Well you must have been doing something right as you got a spot in the Socceroos Asian Cup squad…
That was a fantastic experience that I wasn’t expecting at all. It came as a real surprise to me. It capped off a fantastic year for me. In the Asian Cup I learned a lot. Maybe we didn’t do as well as a team but I definitely learned a lot as a player. Unfortunately I didn’t get to play but I was able to take in so many little things by watching and working with all the players in the squad that I have looked up to over the years.

You’re a part of the new wave of players coming through the ranks. How do you see them going and what do you feel will be your role?
I think there are some good players emerging. When you look at Scott McDonald, Josh Kennedy, Paddy Kisnorbo, Brett Holman… we’ve got some guys playing in the best leagues in Europe coming through. I think the batch that is coming through is fantastic. I played alongside these guys at U17s and Olympic qualifiers and they’re accomplished players. You’ve also got a lot of younger players who can still mature and get overseas and make a name for themselves. As for me, I just want to get on the pitch. There’s talk about me being Vince Grella’s replacement but I believe that I can play alongside him, not just as his replacement when he’s not there. For me I just want to be in the starting XI wherever that may be and if that’s alongside Vinnie then fantastic.

And you’re looking forward to coming back home for some more World Cup qualifiers after getting a bit of a run out against Qatar?
Definitely. Some players look at all the travel and midweek games as a negative but I’m all positive about coming back and playing for my country as I know that it will be a chance for me to show what I can do and prove myself. I’m definitely looking forward to it but I’m not holding my breath because I know that World Cup qualifying games are really important and Pim will want his best team out there. For me to play against Qatar was great. I only played for half an hour, but I did what I had to do.

How is Grosseto with all the travelling you have to do?
They’re really happy for me individually but for the team they’re not so happy. For example, for the Qatar game against Melbourne, I played for them on Saturday, left on Sunday, trained Tuesday with the Socceroos, played 30 minutes against Qatar on Wednesday night, got back to Italy Friday and then played a full 90 minutes for Grosseto on Saturday. So it was pretty tough, especially as we had a midweek game on the following Tuesday as well. I didn’t play too badly though because one thing I think we are very good with in Australia is the physiotherapy and how we look after players. So I felt OK when it was time to play in Italy again. And I think it was really good for Grosseto to see that I can make the trip and still play well for them when I get back. They’re a bit more open to letting me go now they’ve seen it doesn’t harm me too much.

And what’s in the future for you?
I feel I’m growing. My dreams and my goals are to make it into Serie A and make the next step – there’s been a lot of talk about it but nothing for certain, so I’m just going to keep working hard and keep learning, even if it does mean I play another season in Serie B.