Dylan Peraić-Cullen is an 18-year-old goalkeeper who plays for Central Coast Mariners in the Australian A-League. Peraić-Cullen has established himself as Central Coast’s first-choice keeper this season. He previously played for Central Coast’s reserve team in the New South Wales state league. Peraíc-Cullen has been called up to Australia at the U-19 and U-20 levels but has yet to take the pitch.
The first thing you notice about Peraić-Cullen is that he is huge. He’s 6’4 (196cm), which naturally gives him a leg up in the world of goalkeeper prospects. His size obviously helps him considerably with shot-stopping. That said, I wouldn’t call Peraić-Cullen an elite shot-stopper at this stage. His size makes him an effective shot blocker but his foot movement is a little slow. That’s not to say his footwork is terrible, it just hasn’t reached an elite level yet. I would expect his footwork, and therefore his shot-stopping, to improve as he gains more experience at the professional level (he has played 5 professional games at the time of writing). Peraić-Cullen is good at holding on to the ball when it’s appropriate to do so. He is extremely strong at coming off his line to claim crosses, especially for such a young keeper, and is usually able to hold onto the ball when he does so. His height is a major asset when dealing with aerial balls.
Peraić-Cullen is quite good with the ball at his feet. He is usually able to keep the ball under pressure and I’ve even seen him split the first line of pressure on a couple of occasions. As with crosses, he’s very aggressive off his line to snatch up loose balls played over the top. He can also get quite a bit of distance when distributing the ball long.
Peraić-Cullen is very early in his professional career but it seems obvious he’s destined for bigger things. He will need to improve his footwork a little bit but his size, aggression, and strong (for a goalkeeper) technical skills give him the potential to play in a top-5 league.
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