Any notion of the Socceroos heading to Qatar without Tom Rogic and Aaron Mooy as key members of a squad hopeful of advancing beyond the group stage seems absurd.
Both have formed the backbone of many an Australian team over the past decade, with their talents recognised abroad and subsequently leading to profitable and well-respected international stints.
Rogic has worn national colours for ten years, been capped 53 times and scored on ten occasions for the Socceroos. His immense talent resulted in 178 games for Celtic, before the Canberra-born star decided that is was time to move on after the 2021-22 campaign.
Two years older than Rogic at 31, Mooy’s outstanding domestic A-League play saw his rising stardom take the Sydney born midfielder all the way to the English Premier League, with stints at Huddersfield and Brighton proving his class and offering much hope to younger Australian players dreaming of making their mark in the most lucrative league in the world.
Aaron Mooy playing for Huddersfield Town (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Capped on 52 occasions for the Socceroos and with seven goals to his name in the green and gold, Mooy’s recent performances in the World Cup knock-out fixtures reminded everyone of his class, despite the fact that he has enjoyed no consistent club football in months, with the Chinese league severely impacted by the country’s zero-tolerance approach to the pandemic.
With domestic football in China now back underway, Mooy has departed, with a host of English Championship clubs keen to snare what would be a signature of experience and reliability.
Swansea City have reportedly been keen to discuss terms with the Australian, yet Birmingham, Norwich, Middlesbrough and Mooy’s former employer, Huddersfield, are similarly in the hunt for a steady holding mid to improve their chances of promotion at the completion of the upcoming season.
However, it is the rumours of a potential signing with Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic that has tongues wagging and others seeing a rather obviously symmetry between coach and player, thus feeling confident that the man married to a Scotswoman may well be headed to the hoops for 2022-23.
With Mooy apparently in Scotland at the present time, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where the former Socceroo manager would not reach out and at least enquire in regards to his plans and short-term hopes for his next career move.
While the Championship appears a likely destination, Big Ange knows exactly what he will get with Mooy and after a few off-season departures, Rogic included, he may see value in luring the former Wanderer to Glasgow.
With Mooy seemingly weighing up numerous offers from English clubs, things appear different in camp Rogic.
Socceroo coach Graham Arnold has had no luck in attempting to correspond with the former Mariner and serious offers made to him have reportedly beenrejected, as Rogic appears to float in some sort of football limbo.
Spotted in Sydney over the last few days, the rumours of a marquee deal at the Sky Blues were logical, yet his talent and reputation must surely be attracting interest from abroad.
Most concerning is the radio-silence approach Rogic appears to have adopted after leaving the United Kingdom, and while discussion around his state of mind and preparedness to play may be well off the mark, they will continue to grow with every day that he remains non-committal and uncontactable.
I hope Rogic is just enjoying a moment of serenity after more than a decade of football pressure and intensity. However, with the World Cup in Qatar just four months away and he and Mooy’s presence vital for the Socceroos, fans are also keen to see what their next moves are.
The key component to those moves will be clocking minutes in the lead-up to the tournament and playing impressively enough to demand selection.
Should either land in the A-League, the October 5 start date will make proving fitness and form to Arnold prior to November 18 a difficult task, with a fresh contract in Europe and an August start to their preparations far more comfortable in terms of earning a seat on the plane.
Hopefully both are playing it coy and about to claim a tidy sum at impressive clubs, set to subsequently assure themselves of a place in the Socceroo squad.
Whether they are or not, both are desperately required in Qatar.
With Arnold likely to back some of the young talent he has been supportive of throughout the qualifying campaign, the experience of Aaron Mooy and Tom Rogic will be required to balance the probable squad and give the Socceroos their best chance at the World Cup.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Mooy is a gifted ball carrier and visionary but he is just a yard too slow for the big stage.
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
If this is the case Guru, is it realistic for us to aim to get out players into European clubs? Unless they are in that absolute top echelon of performers, as you said it is not financially worth it for them. Are we essential barking up the wrong tree in Europe?
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Graham Arnold is not Rogic's employer, for one thing. And people cope in different ways. Sorry for your loss, and I'm glad that you were strong enough to get through it.
