When Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick first set eyes on striker Hamish Watson he told him if he lost 10kg he might have a chance of earning a professional contract.
Watson, 20, took the advice to heart, lost 11kg and today (weds), on the last day of the transfer window,all the hard work paid off as he signed a contract for the rest of the A-League season.
To say it was a shock to the young striker was an understatement.
When he got the news by telephone from Phoenix Football operations manager Shaun Gill, Watson said he burst into tears.
"My dad Stu had just got home and when I got off the phone we were both jumping up and down round the kitchen,'' Watson said. "It came right out of the blue and I didn't even know it was the last day of the window.
"I can't thank Ernie enough. It is all down to him that I am now as fit as I am. When he told me to lose 10kg I suggested five. He said okay - then lose another five.
"Thinking back, what was I doing playing football at 101kg? Now I'm down to 90kg I feel so much better and am more mobile, fitter and stronger.''
Watson joined Lower Hutt City as a four-year-old and was with the club until he joined the Phoenix's school of excellence and played for Team Wellington.
Merrick said the surprise move in the last hours of the transfer window was to secure cover for the strikers.
"We have wide players in Kenny Cunningham, Roy Krishna and Tyler Boyd, but needed cover for our central high strikers Jeremy Brockie and Stein Huysegems,'' he said.
"We had a scare with Stein's calf last week and if one of the two strikers got injured we would have been a bit bare.''
The eighth-placed Phoenix meet Newcastle across the Tasman on Sunday.
