Brisbane Roar can confirm the departure of Thomas Waddingham, who joins English Championship side Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee.
The 19-year-old scored 11 goals in 34 A-League appearances for the Roar, departs as the league’s second highest scoring teenager of all time behind Nestory Irankunda.
The Queensland forward, who played his junior football for Edge Hill United in Cairns, was another product of Roar’s NPL program before making his first team debut against Newcastle Jets in the Australia Cup Round of 32 in August 2023.
Waddingham burst onto the scene during Roar’s run to the 2023 Australia Cup Final, where he scored 4 goals, including 1 goal in the grand final against Sydney FC.
The talented Queenslander, who finished as Roar’s top scorer last season and was crowned Young Player of the Year has represented Australia at U23 & U20 level following his breakout campaign in orange.
Waddingham said playing for Roar had been a dream come true and thanked all who were part of his journey at the club.
“When I was younger the only dream I had was to play for this club, so it’s tough to leave, but to go even further than that is pretty surreal,” Waddingham said.
“It went pretty quickly to be honest, going from NPL when I got here in the 18s, then A-League straight away, starting pretty quickly.
“I loved every bit of it and I learned so much from the coaches that I’ve had and all the players that I’ve worked with, it’s a good place to be.
“To the fans, it’s meant a lot to me because I was one of them back in the day and to help the club out both on the field and now off the field is something that I treasure.”
Everyone at Brisbane Roar thanks Thomas for his significant contribution in orange and wishes him every success in his new chapter.
