NPL 2 side Box Hill and it was there his football education took off.

“Box Hill is probably where I learnt all my football knowledge because everything was just so technical and that was with every training session,” he said.

“The way everything was set up involved the ball and movement. It was the more thinking side of football. It wasn’t just running, it was about keeping the ball and working on your touch and all that stuff.”

It was frustrating because I wanted to play week in and week out

Box Hill is also where Heidelberg coach George Katsakis first spotted Athiu and then signed the raw but talented striker for the 2015 Victorian NPL season. 

However the tall striker had to bide his time.

“It was frustrating because I wanted to play week in and week out (but) Kaine Sheppard and Daniel Heffernan were the two main strikers at that time,” he said.

“Them performing so well that year meant I was going to get limited opportunities but I knew my time was going to come sooner or later so I had to be patient.”

While Athiu’s 2015 season saw him play mostly as a substitute, the following term was his breakthrough and 17 goals in 21 games saw him awarded the Player’s Player of the Year award.

Speaking to FourFourTwo at that time, Katsakis said his protege had developed tremendously from when he first saw him play.

“From the time I picked him from Box Hill to now he’s gone to a totally new level here at Heidelberg, he’s changed 360 degrees and he’s a totally different player,” he said.

 

Cut to 2017 and Athiu has gone to an even higher plane with his performances again earning him the 2017 Victorian NPL Player’s Player of the Year.

Athui's goal for Heidelberg in the 1-0 win against Perth Glory in the FFA Cup Round of 32 proved he could match it with the top tier of Australian football.

This year I came in with a target on my back

His performances in hitting the back of the net helped lead the Bergers to the Dockerty Cup, the NPL Victoria premiership, the FFA Cup quarter-finals and grand final runners up in the Victorian NPL. Not forgetting, Heidelberg United were also crowned Australian NPL Champions.

Looking back on his eventful 2017, the 24-year-old centre-forward says it’s been a satisfying and wonderful campaign.

“It’s been amazing, hasn’t it?” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed this year as it has been my best season in front of goals.

"Last year was my first real start with Heidelberg and not many teams knew about me and this year I came in with a target on my back.

“It’s been a bit more difficult having a few more defenders marking me. But it also helps me on the pitch as a striker even though it's been tough.

"My goal at the beginning of the season was to score more goals and to improve. I can say right now that I have achieved those goals so far. I’ve been really happy with my season.”

I said to him: "In year three I’ll make sure I get you overseas or possibly an A-League gig" - Katsakis

Ahead of the 2017-18 season it looked like no NPL players would be signed by an A-League team but Perth Glory has given Athiu his first break in the big-time - news that would please his mentor Katsakis.

Especially as the Heidelberg coach knew he was on to something special and that Athiu would go places, here he is talking to FourFourTwo in 2016.

“It was a three-year plan for us when I picked him up and I said to him, ‘in year three I’ll make sure I get you overseas or possibly an A-League gig'."

Katsakis added, “Technically he is amazing, he has everything. Seeing his ability to run at pace at people while using technical ability is something I haven’t seen for a long time from a player.

“You don’t get a lot of dribblers anymore who can get past people with the ball. In a fulltime environment, he’d be a totally different player.”

Athiu’s journey has taken him from a country ravaged by civil war, to seeing his ambition realised and he says his parents are the reason for the person he is today.

“Obviously I’ve grown up being grateful with everything,” he said. “Back then you were thinking about school and coming home and then you have the same routine almost every day.

“But our parents had a bigger future planned for us. I’ve seen my parents struggle bringing us into the country and then bringing us up. They gave us so much more opportunities by coming to Australia.

"Seeing their dedication, I just have to look at life and be grateful for where I am. It’s shaped me to be a humble person.”