The Socceroos' next generation are here, starting to make big moves and ready for their time in the spotlight.
Connor Metcalfe is chief among them.
The 24-year-old midfielder is flying for club side FC St Pauli, who are top of the 2.Bundesliga early days and on track for promotion to Germany's top division.
After missing out on last year's World Cup, the versatile Metcalfe is rapidly becoming a fixture in Graham Arnold's squads.
"I'm just enjoying football and we're doing really well back in Germany," Metcalfe told AAP ahead of Thursday's World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh at AAMI Park.
"We're just staying positive, we're just not thinking too far ahead obviously with club and then personally I'm just enjoying my football.
"There's no real secret to it."
Having Socceroos mainstay Jackson Irvine alongside him for club and country has helped.
"He's had a big influence on me," Metcalfe said.
"When I first arrived over there, he helped me out a lot with just making me feel comfortable in the team and stuff like that and then even being here in this team now, he's a friendly face.
"He knows everyone and he's one of the leaders back in Germany and especially here he's one of the leaders as well.
"He's a quality player and he's played a lot of minutes so I'll take any advice he can give me."
Metcalfe is among several players in their early-to-mid-20s who have moved on from the A-League Men and are now making an impact overseas.
Keanu Baccus is now a Socceroos mainstay, as are injured duo Riley McGree and Nathaniel Atkinson, while Aiden O'Neill is also a regular call-up.
Young defenders Jordy Bos and Alessandro Circati have also impressed.
"As you can see now there's a lot of boys overseas around mid 20s that are finally making the move and playing consistently and things like that," Metcalfe said.
"So that was the first step in our careers: getting over there and playing regular minutes and then obviously trying to cement your spot in this team.
"It's a really good opportunity for us to just play well here and gain the trust from the coach and just show to him what we've learned over there and that we're getting more confident and stuff like that in bigger games because these games are must-win games now.
"It's a really good opportunity for all of us younger players to take."
