My mum was very much about education, whereas my old man was very much about football. It’s not that he didn’t want me to go to school, he just wanted to make sure that I was focused entirely on my football.

At the end of the day they always want what’s best for you and I always had football in my mind, especially when I turned 13-14, I was focused to make sure I turn professional and I was just driven with that one goal.

I’m still doing what I want to do in life, I’m lucky to play the game I love and it brings great moments like going to the Asian Cup.

Australia is still my home…

Even though I’m half-Filipino and I’m classed as Asian, deep down, growing up in Australia, I’ll always have that mentality because that’s what I was brought up with. I don’t like to compare everything back to Australia, but growing up, you just realise how lucky you are. A lot of things, the lifestyle, but even things like the hospitals, the high standards Australia has, you can’t compare it.

It’s somewhere you’ll always call home, I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world like Australia. I’ve lived in the UK, parts of Asia and Iran and nothing compares to back home.

Professional football gives you the experience of living in different countries and being lucky to see different parts of the world. It teaches you not only a lot about football, but life in general, it’s just nice to see other countries and it teaches you how lucky and fortunate we are back home. I’m very true to my word in that sense.