We caught up with him for review of his break out year - and what the future holds next...

When Jess Vanstrattan was ruled out at the start of last season, many were fearing the worst for the Mariners...

When I first signed for the Mariners, Danny Vukovic was still contracted at the club for the next two years. He was unlucky that he went overseas and then there were issues [Vukovic signed for Turkish club Konyaspor on a two-year deal but was released by the club shortly after they discovered they had too many overseas players on their books]. That opened a door for me, but then Jess came in. Unfortunately for him he then suffered a season-ending injury and I was thrown into my first game against Sydney FC. 

Things did not start well with a mistake against Sydney in your first game, how were you able to bounce back from that?

I did have a couple of hiccups during the year – a mistake in that Sydney game and one against Melbourne Heart. The coaching staff at the Mariners helped me to realise that a mistake is not the end of the world. You have to pick yourself up and perform for the rest of the game and the rest of the season. Generally after I had made a blunder I came out and played well the next week.

You were one of the standout performers last season: the joint highest number of clean sheets with 12; won A-League Young Player of the Year; were a Grand Finalist and Joe Marston Medal winner. We assume you didn’t see that coming?!

[Laughs] No, definitely not! I still have to pinch myself to check I’m not dreaming. It has been an amazing year for both the club and myself. Saying that, I would have traded it all for Grand Final victory.

You were superb in the Grand Final and a deserving Joe Marston Medal winner, but is that medal a bittersweet reminder?

I was not even aware of the Joe Marston Medal as a man of the match award in the Grand Final. It was not until after the game that the boys were telling me about the importance of the medal and the amount of great players to have won it. The medal is at home and I look at it every day alongside my A-League Young Player of the Year award, and I’m grateful for the season I had.

As for Socceroos aspirations, Australia seems to produce such a wealth of great goalkeepers, is that the toughest position to make your own in the national side?

Every young kid wants to play for their country. I’m still very young at the moment, so the Socceroos is a long distance away yet. There are a number of quality keepers that would be in front of me at the moment.

When will Europe become a likely move?

I don’t want to get caught up in the old cliché of going over to Europe too young. I’m still contracted at the Mariners, so want to concentrate on going to the U-20 World Cup
in Colombia.