Garcia hung up his boots in May after a 20-year career in professional football. The 35-year old, originally from Western Australia, played in England, North America and the A-League, and made 58 appearances for the Glory.

Garcia has joined the club’s coaching staff with assistant Andy Ord having departed to become the national team coach of Bangladesh.

After playing 17 times for the Socceroos, the former West Ham and Hull City winger hopes to make a future as a coach.

“I’m doing some coaching with Glory and just helping out around the place,” he told FourFourTwo.

“I’m still here, still amongst it, which is fantastic. It’s been great to be able to come in every day and still be around the lads, albeit in a different type of role.

“I think it’s something I’ve always been interested in, going into that coaching side. Hopefully I can continue on the path that I’m going and be able to flourish in a different type of area within football.”

Garcia returned home to join Melbourne Heart in 2012 after playing in the English Premier League with Hull City. After only making six appearances in the A-League last season, he decided to time was right to retire.

“I think being at my age I didn’t really want to finish up, I felt like I could play another couple of years,” he said.

“But I thought it probably was the right time to start focusing on other things, hopefully trying to find a different pathway.”

After joining the Hammers as a 15-year old, Garcia was part of the club’s famous youth team that won the FA Youth Cup and FA Premier Youth League in 1999. Members of that squad included England internationals Michael Carrick and Joe Cole.

Garcia made the first team at West Ham before joining Colchester United in 2004 and helping the club securing promotion to the Championship a year later. The forward moved to Hull City in 2007 and helped the Tigers reach the Premier League in 2008.

Garcia went on to play for Heart, Sydney FC and Glory in the A-League, and remarkably fought back from three serious knee ligament injuries.

“I don’t think you realise how much you’ve done and what you’ve achieved until you set back and reflect,” he said.

“Towards the back end of last season I really started to do that and I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished.

“To know you’ve had such a long career in the game, at a game level, and to be able to come home and play in front of your friends and family as well has been a really fantastic experience for him.

“I’ve got nothing but fond memories of my career, even the sort of down times when I had three cruciate operations. They’re still fond memories because I’m very happy with the way I dealt with that and bounced back.

“They sort of make you the person you are.”

He made his international debut for Australia against South Africa in 2008, and played against both Germany and Serbia in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Garcia said winning promotions, representing his country and appearing in the Premier League were all obvious highlights, but admits his whole spell in the professional game is hard to separate.

“The whole thing is part and parcel,” he said.

“The older you get the more you realise if you hadn’t done one thing or another, the other things wouldn’t have followed.

“It is a journey, it’s not just the first year or the second year, it’s the maintenance of your career and actually being able to stick it out through thick and thin. That’s probably what helped me succeed in the long run, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”