The 30-year-old made 89 appearances for the Fir Park club during a three-year spell but struggled to cement a place in the starting line-up under former manager Jim Gannon.

Following Gannon's sacking last month, new manager Craig Brown had wanted to keep McGarry but the former St Mirren star had already made up his mind to move elsewhere.

"Craig Brown came in and he actually wanted me to stay, so it was a bit of a dilemma," he said. "I just decided to take a risk and came out (to Australia).

"I terminated my contract, came to an agreement. They wanted me to stay and hopefully be part of the things there but I thought to myself, I know Perth and coach Dave (Mitchell) had a good interest in me.

"So I was willing to come out here and take a risk at it ."

He added: "I've been here a week now and I've had a look and Dave's had a look at myself, and things have went well.

"I've come in and enjoyed the training and basically, now I'm signed and desperate to get involved in the three big games coming up.

"I'm going to get my wife over as well, she's going to come and have a look, so we can see if we can possibly make it long term.

"But it also depends on how well I do and how well the team does to the end of this season."