Ong Arises
Djoko Tambusai's Number Six at the Farmer Bunnies would not long remain unclaimed, as academy superstar
Ong Li Jing was given it, barely a week after the departure of the Indonesian national. Longtime Rabbits scout Ooi Long Ming would swear that Ong was perhaps the youth with the highest potential that he had recruited for the club, no faint praise given the length of Ooi's tenure.
What is true is that comparisons to
Tham Leng Teck and
Kwek Yun Jie at the same age do not seem overly far-fetched, with Ong not only as solid a defender as they had been, but also possessed of the ability to carry the ball up either wide or down the middle - and perhaps most importantly of all, the sense to know when to attempt such.
Ooi vouched for his protege to go very, very far. "He's one of the extremely few kids I have come across, that honestly don't seem to have a cap on what they might achieve." he said. "All the tools are there, physical, mental, down to his character. I will be looking forward to observing his career."
Even better for
Dalibor Kostadinović, Ong, Amirul and Guan's emergences from the Rabbits hardly represent the end of the production line, with Lau Keng Kwang, Lim Guang Qiang, Joey Kwan, Jairam Alurkar, Toh Eng Guang, Lee Yau Tong, Louis Lee, Arun Ponnusamy and Leong Cheng Kim all jostling for a shot at the big time. "It's quite an incredible recruitment batch, to say the least." the head coach grinned. "There can be no complaints on that front at least!"
