Maclaren, 26, grew up in Sunbury in Melbourne’s north-west - a suburb better known for rock music festivals, wineries, produce, and being the ancestral home of The Ashes, than for breeding international-class football players.

The prospect of being close to family and friends again weighed heavily as a factor for Maclaren to ink a long-term deal with Melbourne City in the offseason as he sought to come back to the A-League after highs and lows overseas in Germany and Scotland.

And the link between Maclaren’s peace of mind and his red-hot footballing form is clear for all to see.

“Having been on the road for the last 10 years, I haven’t been able to visit family as I’ve had to make sacrifices around that. But it’s all been worth it,” Maclaren said ahead of their Friday night match against Perth Glory at AAMI Park.

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“I’ve come home as a bigger man and a more mature person and player, and having a close support network around me now has me in a better place where you’re just starting to hit your prime as an athlete,” he added.

Twelve years have passed between when Maclaren played in the youth team setup at the Green Gully Soccer Club in Keilor Downs, a 20-to-30-minute drive from his family’s home.

Enhancing his skills at Green Gully, highly regarded as one of the finest youth football academies in Victoria and perhaps in the whole of Australia, exists as one of Maclaren’s most vivid childhood memories.

“When I was a young player growing up, playing for Green Gully was such a privilege because as a Sunbury boy, it was a bit for my dad to drive, but we also had other players who came further out – some came from Geelong, others came from Shepparton, and so forth. As a result, we had the best team in Victoria in the U13s and U14s for those three years,” Maclaren said.

And at Melbourne City, in the club’s posh and modern training academy setup in Bundoora in Melbourne’s north, Maclaren notes that it isn’t only head and shoulders above what he had at his disposal playing in previous A-League tours of duty for Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar, but also in Europe for German Bundesliga 2 club SV Darmstadt 96 and the Scottish Premier League’s Hibernian.

Specifically, Maclaren pays great tribute to the quality of recovery facilities and the medical staff at Melbourne City that only saw him miss just a couple of league fixtures from a recent hamstring injury that could have easily seen him sidelined for several more matches.

“They look after me very well and make sure that things on and off the pitch when I go home that I am doing all the right things, including all the little things like taking my dog for a walk and making sure that my legs are always moving and always keeping myself active,” he said.

And yes, the dog. That dog, named Simba, is an 18-month-old German Shepherd that he picked up while playing for Hibernian, and Maclaren loves having Simba home after the routine six-month quarantine interval after he returned to Australia as yet another calming influence that blends into his game.

Moreover, Maclaren cites the selfless dedication of his girlfriend Iva – who stayed behind in Scotland to administer Simba’s required injections and veterinary visits – in looking after Simba overseas as a mark of great respect in a human being and an animal, and his relationships with both of them.

“She had to sit [in Edinburgh] by herself, and she had a great support network around here, apart from my aunt and uncle, and do everything with this dog, which is great,” he said.

As for Simba – who he admits “barks with an accent and has his own passport” – Maclaren adds: “He’s adjusting well, too. He’s starting to swim, which is what he’s going to have to do in Australia because it can be a bit hot.”

Maclaren, Iva, and Simba all now reside in Coburg, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, a community that Maclaren ranks favorably with his upbringing in Sunbury for domestic experiences and melting-pot qualities alike.

“I grew up in Sunbury, which was relatively quiet then, but has grown massively in the way of population and infrastructure in recent years,” he says. “And now I feel lucky that I am in a position that I can go back and visit Sunbury whenever I want.

“I live in Coburg now. It’s nice to be closer to training and closer to home, close to the stadium and close to the restaurants, shops and cafes, and being able to walk my dog without having to be bitten by a snake or to chase kangaroos.

“Both of my parents are naturalised Australians – my mother is from Malta and my father was born in Scotland. The older I’m getting, you see regions such as Keilor Downs and Sunbury and Coburg having a lot of multicultural communities forming,” he adds.

“That’s what’s great about Melbourne – you have the Turkish side, and you have the Middle Eastern, and the Greeks, the Italians, and the Maltese. Sure, they do have their own pockets, but they do mix, and it’s so great to see that, even if Scotland and Malta are [geographically] nowhere close to each other.”

Having the familiar combinations of career, culture, and home comforts that being in Melbourne has helped Maclaren settle in quite nicely at Melbourne City and AAMI Park, as well as at home in Coburg, training in Bundoora, or being able to see family and friends in Sunbury.

“This is my homecoming,” he says.

“When I was playing in Brisbane and Perth, and used to come to Melbourne [to play against Victory or City], I was always bombarded with messages asking me for tickets. Now I am able to call Melbourne my home, again, and be able to give back to a city that made me, in a way. And that makes me proud to be a Melbourne boy.

“I do love being here."

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