Zucco was yesterday officially released by last year’s Illawarra Premier League grand finalists to sign for Team Wellington, the Phoenix’s feeder club who play in the New Zealand National League.

The deal comes after a month-long trial with Ricky Herbert’s Phoenix.

‘‘From all reports he’s doing very well,’’ Maguire said. ‘‘They don’t hand month-long trials to just anybody. Obviously the coaching staff have taken a liking to him over there and think he can do the business and they’re better judges than me, I guess.’’

Having bagged a league-leading 21 goals in the 2011 IPL season despite missing seven matches through suspension, Zucco’s departure will be greeted with relief by a number of Tarrawanna’s rivals.

The Blueys’ talisman had inked a new one-year deal with Tarrawanna after the 4-2 grand final loss to Dandaloo.

‘‘The club always said they wouldn’t stand in Rick’s way if he got the chance to go to a higher level,’’ Maguire said.

‘‘We’ve started pre-season and it came fairly late in our process of what sort of players we were looking for, but we’ve got a few things in mind so we’ll see how it goes.’’

The Phoenix will monitor Zucco under match conditions before deciding on whether to offer him an A-League contract.