McBreen had spells in Romania, Scotland, England, China and Hong Kong, as well as in his homeland.

The striker won a Premiership and a Grand Final with the Central Coast Mariners, as well as claiming the Golden Boot and the Joe Marston Medal in 2013.

But after finally hanging up his boots in the Northern NSW NPL last year, the 42-year-old is now keen to make his name as coach.

After working with the Emerging Jets academy, McBreen was appointed head coach of the Newcastle Jets Y-League side in September last year.

He has also served as the assistant coach of the Guam national football team, working under fellow Aussie Karl Dodd.

"It's very good, I'm learning from both aspects," McBreen told FTBL.

"I remember being told when I first thought about going down the coaching path that you have to earn your stripes and do an apprenticeship. And try to do as many varied things as you can and learn from those different things and take things from it.

"I started with the academy at the Jets and Gary van Egmond saw I was on the C licence and rang me up and said we want you to coach. I was grateful for that opportunity and have gone through there, worked my way up to the youth team now.

"A good friend of mine and old teammate, Karl Dodd, is coaching the Guam national team and called me in, asked if I wanted to do some assistant work with him. It's been great to go away and see the national side of things. I've really enjoyed both roles.

"I love coaching - it's what I want to do in the future. But at the moment it's all going well."

The young Jets finished third in Group B in the Y-League this season, with three wins, two draws and three loss from their eight games.

Guam are battling in Group A in Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, but have yet to win one of their five qualifiers/

McBreen is enjoying the ride and knows he has plenty to learn.

"I'd like to be a head coach [one day]," he said.

"I'm not one of those people who says I want to do it now. I'm under no illusions. I want to take my time.

"I want to do it right, learn from as many different people as I can and from different experiences along the way so when I get there I'm actually ready.

"I don't want to jump in too soon and not be ready for the role. It's a long process. It it is what it is, if you want to do it right you've got to learn from it."