But Poljack said: “It was never anyone from the club.

“They said you’re not going to train with the first team anymore. You’ll train with the second team and you’ll see what type of players you’ll be faced with.

"These are the ones who will break your legs. The last thing they said to me was, 'We’ll break your legs'."

Better days: Celebrating with RBB fans in 2014

Of course, a footballer’s life isn’t just at the club. In Poljak’s case, his family was with him. And it got worse.

“My little daughter [Mia] got sick. For the first time in her life, she got a fever," said Poljak.

“So we took her to a private hospital in Bucharest. We were told, through connections, a very good doctor would look after her.

“But once we saw what they were doing to our daughter... I forgot everything about football. I said, 'Pack up, let’s go'. Nothing else was important anymore.

“She was only eight or nine months old and they wanted to take three bottles of her blood. Just because of the flu? They were squeezing her arm. Once they put the needle in, they were squeezing her.

“And she’s crying for 10-minutes because it was drop by drop.

“So after two or three weeks of this ugly stuff with threats and you’re going to train with the second team, I said no worries. I’ll train with the second team but you still have to pay me. 

“When they saw I was serious, they said they’ll take the car of me. I said, ‘Who’ll take it off me? I want to see someone physically take the car off me'. “They said the police will take the car off me.

“Why the police? I hadn’t done anything... The club stopped paying the lease with the car company. So they said the police will come and take it off you.

“I had a car in my contract. So they said we’ll give you the worst car ever so you drive your young family in this dangerous car.

“Anyway, when my daughter got sick, I said we’ll find a way to get out of this.

“So they offered me to go on loan at another Romanian club and said they’d pay half my wages and my [current] Romanian club pay half. But if they didn’t pay anything before, why would I trust them?

"And when I asked about this new loan club, my club said, ‘They’re alright, but not as organised as we are'. Not as organised as we are??

“So I did sign the release at the end of the transfer window in late August on not the best terms but it wasn’t really important to me anymore. I just did what I had to do.

"We wanted to play tough with the club and we did, but then what happened with our daughter, it wasn’t worth it anymore.

“After what we’d been through, I wasn’t sure I wanted it anymore. My wife said, 'Let’s go back to Australia.'"

Poljak returned to Australia late last year. He trained with Marconi and they signed him for the 2018 NPL season.

“It was good to be back." he admitted. "I have a home not far from here [in Sydney’s West].

“I have to be honest, after that experience in Romania, a lot of things go through your head and you don’t feel that passion for football anymore.

"But I’m grateful for what football gave me and I can say I’m enjoying my football again.

"The biggest things in my life happened in Australia. I got married here; I have a daughter born here and another one on the way.

“I was on a distinguished talent visa through soccer and won the Asian Champions League with Wanderers.

“Unfortunately things like this need to happen to remind you, a family is the most important thing in life.”