Shepparton football wiz Nick Mori has enjoyed a breakout season in the big smoke, taking out the National Premier League under-23 golden boot award for 2025.
Mori, 21, was a force up forward for St Albans Saints, bagging 20 goals to beat out the next best effort by Dandenong Thunder’s Matthew Giofkou (15 goals).
He scored in 13 of his 23 games, bagging hat-tricks against Melbourne Knights and Hume City while also netting braces against South Melbourne and Altona Magic.
Mori was St Albans’ chief scorer by the length of the Flemington straight, scoring five times the amount of the next most prolific Saint.
It marks sterling back-to-back campaigns for Mori in the competition, who was rapt to receive the award.
“It was a good year; we didn’t finish as high as we wanted to on the table, but it was a great achievement to get the golden boot,” Mori said.
The winger-striker joined St Albans ahead of the 2024 campaign, going on to notch 12 goals from 18 games in the under-23s that season.
One year prior, Mori took out every individual award under the sun in the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League, winning the Division One Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Top Goal Scorer gongs after a stunning run with Shepparton South.
Remarkably, though, Mori is yet to properly break into St Albans’ senior fold.
The Saints narrowly avoided relegation from Victoria’s top flight in 2025, finishing 11th with no player hitting double digits as Mori played just four games in the NPL men’s.
Should Mori stick around at St Albans next season, it would be remiss of the club not to reward the tricky attacker with a senior gig after such an emphatic year in front of goal.
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