'Proud' Wenzel-Halls ready to fill Taggart's shoes

Adam Taggart’s departure from Brisbane Roar may have dealt the club a blow but youngster Dylan Wenzel-Halls says it’s a fantastic opportunity to bed down a regular spot.

The 21-year-old scored the winner against Sydney FC last week and capped it off with a contract extension announced earlier this week.

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While acknowledging there wasn’t a huge burden on the forward line for the rest of the season, Wenzel-Halls admitted it was an opportunity to become the Roar’s new man up front.

“I’m proud to have re-signed with the Roar and to score the goal of the weekend, it meant a lot to the players and the club so it was good to score in front of the home fans at Suncorp,” he said.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for us young boys to step up and Tags has our full support, we wish him the best for his endeavours in Korea.

“I don’t think there’s any pressure on any of us to step up, we’ve got some experienced players around us and each game we just have to go out there and give it our all.”

The Ipswich native has had to achieve his Hyundai A-League dream the hard way, going through the Roar’s youth system before joining NPL side Western Pride, where he scored 40 goals in 29 appearances.

While proud to have signed a professional contract, Wenzel-Halls insisted the challenge was now staying at this level.

“I’ve had to be patient obviously so now I’m happy to be playing regularly,” he said.

“Every player wants to play and coming from the NPL I knew I had to be patient, I wasn’t going to walk into any team, I knew I had to earn my spot, learn and improve and adapt to the A-League.

 “The biggest thing for me is proving to myself that I can score goals in the A-League so that gives me a lot of confidence and it feels good to be there but that’s where I need to stay now.”

The Roar travel to Perth to take on the high-flying Perth Glory with kick-off at 10:00pm (AEDT).