The crude rugby league drill behind the rise of Connor Metcalfe
SanFrancisco: Unlike many Socceroos, Connor Metcalfe did not grow up in a football family. Actually, it’s far from that. His father knew so little about the game that when he came home from school one day and announced that he wanted to start playing, he had no idea what to do or how to help him.
So Grant Metcalfe did what any Newcastle rugby league player would do. He took his six-year-old son into the backyard and started kicking Steeden note. with that but -most he. It’s quite difficult. And at relatively close range.
Connor could only use his feet to pick it up.
“Looking back, it was a great idea,” Metcalfe says with a laugh.
“I used to have to control it; you had to pick it up on the fly; however, it came at you. He’d belt the ball to me and I’d have to pass it back to him or juggle it. That was his job. Then we’d switch to a regular football and it got a lot easier.”
If you can imagine, this is the partial result of the Socceroos’ development as World Cup goalscorers. That’s how Metcalfe made one with the ball.
“Shout out to the great man, Grant,” he says. “He was in on it too.”
Metcalfe can barely remember a time in his life when football wasn’t a big part of it, but it was never something his family were particularly interested in. His father played rugby league and his mother played netball, but neither at a serious level. His brother played football but quit football at the age of 11.
He had inherited no obsession with the game, and he had no deep, emotional origin story to tell how he came into its orbit.
“I don’t know where this drive and passion comes from,” he says.
Metcalfe thinks it probably happened during the freshman year of school.
“I played it for lunch and loved it,” he says.
“I loved kicking this damn ball, chasing it. I remember coming home and telling my mom, ‘I want to play football.’
“And he said, ‘Okay.'”
That demand sent his novice parents into an intense process of self-education: YouTube rabbit holes, ball-mastery programmes, the minefield of the Australian football industry – anything they could find or do to help their son, whose talent was evident despite his small size.
In the process of turning him into a Socceroo, the Metcalfes transformed themselves into football people. Connor thinks they watch more football than he does these days.
“They are very invested and they love it,” he said.
“My dad took coaching very seriously. He watched the big moments, and when we trained together, he’d come out and say: ‘You’ve got to shoot.’ [Wayne] Rooney.’ He loved Rooney. He was a good coach because he had no background.”
By the time Metcalfe reached his early teens, Newcastle no longer felt big enough for his ambitions.
The family moved to Melbourne and he enrolled at the Maribyrnong Sports Academy, but he soon attracted the attention of Melbourne City. Within a year he was in City’s academy; He made his A-League debut within four minutes and made his youth debut in green and gold.
Metcalfe has not gone unnoticed, especially since he started playing for the Socceroos in 2021. A footballer’s player whose contributions often do not receive the praise he deserves from fans but are rewarded by coaches and teammates.
“Maybe because I’m not the flashiest actor,” he says.
“I don’t shoot from all over the place and I just try to keep it simple. I just like to work hard for the group and do my best. But that doesn’t really bother me because we’ve got a lot of young and up-and-coming talent, so the main focus is on them and that’s totally fine.”
At least that was until he scored against Türkiye and was then left on the bench by coach Tony Popovic against the USA. But the 26-year-old’s brilliant performance in the second half laid a strong foundation for his return to the starting lineup for the crucial Group D match against Paraguay at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in Santa Clara, which will determine Australia’s path to the knockout stage.
Metcalfe has been playing limited minutes at club level for German club FC St Pauli this season, so he greatly appreciates Popovic’s support.
“I haven’t played much, so I don’t have much expectations. And for him to say ‘No, I don’t care, I’ll play with you’ is a really nice feeling because I don’t have that feeling at my club,” he says.
“Every time I play I want to repay him with everything I have.”
