Jack Iredale hopes playing for Bolton Wanderers and potentially one day in the Championship with the club will help to get him in the conversation to be called up for international duty with Australia.
The 26-year-old summer signing from Cambridge United has acclimatised well to life at Wanderers. He has been regularly involved since the start of the season, both in the heart of defence and on the far left of the pitch.
Iredale grew up in Australia and has played for the Socceroos up to under-17s level. However, he is yet to receive a senior call-up for his country.
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Iredale's personal dream is to play for Australia at a World Cup. He believes a big reason behind his move to Bolton was to aid his personal goals too, and believes that playing hopefully in the Championship with the club in the near future will help him in that regard.
He said: “It was always my dream to play for Australia at a World Cup. I thought I might have had a possible chance, especially playing at a club as big as Bolton.
“I haven’t quite got recognised and scouted yet, but it’s definitely right at the very top of my goals list and I’m going to keep doing everything I can to try and hopefully get a call-up one day because it would be a dream for me.
“There were so many reasons why I chose to come here, but that was another massive reason, playing at a club as big as Bolton with the trajectory that the club is on, it’s only going to help me in terms of my personal goals as well.
“The under-17s was my last time. I’ve not had recently any contact in terms of being close to a squad or I’m going to be in a squad or anything like that.
"But I know there’s a lot of Australian footballers out there as well who are getting opportunities, so playing for a club as big as this consistently week in, week out, at the top end of League One and hopefully in the Championship very soon, it’s only going to be a good thing in terms of trying to get recognised.”
Australia have qualified for this winter's tournament which is taking place in Qatar. The Socceroos have been handed a tough draw in Group D, along with current World champions France, Denmark and Tunisia.
But Iredale is bullish about Australia's chances at the World Cup and believes the nation is frequently written off, but always surprise people with their performances. He believes it is part of the national character which feeds through into the sporting dimension to do everything they can to reach the top.
He said: “Australia get written off at every single World Cup and I feel like they go out and surprise people at every single one. They’ve got that Aussie diggers spirit and never ever are going to give up. Players will run themselves into the ground but also the technical level of Australian football is gradually increasing as well.
“I’ll be a fan this World Cup. I would love to be over there and involved in the squad, but I know a few of the boys in the team so I’ll definitely be watching.
“There’s so many different national sports that you have to compete with. I think football youth-wise is by far the biggest, but I moved to Australia when I was 10 or 11, but even from that age I think just the mentality and the grittiness that Australians have.
“They’re stubborn and strong characters so when they get told that maybe they can’t do something, which is perhaps playing top flight football overseas, they’re going to do everything they can to get to the top.
“I know I had a lot of challenges growing up and it was a big risk for me to leave Australia to play in the UK because of just how massive it is here. But it’s something I’m going to keep trying to do as well.“
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