Kye Rowles admits he didn't know what to expect from Jason Cummings after the former Hibs striker made the move Down Under to Central Coast Mariners.
Rowles was a stand-out for the A-League side last season, and spent a few months as Cummings’ teammate before making the move in the opposite direction last summer, swapping Gosford for Gorgie as Robbie Neilson bolstered his back line with another Australian capture following the arrivals of Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson over the previous year.
Rowles had seen the clips of ‘Cumdog’ - now rebranded ‘Cumdingo’ - wrestling with Grado at the Hibees’ training ground and read bits and pieces about off-field issues and incidents involving the twice-capped former Scotland striker. But after getting to know him since last January and being reacquainted in Qatar after Cummings switched allegiance to Australia, the defender admits that the loose cannon reputation couldn’t be further from the truth. As far as Rowles is concerned, Cummings is a quality striker who likes a laugh but produces the goods when it's time to get serious.
"I didn’t know really what to expect,” he said. “You’ve seen the internet, you’re not safe anywhere, and I’ve seen a few things about him but he was pretty much the polar opposite of what’s been said on Twitter. I think he’s a top bloke and a hard worker. He’s done extremely well to get to where is he is now and to be included in the squad is pretty amazing.
“He showed what he could do when he came in January this year to the Mariners and he’s kicked on since then, since coming to Oz. The boys love him and he’s a great character to have in the changing room. He’s always having jokes and he’s a great bloke to have around you.
“I haven’t seen that crazy side that everyone’s spoken about so I don’t know what he was up to in the UK but he’s really shown who he is, how much he cares about football and how much he wants to get to the top level. He’s just a hard worker like the rest of us. He likes to have a joke but he’s a good professional and getting here just shows how well he’s done.”
Rowles feared he might not make it to Qatar after breaking his food for Hearts back in August. The centre back injured himself in the act of scoring his first goal for the Jambos in a 3-2 win over St Johnstone.
He finally made his comeback as a last-minute sub in the victory over Motherwell. He followed that up with an impressive 90 minutes against Rangers at Ibrox, before his final run out before jetting off with the Socceroos was cut short.
Rowles was shown a straight red card against Livingston for tugging back Joel Nouble in the box. Craig Gordon bailed him out with a penalty save before Josh Ginnelly struck a 97th-minute equaliser.
“It was a bit of a shock but at the end of the day it’s the decisions that get made,” he said of his ordering off. “I’ll put my hand up and I did something that you probably shouldn’t do in the penalty box as a defender and I paid the price for it.
“In the other games I felt great. It was good to be out there and getting minutes. It gives me confidence that I can get through 90 minutes and my foot’s going to hold up well. I’m feeling good. It’s a shame to get red carded, as it always is, but I’ve moved on from that now and I’m just focused on what’s coming up.
“It didn’t feel great when it happened. I knew something was wrong. I thought I could maybe run it off but after ten or so minutes I was like, yeah it’s not right.
“I got the scan as soon as possible and it was pretty much a time crunch from then on. I just kept my head down and knew that I wanted to be here. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity so I just had to do everything in my power to get here.”
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