Perth Glory signing Chris Coyne believes the high level of exposure given to Hyundai A-League matches in Australia can only increase his chances of national selection.
Despite being offered lucrative deals to play in Europe and the Middle East, Coyne has opted to take a pay cut and join the Glory on a three-year contract, becoming the third Qantas Socceroo to be signed by Perth after Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski.
Speaking on Monday, the 30-year-old echoed comments from his new team-mates, who’ve also returned to Australia to showcase their talents to Australian coach Pim Verbeek on a more regular basis.
Verbeek has previously been reluctant to include Hyundai A-League players in his squads as the local competition’s speed has not been up to European standards.
But former Colchester United captain Coyne believes the influx of quality signings to the Glory and several other Australian clubs will dramatically increase the standard of local football and alter Verbeek’s perspective.
“Quality breeds quality and everyone will see it in the games coming up,” Coyne said on Monday morning, having arrived in Perth 24 hours earlier.
“If I’d been playing where the games are televised week in, week out, then Pim and his assistants would have seen me playing a lot more.”
“But in League One, they might see one game a year.”
“It’s a big year for all Aussies hoping to make it to the World Cup in 10 months (and) I’ve got the opportunity now to come back and play 27, 30 games,” he said.
A central defender, Coyne hasn’t played in Perth for 13 years and this will be the first time he lines up alongside younger brother Jamie, who was club captain last season.
“I’m very close to my brother anyway as a mate and as a professional, I speak to him all the time about football,” Coyne said.
“I picked his brains and we had a good chat about it and he believes with the strength of character here and the players coming in we’ve got a hell of a chance of doing things.”
“I wouldn’t be here otherwise. I’m not coming here to pick money up, I’m not coming here just to play games, I’m coming here to win.”
“Unless you have that sort of ambition in football why bother playing? We need to win games and with the squad we’ve got I believe we can do that.”
Glory coach Dave Mitchell hasn’t confirmed whether Jamie Coyne will continue as captain this season and said several of the new signings would be looked at for their leadership potential.
But despite leading Colchester in League One, Chris Coyne said he’d have no trouble stepping back and letting someone else wear the captain’s armband.
“You don’t need an armband to have an opinion,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens with that.”
“I know Mitch is still making his mind up but if something needs saying, I’ll say it with or without an armband.”
Coyne said he was unsure whether he’d take part in the club’s pre-season friendly clash with Fulham on Wednesday night, having just arrived in the country on Sunday.