Marcel
Guest
I nursed both of my parents in their final months...I wasn't something I ever considered keeping a secret from my employer..it was a simple matter of respect to tell them. To be honest I can't think of any 'genuine' issue that is too sensitive to share..... So we are left to conclude it's a more iffy, not much of an excuse at all reason.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
There is only 2 Duke and Leckie at the moment, Nabbout could be the third but his dodgy hamstrings dont make him a reliable option as we saw with his weird cameo against Saudi Arabia, Nabbout would be better than the other two if he could stay full fit,. McLaren is smaller, weaker in the air, weaker in build, lower workrate, fairly similiar otherwise but is considered because he was spoon fed goals at City and Roar. Taggart is really lazy. Agostino is worse than Duke even on his good points. You have other guys who are now slow and useless, Juric, Giannou, etc. The cupboard is bare at striker. Attacking midfielder you have Hrujstic, you also have a lot of other talent Caceres, Brimmer, Piscopo, Najarine, Amini, Antonis, Petratos, De Silva a lot more and better standard players than the strikers.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I envy you if you've never had a life event where you've felt the need to shut out the world while you dealt with it.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I would call bull, Arsenal could have got Rogic if they wanted him on the side as a bargain player, its not like he was ever paid that much at Celtic. Rogic if he had continued to improve on his first good Celtic stint then he could have gone somewhere in a higher league but instead got injured and went backwards for five years.
Punter
Roar Rookie
There are hundreds of Dukes running around in Australian football, not many Rogics, as a matter of fact only 1.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Rogic cant give Arnold a 1 minute phone call and you say give him empathy. If it was Duke who acted this way everyone on here would be saying good riddance and worse to Duke. Where is the empathy when it comes to the continual slagging off of a 100% effort player in Duke despite him doing his bit. Arnold maybe willing to humiliate himself by leaving the door open to someone treating him this way. A proper coach though would never tolerate this.
Ad-O
Guest
Jesus! Our best player is off contract and sniffing around Championship clubs. We're not winning a game in Qatar.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Empathy. Try it.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Rogic = football enigma
Marcel
Guest
Totally...Whether you like the man or not, Arnie is the coach of the national team and he has a right to know why one of his senior players is AWOL.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Hrujstic fits the bill and he had to overtake Mooy during the Peru game to cover for him. Mooy is over the hill, he should have been picked in 2014, but no one cared to sing his praises then. I think we have too many technique players these days and they are either lazy or slow. The chicken runners Holman we dont have one of them at the moment, we dont have a Kennedy or Cahill to head the ball some as well.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
theres all sorts of politics involved when signing an australian player, a common one is qualification for a european passport - if eligible it makes it much more appealing/easier to sign for a euro club tomi's born in canberra, but his mum was born in leskovac (which is a town in serbia) his dad is also serbian, and grew up in Lika (which is a town in croatia) - tomi could apply for a serbian passport if he so wished to another issue is the fee associated when signing players. i dont have enough digits on my feet and hands to count the number of young players who have had moves fall through for miniscule things eg. breakdown of payments to selling club and fee to junior club. a club of celtics stature obviously had no issues paying $500k pounds at the time for tomi and a smaller fee from the deal to the junior club - its one of the reasons smaller to mid tier european sides pass on a lot of our players, financially its not worth it for them
Punter
Roar Rookie
Oh yes 100% a technique worshipper. I pray for a the day Australia produces a player with Duke’s workrate & Rogic’s skill or Leckie physical abilities & Mooy’s technique. Our trouble is we have many players with physical abilities or high workrate but not too many players of Rogic or Mooy technique or ability. Hopefully the younger ones we do.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
He has the technical abillity to play in serie a - which is a much slower tempo, but tactically right up there as the best league in europe la liga also would be a grest destination, especially if its in southern spain were the warmer climate will help out with those soft tissue injuries that have blighted his career. hes not young anymore (will be 30 mid way through next season) and his body has a lot of mileage on it, but a fit tomi rogic in the right system can be a very handy weapon to have
Redcap
Roar Guru
I'd love to see Rogic have a go at a mid-to-lower range La Liga club that plays decent footy - somebody like Espanyol, Celta or Osasuna. I suspect - and you've certainly suggested it - that money would be an issue, but they'd really suit his style.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
why didnt that enviroment do the job for Arzani and all the others,
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
If a player cant even ring the national coach to say something he should be excluded from the national team from now on. Making excuses for Rogic is pathetic.