North Queensland Fury midfielder Fred Agius says he’s done everything he could think of to work his way back into the playing group.
Coach Ian Ferguson has included the 25-year-old in this week-s 16-man squad to take on the Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium.
Agius has played only twice and been on the field for a total of 40 minutes in the Fury-s opening eight matches.
The former Adelaide United player made the move north in a bid to receive more playing time.
Now he-s been given another chance and he-s not letting it slip away.
“I-m stoked to be back in the squad,” Agius gushed upon leaving for Perth.
“Now hopefully if I have a good performance I can stay in there,” he said.
Agius might be considered hard done by having been forced to watch six games from the sidelines.
In the two he-s been involved in the speedy midfielder made an impact off the bench setting up goals with good supply forward.
He credits plenty of hard work for his recall.
“I just put my head down at training,” Agius explained.
“I really worked hard, I did a bit of extra fitness training by myself, I just did all I could to get back in the squad.”
“I want to play as many games as I can, so sitting on the sidelines … I don-t want to do much more of that this season,” he said.
Whether he-s done enough to earn a starting spot remains to be seen, however Ferguson admits Agius has proven himself a weapon off the bench.
Though, keeping in mind one of the 16-man squad will miss out on a jersey.
“I look for subs to give us something when they come off the bench,” Ferguson said.
“And Freddy-s done that when he did come in … he-s definitely in my thoughts.”
It-s quite a game to make a return in, North Queensland is sitting last on the Hyundai A-League ladder two points below its nearest rival.
“It-s getting to that point in the season where … if we don-t start to get the wins on the board a lot of teams could slip away from us,” Agius said.
