Did the Canberra lad win?

Loose lips sink ships? Luke would have been good in the war! Because he's not saying if he won a contract with Melbourne Victory after competing in the reality TV product placement show.

This year it's dire. More products than footballers I reckon but it's probably an age thing.

Luke Pilkington on his Fox 8 Football Superstar experience.

Playing at that level is amazing, it's so fast and so technical, the intensity just lifts, Ernie is a great coach and I've learned a lot from him, so it was an amazing experience.

No surprise that a Canberra footballer makes it through to the final three, but did he win?

Check out Merryn Sherwood's Canberra Times story below...and no it doesn't tell you if he wins.

Surely Luke would be pushing for a Canberra Youth team if not an A-League contract if we had a team, him and a heap of others.

Star back from 'reality' to phone and friends
By Merryn Sherwood

It's not often Capital Football men's premier league players are asked for autographs after games, but Luke Pilkington hasn't had an average two months.

After trying out for a reality TV series and making the final 15 competing for an A-League contract with Melbourne Victory, Pilkington has spent the past five weeks in the Football Superstar house.

He has had hardly any contact with the outside world, no mobile phone, no internet and cameras following the him around most of the day, while playing and training under pressure to determine which player has the talent to make it in an elite football environment.

The TV series still has four weeks to run on Foxtel, so Pilkington isn't allowed to divulge where he finished up.
But given the praise handed to him by Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick so far on the FOX8 program and the fact he only returned to Canberra last week it's safe to say he has made the final three. It could mean his stay in Canberra is very short; if he did win, he will be back in Melbourne soon.

But making the final, out of hundreds of aspiring soccer players around the country is an impressive feat.

It's also meant if people in Canberra didn't know Pilkington from the local ACT premier league, the ACT representative teams and his short stint with the Central Coast Mariners during their pre-season here last year, they do now.

Yesterday he was a bit overwhelmed to find a group of kids approaching him after his game for ANU, all exclaiming they had seen him on TV.

But the 18-year-old was mainly just enjoying being back. While it turned out to be a mud bath at ANU North and Pilkington's ANU team lost 2-0 to O'Connor, he still had a huge smile on his face.

''It's good to be back, just to see mates and being playing alongside all the boys again, you have more freedom and a phone, so it's good,'' he said.

''I was in there for about five weeks, it was just frustrating because you couldn't get out; there was no outside world.''

Despite that Pilkington said the experience had overall been a positive one in terms of furthering his soccer career.

As well as stints with the Mariners last year, Pilkington has also trialled with A-League newcomers Gold Coast this year but wasn't offered a contract with either.

But in the football superstar house, he's gained a more intensive apprenticeship.

''Playing at that level is amazing, it's so fast and so technical, the intensity just lifts,'' he said. ''Ernie is a great coach and I've learned a lot from him, so it was an amazing experience.'' Football Superstar is on FOX8 every Wednesday at 7.30pm.