As Lawrence Thomas answered questions beneath Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium, deflecting praise as he had goal-bound shots, he had the air of a man on his way to a Halloween party.
The Melbourne Victory goalkeeper and Joe Marston medallist had just shut out Newcastle in their home A-League grand final. Now he stood before the assembled media, swollen and swathed, and was asked how he’d done it. But firstly, after being battered and wrapped incrementally as a brutal game wore on, was he OK?
“It’s a bit throbby but I’m going to try to get this bandage off, sort it out so I can go and have a little dance,” the 25-year-old said.
He performed a pirouette and flashed a grin. Thomas’s second straight man-of-the-match performance had left him resembling Hannibal Lecter, or was it The Mummy? Whichever, the Victory shot stopper was a villain from central casting in the Jets’ 90-minute horror flick.
There was the double save, when the hosts were surging in the first half. Thomas threw himself to his left to reach a stinging shot along the carpet from Riley McGree, then filled as much of the night air as he could to smother Jason Hoffman’s follow-up.
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Dimitri Petratos and John Koutroumbis had earlier combined to feed Roy O’Donovan a flick from the six-yard box, and Thomas denied him. The Irishman later appeared keen to deny Thomas his head. Despite some viewers perhaps thinking they had flicked over to the UFC, the keeper was quick to forgive the red-carded Jets forward.
He gave credit to O’Donovan for apologising in person after full-time, and revealed the pair had gone house hunting together as younger men in England when both were signed to Coventry.
“Yeah I saw him coming, I was just watching the ball. I didn’t expect to have it happen,” Thomas said. “But um, forget that, it’s job done. It’s try to stay in the game and take each moment as it is. I just tried to do what I do best, get myself in the way.”
Thomas has played his way from second choice keeper at the Victory to the subject of overseas transfer rumours, including the latest, that his seven years in Melbourne will end with him signing for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.
If he does become Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas will leave a club that knows it owes a title to him.
When Victory talisman Besart Berisha emerged from Victory’s dressing room on Saturday night, the A-League trophy slung over his shoulder, he shook his head at the bravery of his keeper.
He also seemed amused by all the bandages. “I couldn’t see his face anymore. He got every 10 minutes a different bandage,” Berisha said.
“But look he was, not just today, he was all the year, unbelievable good. He deserves to be a champion.”
