Louis D’Arrigo revealed he achieved one of his personal objectives for the season after being named the Hyundai A-League Rising Star during Adelaide United’s digital awards day.
D’Arrigo excelled in central midfield after experiencing his first full season, playing in 21 matches.
The 18-year-old said he was thrilled to realise his goal, but was quick to insist that his focus was now on further improving.
“I’m very happy and something that I had my eye on from the very start of the season,” D’Arrigo said.
“It was one of the goals I had before the season even started so very happy to win it.
“… This is just the start.
“I’m hoping for a lot more game time, a lot more better games as well.”
D’Arrigo attributes his impressive campaign to just being as consistent as possible in training and during games.
“It was a special season for me,” he said.
“I think the secret was being consistent, I had to be consistent to play most of the games.
“So just being consistent throughout the week at training and of course in the game on the weekend.”
From a team perspective, the midfielder believed while their form fluctuated, they restored some of the pragmatism and defensive stability that had eluded them prior to the COVID-19 enforced break under Carl Veart.
“There was a lot of ups and downs you could say,” he said.
“I think it did help with this coronavirus break because it gave us some time to have a look at ourselves and get a coach that brought in some new systems in and I think that gave us a lot of new goals for the second half of the season.”
D’Arrigo also suggested the mix of youth and experience in the squad means they are set up to be successful moving forward.
“There’s a lot of experience but there’s a lot of young boys coming in,” he said.
“And that’s what makes our team so good, there’s a lot of balance and that’s what makes our team so special.”
