Junee Jaguars’own William Mc-Grath spent his November playing for the Pararoos in Indonesia during the Asian-Oceania Cup.
The competition took place in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, from Nov.16 to 22. Iran won the competition after they defeated Malaysia 6-1, South Korea 7-0, Thailand 3-1 and Australia 4-0.
Indonesia, Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand competed in the event.
Will McGrath said it was an amazing experience, even if Australia didn’t quite get the win.
“The experience was good. This is my second tournament now, so I’m feeling a bit more experienced than the first one, and I knew what I was walking into and how it all rolled out. Being in that Asian cup, probably wasn’t as strenuous as the World Cup, but I thought the experience was unreal,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we only had three games in our group, so we played two group stages. We came second, which meant we qualified for the top four for a chance to go into the grand final, lost that one, which was our third game and then played the third-place play-off, which we thankfully won.
“It’s surreal. It’s always an honour to put on the green and gold and stand there and listen to the National Anthem, it put shivers down my spine, something that you always dream of as a kid is being able to play football for Australia, be able to live that dream year on year out at the moment, it is surreal and something I won’t take for granted anytime soon.
“Indonesia was definitely different compared to Australia. The culture was lovely. They were friendly, and that, but the conditions to play in were definitely different. The humidity was something I’ve never experienced here before, so it took a bit of adjusting to it, but overall, it was something I was fortunate enough to experience.
“I will be playing for the Jaguars again, hopefully. In terms of Pararoos stuff, we have got our World Cup next year, so that’s in Atlanta, Georgia, in America, so it’s about making sure that I’m in the best physical state for that to hopefully get picked in the squad to go to that next year.
“It’s one of the fortunate things about representing this country, getting to experience all these different cultures and different pictures, different conditions, to be able to experience that is something very fortunate.
“I’m just fortunate to be able to represent my country, so if there are any other people about locally that want to reach out and talk about it, or come forward, I’m always happy for a chat.”
The Junee Jaguars are glad to have such an accomplished player.
– Jack Murray
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