Straight up… what do you think of Queensland Roar’s attackers?
Well, I’ve played with Ante [Milicic] before and I certainly rate him as one of the best strikers in the league, and the other boys can obviously cause a lot of problems. Reinaldo and Simon Lynch… they certainly got off to a good start. They’ve slowed down a little bit but I rate them highly.

We saw in the World Cup that a lot of goalkeepers said they studied strikers, and the way they took penalties. Do you do the same?
I wouldn’t say I study them but I certainly take notice when I see them on TV. A good penalty taker can hit them in both directions so you can’t predict that it’s going to go the same way all the time. It’s certainly something on the day that comes down to a gut feeling more than anything and you just go with it.

You’re rated very highly by all the goalkeepers in the Hyundai A-League. How do you rate Queensland’s man, Liam Reddy?
I rate Tom [Willis] and Liam. The country is producing a fair few good young ’keepers at the moment and they’re certainly two of them. I can see that they’re in an awkward position of having to play a certain amount of games and then be on the bench for a certain amount. That’s not a situation that I’ve ever really been in. I haven’t talked to them personally but they seem to be handling the pressure okay once they’re on the field and playing. I think they’re excellent in all areas.

What’s the main ingredient of a good ’keeper?
It’s a combination of a lot of things. Initially you’ve got to have natural ability and athleticism and then you’ve got to have the right temperament. You’ve got to be brave, and a good leader, a good talker and experience definitely helps. It’s shown in the past that as you get older, you just get better and better. Once you gain a certain level of experience you just get a lot more consistent.



Did you watch a lot of ’keepers on TV growing up?
Not really. I grew up in Bundaberg, a country town, so I was a bit isolated from all the leagues around the world. Even the Australian league… I never got to see much of it. But at the end of the day, I give credit to anyone that wants to be a ’keeper, it’s a tough position and you’ve got to be a brave person to take it on. You cop a lot of flak if you do wrong but it pays off when you do a good job. Honestly around the league at the moment… there are a lot of good ’keepers. But the one in form, I think, is Danny Vukovic from the Central Coast. I also rate our second ’keeper Justin Pasfield. I think he’s got a huge future ahead of him. He’s come a long way in the past year working under Jim Fraser.

Did he seriously train as an outfield player before your game against Newcastle?
No! If he was going to get thrown on it was just to make up numbers. It was that simple! I don’t think you can teach him within a week how to be a footballer out on the field.

Reproduced from TheFull90 – the official matchday magazine of the Hyundai A-League www.a-league.com.au Get it at the game!