Words: Michael Flynn
Image: Grant Sproule

Palm Beach SC coach Grae Piddick believes Jarrod Kyle is the man to replace Chris Lucas at the top of the Sharks formation in 2015.

The Gold Coast based club confirmed earlier this week that Kyle had re-signed for the 2015 PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland season.

The 21-year-old striker made 13 appearances for Brisbane City in 2014 before returning to Palm Beach mid-season and adding a further 12 appearances.

Kyle scored a combined 12 goals for both clubs in PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland competition playing predominantly as an impact player off the bench.

He also scored the winning goal for Sharks in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues Finals Series Elimination Final win over Weston Workers in September.

Piddick said the departure of league MVP Lucas offered Kyle the opportunity to be a regular starter for the defending Champions in 2015.

“We’ve re-signed Jarrod Kyle and he’s a person that will obviously benefit from Chris’ absence,” Piddick said.

“He scored the majority of his goals last year coming off the bench, so I think he has the capacity to score over 20 goals in a season,” he added confidently.

A former Sheffield Wednesday Academy Player of the Year, Kyle initially joined Sharks midway through the 2013 PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland season after a brief stint under Frank Farina at Hyundai A-League club Sydney FC.

He agreed that he would benefit from a full season at Sharks this year and believes he can live up to the high expectations of his coach.

“When you’re playing a full 70 to 90 minutes in matches there are always more opportunities to score goals,” Kyle explained.

“It will be helpful being at the one club and not chopping and changing clubs,” he added.

Kyle was cup-tied for Sharks’ Quarter Final run in this year’s Westfield FFA Cup after playing in Brisbane City’s qualifying defeat at the hands of community club Logan Lightning.

He said one of his aims for 2015 was to get a taste of the competition as well as mounting another challenge for the PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland title.

“I’ll be taking the cup just as serious as the league. I want to get to where the boys got to last season because it was a great achievement by the club.”

“We pretty much have the same squad as last season, so we’re looking quite strong again and we’re going to go for it again and see what happens.”

“I’m pretty confident that if the boys work as we did last year then we can get the job done,” he concluded.