Just like you see on the football field, Central Coast Mariners striker Daniel McBreen is a man in a hurry in all aspects of his life.
Just like you see on the football field, Central Coast Mariners striker Daniel McBreen is a man in a hurry in all aspects of his life.
“Football still comes first and that will be the case while I’m playing,” he said.
“I’ve just got to fit my business in around that, and the two kids, and taking the dog for walk, and trying to get a surf in. Time management is a pretty hectic thing.”
The 35-year-old veteran is in a rich vein of form for the second-placed Mariners and is taking his first tentative steps off the field while leading the club’s great start to the 2012/13 season.
“I’ve set my own business up, Frontline Finance (a mortgage broking firm). I’ve done all my studies and courses on that and that’s up and running now,” he said.
“Actually for the last month or two I’ve been doing that in my spare time; going to see a few clients, trying to keep something there so I can work part-time while I’m playing and if this lasts another year or two, or three years I’ll keep doing that and hopefully I can just transition straight into full-time and go from there.”
McBreen said his father Jimmy, who lost his life to cancer in March, was an integral part of his off-field transition into the work place.
“Dad had his own business as well. It was always the plan to start up myself and once he was retiring to take over his clients, with his illness that brought it along a lot quicker,” he said.
“I thought it was a bit poignant the Perth game, because it was about the charity for cancer and everything so I had a few thoughts about dad in that and I was glad to score in that one.
“I have had the birth of my second son since then so it has not been all doom and gloom.”
After Round 5 of the Hyundai A-League the former Edgeworth junior shares the lead on the goal-scoring charts with Newcastle Jets marquee man Emile Heskey.
This is thanks largely to his hat-trick – the first in Mariners’ history – in their 7-2 win against Sydney FC.
But he is fully aware he has to fight for his spot in the team and conceded that the competition for spots is difficult within Graham Arnold’s side.
“There are five strikers so we can’t sit back and relax and think we are going to be in the team every week because there are no guarantees,” he said.
McBreen is fighting for a place in the side alongside fellow strikers Bernie Ibini, Mile Sterjovksi and Adam Kwasnik, however it is 21-year-old Mitchell Duke, the lesser-known of the frontline quintet, who draws the most comparisons to himself.
“Dukey has got a tireless workrate” said McBreen.
“He is one of those kids who you just have to tell to slow down. He just wants to be a part of it and work so hard for the team but he’s just got to harness that a little bit.”
Mariners boss Arnold noted after the side’s big win over Sydney that McBreen was prone to work too hard at training.
And McBreen confirmed it was a tendency passed on from former Mariner Matt Simon.
“The same was said about Simmo. It just seems the three of us have always been the kind of guys you always have to pull us back because we haven’t got it in us to let someone run past us and let it go. It’s just part of the team we work hard for each other,” he said.
“The last couple of weeks Arnie has pulled me aside with Clarky (Andrew Clark – the Mariners’ strength and conditioning coach) and said they think that I need to ease off at the end of the week.
“There is no need for me to do all of the little extra bits and pieces that the guys are doing because of my age, for one, and two because it fit enough as it is already. To be fair I’ve felt fresher when it came to the games. So it’s paid dividends and it’s been a good call.”
Currently on a one-year deal, McBreen whilejoking about his age says he wants to be at the club next season and think it’s a ‘98.9 percent’ chance.
“Arnie just said keep playing the way you are playing and there will be another contract there for you. All I can do is keep playing and hopefully I do well and keep training hard,” he said.
Much of what McBreen is doing is a part of his mentoring role within the club to youngsters such as Duke and Ibini.
“It’s setting an example as well, as a senior player, you have to show the young guys that you can’t just coast through, that you have to work hard for what you get. I’ll just keep doing that and hope the rewards will be there for next season,” he said.
