By Nick Creely
STAR striker Brandon Barnes has officially re-committed to the Dandenong Thunder S.C, signing on for another season down at George Andrews Reserve.
Barnes, 23, knocked back several lucrative offers to stay loyal to the club after a stunning season with the Thunder this year.
There was on-going speculation that Barnes may head to the A-League eventually, notably with one of the big Melbourne clubs, and another season like this one will certainly ramp up those rumours once again.
Only just over a month ago, the star striker took out the PlayStation 4 NPL 2 Victoria Best and Fairest at the Gold Medal Night at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre with an impressive 40 votes.
The Englishman scored 41 goals in 25 matches last season, which included an eight goal effort against Nunawading City FC in May of this year.
The haul, which was talked about all over Victoria, is the most goals scored by an individual in the top two tiers of Victorian Football since the inception of the NPL.
Dandenong Thunder Media Director Nait Ragipi told the club’s website that Barnes is a loyal person and a true clubman.
“Loyalty is a word which we seldom hear when it comes to players and clubs in our modern game of football, so when we hear news of 2016’s most prolific striker rejecting multiple big money offers to put pen to paper for the same club, it comes as a shock to others.
“It shows that there are still people, players in the game, that are true club-men, part of our family, part of the furniture, and Brandon is one of them,” Ragipi said.
It seemed as if Barnes was never going to leave the Thunder, making his intentions clear back at the NPL Best and Fairest in early September when he talked about getting the club back to the division it was relegated from in 2015.
Barnes seems to have unfinished business at the Thunder and will continue to be a nightmare proposition for NPL2 goalkeepers next season.
