Brandon O’Neill won won two grand finals, two premierships and an FFA Cup at Sydney FC.
But few moments in his career have been as meaningful as his surprise strike against his former club on the weekend.
Perth Glory defeated Sydney FC in a triumph that saw emotions spill over on the full-time whistle: reward after six of the weirdest weeks any side in world football has endured, and a reprieve while learning that a return home is no longer coming any time soon.
“We can’t control it. We can’t get Mark McGowan on the phone and say ‘this is the position we’re in, change this, that and the other,’” he told the Official A-Leagues Podcast.
“So, what you can do is sit down and be real about it and go: we’re just going to go out and have a crack.
“You can see … we’re going through this together … the experience, whether you like it or not, bonds everyone together.
“That was evident walking into Sydney FC and playing that game.
You could see from the warm-up, to half-time, full-time: you could see what it meant to every single of them. What it meant to have something positive in their life, because there was a lot of negativity.
“An experience like this probably won’t happen for all of us again. Touch wood, it never happens again.
“But it is something, hopefully in years to come, we can look back on and say it shaped me as a person.”
For O’Neill, that has come on top of returning home from a stint in Asia, grieving for his late father Myles last year and relishing life as a first time dad as well.
Saturday’s win – and goal – was one like few others he has experienced, and, he hopes, the tonic for the Glory to embark on a fairy tale second half of the season.
“It was such a weird feeling (to return and score against Sydney FC, having such a great relationship with them),” he reflected.
O’Neill continued: “I will be forever thankful for that football club for what they did for myself, and my family … in life, change is inevitable and to experience what I experienced, kicking a ball on that field in Kogarah, it was good to reminisce with old friends, but it was a strange feeling not missing the football there, but (missing) the people and reminiscing the experience and the memories we shared together.
I didn’t think I’d snag one against my former club – but I’ll take that!
It was a goal of personal significance, too.
“The last year of my life I have had to make a lot of decisions … outside of football and the only thing more important outside of football is my family.
“And those decisions have been made consistently for a year where football wasn’t the main thing – and that was really, really hard for me to admit and go through because all I ever wanted to do was a kick a ball and make sure my family was happy.
“The emotion of scoring against a club I love; and then thinking through little things, like what I’ve been through in the last year, and then to do it in a place where you grew as a footballer and person, it was just the medicine I needed. A pretty cool feeling. A whirlwind.”
While the Glory’s players and staff hold out hope of a return home soon, they are also realistic, and preparing mentally – and logistically – for a season quite unlike any other.
“You always hold out hope the WA Government will swing things in our favour and get home but what the club is good at now … is planning for worst case scenario,” he revealed.
“We are in the process of relocating, which is hard for lads that packed for three-four weeks and stay for three-four months.
“Hopefully we can be somewhere where we can set up a hub, be together as a family, and act normal, still go out and live a normal life but have advantages of teams come to us and suite it like when teams come to Perth to have a home advantage.
“Gold Coast, Townsville, Canberra … places that haven’t got a football club, the club is trying to set us up with the best possible facilities and infrastructure. For everyone in the league, they’d want Glory to make the finals. No one would be angry, or we don’t want them – I think everyone would want to see us do it.”
In the short term, they’ll be without Daniel Sturridge again, with the marquee star now struck down by COVID.
The former Liverpool and Chelsea striker could not have had a more punctuated start to life in Australia.
“God love Studgey; all he wants to do is have a good week of training and a game and do that the next week, and the next week,” O’Neill said.
“And since he’s come over, after not kicking a ball for a while, he’s gone through what we’ve gone through (as well).
“That’s tough. But you can see what he brings on a football pitch … I can only imagine what he can do for the football club. Let’s just hope he can do this on a consistent basis.
“He’s a good fella, he takes life in a very good way and then puts himself in a situation he wants to be active, be involved …”
