When Brett Holman and Tim Cahill, two teenagers from Western Sydney, left Australia to pursue a soccer dream in Europe they would never have imagined being reunited at a press conference, years later, as key figures in the domestic game and poster boys for a growing sport.
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The duo, Australia's most decorated Socceroo and his former international teammate, are just two of a number of Australian past and current internationals, alongside those hoping to work their way back into contention, playing in the nation's biggest soccer competition.
"You only have to see all the names that are coming back," said Holman, who has signed for Brisbane Roar, for whom he will debut next weekend against Melbourne Victory.
"Tommy Oar, Carl Valeri, James Troisi, James Holland with Adelaide, I think it shows in a very positive way how the A-League is progressing. You are talking about good-quality national team players who are looking at the A-League and saying this is a positive for my career.
"It's a compliment to the A-League to attract these sort of players back to our league."
Cahill, who is the marquee man for Melbourne City, added: "I remember in the 2010 World Cup celebrating with Brett after he scored that bomb against Serbia ... we were sitting upstairs with Rhys [former Socceroo defender Rhys Williams, who has left Middlesbrough after 12 years and joined Perth Glory] having a chat about boys in the league – Matty McKay, Jado [Jade North, Holman and Oar's Brisbane teammate] – and players that I played with are now coaches, John Aloisi, Poppa [Tony Popovic], Musky [Kevin Muscat], seeing them all it brings back great memories.
"I see they are in good physical shape," he quipped.
"This is where we are from, where we are brought up and to be finally home as international players, it's good for us, for our families and for the game."
The duo shared a platform at an A-League media day alongside Sydney FC's Brazilian striker Bobo, who has had eight years in Turkey with Besiktas and Kayserispor, winning titles and becoming Besiktas' record goal-scorer during his time there.
Holman and Cahill stressed how excited they were to be back home to finish off their careers where they had started.
"I don't know much about the A-League, I played in the old NSL. The expectation is starting to creep up, the players are getting a little more anxious at training which is good, you can see that," said Holman.
Holman said
he has been impressed with what he has seen so far of the A-League. "The level of training I have experienced with Brisbane is high and it's definitely comparable with what I have experienced in Europe."
Cahill said it was vital that the league continued challenging itself, importing high-quality players to help Australia's best youngsters reach their potential as they learned from top professionals.
"We just don't want to be Australians and be good losers ... you have to look beyond the box and really try and achieve something special. Are we just making up the numbers, are we happy just to be there? We just need to keep introducing new talent, bringing great players back to the country," he said.
"It's great to be back, the league has grown a lot..
"I won't be part of the first game [Melbourne City is away to Wellington while he's on Socceroo duty in Saudi Arabia] but I had a taste of what the league is going to be like after playing Western Sydney Wanderers the other night [in City's 4-1 FFA Cup quarter-final victory]. It's good to see players like Bobo join and Brett too."
