He said the lack of promotion and relegation in the A-League proved to be a problem for himself and players like Nick Ward, whose career was also cut short with injury.

“Because there’s no second tier, we get injured and we have to go to a semi-professional environment and it’s hard to keep your standards that high,” Dekker said.

“Even when NPL players get to the A-League, because it’s a full-time environment, their bodies generally aren’t used to it. It is hard to crack back into the A-League or any professional environment.

“You look in Europe, they have a number of professional leagues, so if you get injured, you play at a lower level, but it’s still professional. So that’s probably what’s missing in Australia at the moment."

Dekker said his exit from City had made him more resilient rather than leaving him bitter.

“Leaving City isn’t a sad memory at all," he said. "OK, if you look at the injury side, that’s a bit sad, but at the same time, I loved it there.

Dekker grateful for first opportunity at City

“I can say that I’ve played professionally for a year, not many people can say they’ve had that opportunity.

“Just being around there playing with the likes of Thomas Sorensen, Bruno Fornaroli and Aaron Mooy, who can say that? It was upsetting with the injury, but it was an experience I’ll always be grateful for.

“Because I got injured under contract, they covered all my expenses, costs and rehab until I was better. They were really good, Stuart Collie and Cody Williamson were my main physios and they were fantastic. I felt I came back stronger.” 

Despite the desire to return to the A-League, Dekker said he'd found peace of mind in semi-professional football.

He is also now a DJ, operating as DJ Dekks and he also describes himself as being family-orientated with more time to spend with his loved ones.

“One of main and harder things being at City was that life started to revolve purely around soccer,” he revealed.

“It was hard only living a month calendar in advance, I missed two of my mates’ weddings and we were training on Christmas Day and we weren’t in Melbourne on New Year’s Eve.

“Those things were tough as it would’ve been times when I would’ve been with my family. After that whole experience, I feel I’ve learned a lot mentally.

“I love my family and I just got married in November. It was a really exciting time and it’s been different moving out of home, I’m living with my wife now which I’ve absolutely loved.

"My family meets often, my uncles, aunties and cousins will all catch up once a month having food together and play music together, and we’ll often go watch each other play soccer.

“It’s definitely good to have a balance and there’s definitely more to life than just soccer."