The former Northampton defender has been in imperious form for Sutherland Sharks this season, returning to Australia after a relatively successful spell in England was disrupted by injury.

Despite admitting to a lack of match fitness as a result of his stint on the semi-professional stage of state football, Bojic maintains that he was comfortable during his Pre-Season Cup debut against Sydney FC and is upbeat about his move to the Central Coast.

“I’m ecstatic about it. The whole point of my move back to Australia was to get an A-League gig and to be part of the Mariners is very exciting,” Bojic said.

“I felt quite comfortable against Sydney. It was helpful to have played with the Mariners in a couple of games prior to the Sydney match, so I was used to the team.

“But being around good players in the Mariners side makes you feel a little bit more at ease and I believed in myself to be able to step up to that level.”

As he approaches his debut season in the top-flight of Australian football, Bojic says his primary focus is to nail down a spot in the starting XI of Lawrie McKinna’s side.

“It is hard to say what role I’ll be playing during the season," he said.

"The whole point of coming to the Mariners was to cement a starting spot, so I’ve got to try and get it as either a center-back or in the back-line in some form – that’s my main objective.”

The former Joey and Sydney Olympic player is also looking toward the future, hoping to impress his employers and earn himself an extension on his one-year deal.

“I expect to get an extension with the club if I do well through the season,” Bojic says.

“It should come to the point where I sit down with the club and have another chat but I’ve got to do well to make the manager think about extending my contract.”

Despite spending months away from professional football, Bojic remains confident that his experiences in the lower leagues of English football will help him adjust to the professional set-up of the A-League.

“I don’t think there will be any particular difficulty in having to step up to the professional level because before the Sharks I was in England for three years at Northampton and it was a pretty professional set-up which was similar to the A-League.

“I guess going back to full-time, my fitness will start to increase because I’ve been away from it for a few months.

“In terms of playing on the field in front of big crowds, I’m familiar with it but it is different over here, so I can’t predict how well I’m going to go.”

The Mariners’ new signing did concede that the semi-professional nature of the Telechoice Premier League was an obstacle to the potential development of the careers of state league footballers.

He added: “If football is your passion and dream, then professionalism is the way to go; it is the only way for you to go forward and progress in your career.

“At the end of the day, income is a huge factor because there are a lot of players in the state league who are capable of playing in the A-League but because of income - their mortgages and families - they can’t afford to, so they take a step back.

“And for younger guys, it is very important for them to get that professionalism and the help of coaches around them.”

Despite a highly successful season with the Sharks which saw them take out the Premiership, Bojic says his own personal success – and that of his team – was totally unexpected.

“Coming to the Sutherland Sharks was probably more of a fitness thing for me after coming back from England and to just have a good run-out with the team, without realising how good we were going to go – the Sutherland Sharks have never done so well in their history,” said the centre-back.

“To have had such a successful season is an added bonus and I guess in order for the team to have had a good season, I’ve also had to play well.”

Despite being hailed as one of the best players in the league this season, Bojic maintains that the success of the Shire club has been down to a team effort, which extends to Brian Brown and the Sharks coaching staff.

“There are a few of people who have been really influential during my time at Sutherland. The first is the ‘keeper, Phil Zabacks who is an old NSL veteran and Huxley and ‘little Stavroulakis’ in midfield and young Gan has done quite well as well.

“Brad Boardman has also been up there with the top goal-scorers. It has been a real team effort at Sutherland, I wouldn’t say that there’s one particular player who outshines everyone and all of the players deserve credit.

He added: “Brian Brown and the coaching staff have been outstanding.

“At the beginning of the season they recruited quite well, to get a team who worked together and not as individuals when it is quite hard these days to get the right formula.

"But with the right training methods and the right squad they’ve done that and we’ve all enjoyed our time under them and it has been successful so far.”

Despite it being early in his A-League career, the defender would not rule out the surreal possibility of being considered for Socceroos selection just months after having had to juggle both work and football commitments during his time with Sutherland.

Bojic maintains though, that he is simply grateful to be part of a professional outfit.

“In the last year or two a lot of A-League players have been called up to the Socceroos squad," he said.

"But even if that doesn’t come, at least I’ll be playing week-in, week-out with the Mariners.”