Greg Hurst's debut Rising performance gives hope

Greg Hurst came into the 2022 season with something to prove. Stepping into a side featuring a striker with USL Championship-level experience, he knew he had his work cut out.

Despite this, Phoenix Rising coach Rick Schantz gave Hurst the nod against Monterey Bay.

“It was good for me to know that Rick felt confident enough to start me,” Hurst said. “It means a lot to me, and it’s my job to go out and give back to him and prove to him that I can start.”

Hurst came into the match off the back of an impressive preseason showing. The Scot recoreded two goals and two assists in his final two outings.

The center-forward showed no signs of slowing down. He scored once and created two chances, one of which led to an assist.

“To get [a goal] myself, it takes a lot of pressure off me and it’s something that every striker aims to do,” Hurst said. “To get that done was just a great feeling.”

According to his teammates, Hurst’s impact goes beyond that measured on the stat sheet.

“I think his spacing and his awareness is great, when to drop and create space for the guys running behind,” midfielder Aodhan Quinn said. “Also, just occupying the two center-backs. You can tell he’s such an intelligent player, and then he also has a great touch, so it helps us a lot.”

That “great touch” served Rising well in the opening match. Against Monterey Bay, Hurst recorded a 75% passing completion in the opposition half. Only two other center-forwards since the club rebranded from Arizona United — Omar Bravo in 2017 and Ben Spencer in 2019 — have succeeded in consistently posting over 70%.

“What you see about Greg is he’s super intelligent,” Schantz said. “He reads the game so well. His movement’s unbelievable. He’s grown up in a good system. He’s been educated in football extremely well and his feet are unbelievable. The guys love passing the ball to him because they know he won’t lose it and it really helps us.”

His passing performance in the sides speaks to the chemistry he’s built with teammates since moving to Phoenix.

“I had a little bit of time with them in preseason games, but I think they’re at such a high level, you see them in training every day and it’s easy to kind of see their ideas and then how you can fit into that,” Hurst said.

Overall, Hurst’s play provides Phoenix with options that are different to those seen last year.

“Now you have Marcus [Epps] and Santi [Moar] on the wings with a guy like Greg who can receive the ball,” Schantz said. “That makes us really dangerous.

“We’ve changed. We’re not just one style or easy to figure out. There’s a lot of variety in our team.”

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