Burns' mum and dad are being flown in from tiny Blayney by their famous son for Sunday's pre-season Grand Final against Glory.

But winning the trophy won’t match the feeling the Adelaide striker had when he debuted for Socceroos recently.

“I was pretty shocked," Burns told au.fourfourtwo.com, still seemingly in awe of his career-defining moment.

"I looked over at the bench and I thought all the subs had already been used up, but then I got my chance.

"It was the happiest time of my life to come on for Viduka and my first pass was to Harry Kewell...” .

That match was of course in Singapore as a lead in to the Asian Cup in July. And while the Socceroos have copped a wave of criticism since, Burns is having none of it.

“They are all top blokes, there is no bad link in team,” he said.

As links go, Burns will be key as the Olyroos endure an arduous campaign across Asia for final qualifiers to Beijing. It will cross over much of the opening rounds of the A-League.

While he admits “it'll be tough missing the Victory match in round two”, Beijing still burns for Nathan.

“When you look at the draw, playing teams like North Korea and Iraq, we really have to win our home games and hope we don't lose away," he said.

"Places like North Korea, where you can't use your mobile phone, it's going to be very difficult.”

Despite the busy schedule, Burns spent some time back in Blayney, in country NSW (near Orange), recently.

“After the Asian Cup I had ten days at home. I went from Singapore's heat and humidity and it was freezing in Blayney,” he laughed.

The striker is held up as a role model back home, although Burns is no big head when he hears the tag of “the next big thing” being bandied about so often.

“You hear it a lot,” he said “I don't get a big head about it. I don't think too much about it.

“It's such a small community. I'm just Nathan up there. I guess I've showed them there is a pathway. It kind of gives people hope."

This week, over 150 school kids met Burns when he gave away a signed Socceroo shirt. It was a nice, yet strange feeling for the teen.

“Only a year a half ago, I was in school myself. So it's great feeling when little fellas look up to you,” he said.

And with his mum's birthday this weekend, he'll be hoping to give his Mrs Burns a winning present with his remodelled United side, which he says has upped the “intensity and tempo” since last year's model was carted off.

So all in all, Nathan Burns is one happy man. Although there may be one thing he has his eye on, at least in the short-term.

“Kristian Sarkies, my old roommate, was in the news because he had dinner with Alicia Molik last week. They were friends from Melbourne,” Burns said, before adding: “She's a great girl, I wouldn't mind going out with her!”