Marumo Gallants mentor Dan ‘Dance’ Malesela says Ethan Brooks’ Bafana Bafana call-up may have come up too early in his career after the rising star was once again omitted from the South African national team.
The 21-year-old has represented South at the U20 and U23 levels before making his senior debut against Uganda in June 2021 during the COSAFA Cup tournament in Gqeberha.
THE RISE OF ETHAN BROOKS
Brooks joined TS Galaxy towards the end of the 2019/20 campaign after the Bafana international was scouted by the Rockets when he was still playing for amateur club Panorama, and coach Malesela was still at the helm of Galaxy at the time.
He went on to make his debut for the Mpumalanga-based outfit in South Africa’s second-tier league during their 2-all draw against the now-defunct Cape Town Umoya.
In the 2020/21 season, Galaxy bought the Premier Soccer League [PSL] status of Highlands Park, which saw Brooks making his PSL debut in their 2-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns. He played 12 games across all competitions in that season.
The central midfielder left Galaxy for AmaZulu in July 2022, where he has played a total number of 14 games thus far.
The 57-year-old coach reckons that Brooks needed more game time to be able to get experience, as the call-up might have been “maybe too early” for him.
MALESELA’S VIEWS ON BROOKS…
In an interview with FARPost, when Malesela was asked about the continued omission of Brooks from the national team, he said: “I’m not sure, and the coaches will pardon me. I think the Bafana call-up for him was rushed because I still maintain that he needed to have game time to get a bit of experience to be able to think better than he is doing now and also to be able to understand the game.”
“Maybe it was right to take him, but don’t think he had spent enough time. You can have the talent, especially coming from a raw amateur football into the big league [PSL].
“But players are very smart and tricky on the field, and all these things, there is no time for you to be taught those things. You learn them while you are playing the game.”
Malesela further stated that Brooks should have stayed at Galaxy because the pressure was not too much compared to AmaZulu, where he is right now.
AMAZULU MOVE
“I also think Ethan should have stayed at Galaxy for a while because there is much more responsibility at AmaZulu, as they are a very ambitious team, and the standards they set for me are too high that players may not have time to settle,” he added.
“However, I stand to be corrected. But I think it could be better to reduce some of the responsibility on him and let him be a little bit free.
“When we played AmaZulu, I saw he was given the responsibility of defending, man-marking and going across, which is just too much for a player like him. But at the end of the day, I’m not the coach at AmaZulu.
“But for me, I don’t want us to lose such talent. It needs to be well taken care of.”
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