Cammy Devlin says his move to Hearts has “completely changed” him after making his Australia debut last weekend.
The Aussie made the move from Newcastle Jets despite not playing a game for the A-League side before heading to Gorgie last September. Devlin ’s impressive stats caught the eye of the jambos’ recruitment department in their hunt for midfield reinforcements. He has since established himself as a key member of Robbie Neilson ’s midfield and is a firm favourite amongst fans, as much for his attitude and personality as his displays in maroon.
Neilson previously confirmed that Devlin had been close to joining Tynecastle teammate Nathaniel Atkinson in Graham Arnold’s squad, but was denied by injury. He finally got the call for two warm-up friendlies against New Zealand this month and came on as a second half sub during Sunday’s 2-0 victory in Auckland. Devlin is now very much in contention to make the squad that will head to the World Cup in Qatar this November.
After playing for his country’s Under 23s at the Tokyo Olympics, Devlins has credited his switch to the Scottish capital as the catalyst for going on to gain full international recognition in the green and gold. And it’s not just on the pitch where he’s seen improvements.
"I think it's changed me completely to be honest," he said. “You're moving overseas to the unknown, and there weren't a lot of Aussies when I went over there - I was one of the only young ones at the time I started.
"I've never lived on my own before, so to do that, I think it changes you personally and makes you grow up - you have no choice. Then on the football side of things, it asks a lot more of your body and it matures not only yourself as a person, but your body and the way you play.
“I think I've developed on and off the pitch as much as I possibly could. I work as hard as I can every day and I'm absolutely loving it over there. I'm so grateful to be there and get the opportunity and yeah can't wait to get stuck back into it and just try and make my case for the World Cup."
Making his Socceroos bow in New Zealand was fitting for Devlin. It was with Wellington Phoenix where he established himself as a pro.
Mum, dad , eldest brother and niece were all in the stands to see Devlin realise a life-long dream. "I got the opportunity to be at Wellington under an Uffie (Ufuk Talay), I've played at Eden Park a few times and had a few special occasions here already," he told socceroos.com.
"So being back in front of a lot of 'Nix fans, when I went to warm up they were obviously making a bit of noise and were happy to see me.
"To make my debut at Eden Park is that bit special, it's kind of where my career kickstarted and now where my hopefully long Socceroos career started as well.
"I think coming off the bench can be hard sometimes, but I had enough time to go out there and I just tried to tell myself to keep a calm head.
"Obviously you have got a different jersey on to usual, which means a lot more, so I think it would be easy to get carried away, but I just kept telling myself, 'it's just another game, you're just wearing a different jersey'.
"I wanted to keep a cool head, to go out there play with a smile on my face like I always try and do; it's your debut for the national team, so it doesn't get much better than that.
"You see that since you're a kid on the Socceroos social media, all players making their debut and just thinking 'imagine'...you don't really think that could be you one day."
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