After moving from Liverpool in the offseason, Smith, who is the current Socceroos left back, made his debut in Bournemouth's 2-1 win over Morecombe in the EFL Cup over night.

It was the 22-year-old's first competitive match since Australia played Greece in a friendly series in early June, 

While Gersbach has been a regular for current Norwegian league champions and leaders Rosenborg.the former Sydney FC youngster believes Smith is the front runner for the Socceroos' first 11.

“I think he deserves to start at the moment,” he said. “He has been doing a really good job for the Socceroos in the last few camps especially and I’m happy for him that he got his move to Bournemouth.

“At the moment he’s number one and I’ll be there to push him along and we’ll both be there make each other as good as we can. I’ll just be working hard to improve and get better and keep him on his toes.”

The Aussies' final phase on the road to Russia 2018 begins in Perth next Thursday night when the Socceroos take on Iraq.

The Lions of Mesopotamia exited the 2016 Rio Olympics football tournament undefeated with three draws and Gersbach is hoping the Australians can get a win in what is expected to be a tough contest.

“It’s coming down to the business end of things,” he said. “We are attempting to qualify for the World Cup - we are in the second part of the qualifiers now and it’s really important we get off to a good start. These are really important games and it’s nice to be involved and I can’t wait to get into camp and get to work with the boys.”

Filling the left full back position has been a challenge for the Socceroos but with Gersbach and Smith challenging for that spot Australian national team boss Ange Postecoglou is delighted with his current selections.

“We are certainly a lot happier now than I was probably 12 months ago in terms of the options we have there,” he said. “Brad Smith and Alex Gersbach, they are two very exciting left backs. Brad has obviously got the move to Bournemouth and stays in the Premier League. The amount of money they have spent on him shows that they value him and will give him time to hopefully grow in that role.

“And Alex is going well at his club. They’re obviously leading the competition and he’s got competition for his spot there but he’s been playing fairly regularly and playing fairly well, so that’s good to see. And outside those two we’ve got three or four other left backs that we’ve had in at recent times that I’m comfortable that they can do a job for us.”