Vinny Faherty represented Ireland under-23s last year and has netted 12 goals in 10 games for Victorian club Whittlesea Zebras. Now the powerful striker has three days to convince Jets coach Branko Culina he can score enough goals in the A-League to warrant occupying the club’s final visa place. Faherty, 24, trained with the Jets for the first time yesterday and will play in the trial against Sutherland in Sydney tomorrow night. The Jets, in Tiago, Jeremy Brockie, Ali Abbas and Byun Sung-hwan, have filled four of the five available places for overseas players. The final spot had been earmarked for a marquee striker. Faherty would not meet the criteria for that role, and Culina has said he is not actively pursuing a marquee player. The Jets have little room to move under the $2.35million salary cap. That could change if Ben Kantarovski is moved into the Olyroos marquee position, which Football Federation Australia only confirmed last week would be in operation again this season. But Culina said Faherty would have to be something out of the box. ‘‘He has proven himself to be a goal scorer, so we are happy to have a look at him,’’ Culina said. Faherty has spent the past four months in Melbourne after a move from Dublin club St Patricks to Turkey fell through at the final stage. ‘‘We played in the Europa League last year and I played for the Irish under-23s,’’ Faherty said. ‘‘My goal was to play on the continent but after the Turkey deal fell through I was really disillusioned with football. It is really depressing at home. ‘‘The league is in turmoil. The standard is good but we are in a massive recession. ‘‘I just wanted to get away for a change. I have lived there all my life.’’ Faherty had an offer to go to Sheffield United and another with Hamilton in the Scottish Premier League but chose to come to Australia. ‘‘My friend was playing in the Victorian Premier League, so I thought I’d come down here for six months and see if I could make the A-League,’’ he said. Since arriving, Faherty has starred for Whittlesea in the Victorian first division, hitting the target 12 times in 10 games. It is a huge step up to the A-League, but the plucky Irishman, who said he had also had interest from Melbourne Heart, is willing to back himself. ‘‘I just have to prove to the manager I can score goals,’’ he said. ‘‘Everyone wants a goal scorer. ‘‘Luck comes into it but when you get an opportunity you have to take it.’’ Meanwhile, Culina was impressed with Brazilian Tiago yesterday and is looking forward to seeing the defender perform against Sutherland. Tiago arrived last week when Culina was overseas and the coach had previously only seen video footage of the 30-year-old centre half. ‘‘The test will be in a game situation, but at training he seems to tick all the boxes,’’ Culina said. ‘‘He is everything I expected – a good organiser, has a nice touch and plays out from the back.’’ Nikolai Topor-Stanley (hip flexor) did not train yesterday and is in doubt for the game against the Sharks.

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