As a kid growing up in Newcastle in the late noughties and early 2010s, all Connor Metcalfe wanted to do was play for the Newcastle Jets. Draped in gold, the skinny little midfielder would head off to Turton Road week after week to watch the likes of the Griffiths brothers, Nicky Carle, Tarek Elrich and Ruben Zadkovich turn out for his hometown club.
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"I used to go and watch Newcastle with Dad. I loved it," he says. "I remember all the players and the gold kit, I used to go to the Newcastle clinics on holiday."
As he sat in the stadium watching his team, he dreamt not only of playing for the club, but hopefully one day helping them to a premiership.
Fast forward to 2022, and that young man has the chance to do exactly that - except, it isn't with the Jets. On Saturday, the 22-year-old will line up in midfield for Melbourne City when they take on Western United in the A-League Men's grand final.
After coming on as a sub in City's 2020 grand final loss to Sydney FC, and watching from COVID-19 isolation last year as his teammates claimed the club's first-ever premiership (Metcalfe had recently returned to Australia after national team duty), Metcalfe is desperate to make an impression.
"I'm pretty excited. I missed out on last year, it was bittersweet; I was happy for the boys but I really wanted to be there and celebrate. But having the opportunity [this year] to be there and play, I'm just really excited."
The match is doubly significant for Metcalfe, who will leave Australia at the end of the season after signing with German second division club St Pauli.
"I'd obviously love to win it and end on a high. I've been here for quite a while now, so it'd be one way to repay the faith for what they've done for me, and also to repay the fans for always supporting us."
I'd obviously love to win it and end on a high. I've been here for quite a while now, so it'd be one way to repay the faith for what they've done for me, and also to repay the fans for always supporting us.
- Connor Metcalfe
To some Hunter football fans it might seem somewhat bittersweet that Metcalfe is lining up in sky blue instead of Newcastle gold. And if not for a twist of fate as a teenager, that might well have been the case.
Born in Newcastle in 1999, Metcalfe played junior football for Valentine and South Cardiff, before being selected in Northern NSW junior rep teams. But just as he was starting to attract the attention of the Jets' talent scouts, Metcalfe's dad was transferred to Melbourne for work.
From here, he progressed through the Victorian rep systems, before being signed by City at age 16. The rest, as they say, is history.
And even though he spent his formative teenage years in Melbourne, Metcalfe's extended family are all still in the Hunter, and he still holds the region close to his heart.
"If someone asks me where I'm from, obviously I'll say Newcastle, but knowing that I've done my teenage years in Melbourne, it's a bit strange. But I always miss Newcastle and I love going back when I can."
These circumstances are perhaps why there was relatively little fanfare locally when the midfielder broke a two-decade drought last year by becoming the first Novocastrian to play for the men's national team since Robbie Middleby in 2002.
"It was awesome. I've always wanted it since I was a kid," Metcalfe says.
"In the back of my mind I could see the smile from ear to ear on all my family's and my parents' faces, making them so proud.
"You don't get to play for the Socceroos a lot, unless you're lucky, so it was such an amazing opportunity."
However, instead of running out in front of an electric atmosphere in a sold-out stadium, COVID-19 restrictions meant that Metcalfe's debut against Chinese Taipei was played behind closed doors in neutral Kuwait.
"I've played in empty stadiums before and it's always strange," he says. "You're walking out and there's no crowd, you can really hear the coach, you can hear everyone and everything. It is pretty strange. I'd say it almost feels like a friendly match."
Metcalfe's rise has been one of the more remarkable stories in Australian football.
Over the past two years he has gone from a young player with potential to one of the country's brightest stars.
In 2021 he started every match for Melbourne City, scored five goals and three assists and made 40 interceptions, as well as having an 85 per cent passing accuracy rate.
In 2022 he finished the regular season with an impressive passing accuracy of 85.3 per cent, made 33 key passes and showcased his work-rate from box-to-box, also having 25 clearances and 29 interceptions.
Not only has he debuted for the national team, but during this time he has played an instrumental role in guiding City to back-to-back minor premierships, and was recently announced as the 2021-22 winner of the Alex Tobin Medal.
"It was awesome. I've always wanted it since I was a kid," Metcalfe says.
"In the back of my mind I could see the smile from ear to ear on all my family's and my parents' faces, making them so proud.
"You don't get to play for the Socceroos a lot, unless you're lucky, so it was such an amazing opportunity."
However, instead of running out in front of an electric atmosphere in a sold-out stadium, COVID-19 restrictions meant that Metcalfe's debut against Chinese Taipei was played behind closed doors in neutral Kuwait.
"I've played in empty stadiums before and it's always strange," he says. "You're walking out and there's no crowd, you can really hear the coach, you can hear everyone and everything. It is pretty strange. I'd say it almost feels like a friendly match."
Metcalfe's rise has been one of the more remarkable stories in Australian football.
Over the past two years he has gone from a young player with potential to one of the country's brightest stars.
In 2021 he started every match for Melbourne City, scored five goals and three assists and made 40 interceptions, as well as having an 85 per cent passing accuracy rate.
Not only has he debuted for the national team, but during this time he has played an instrumental role in guiding City to back-to-back minor premierships, and was recently announced as the winner of the Alex Tobin Medal for the PFA's best player in the A-League Men's competition.
"It's been a crazy past two to three years," Metcalfe says. "We've won trophies, we're in the 'granny' this year, I played for the national team, went to the Olympics - it's been an amazing two years, and I don't know why it's been so good. I don't have an answer!"
Heading to Germany
While Metcalfe himself might not have an answer, few football fans were left scratching their heads when it was announced in February that he would to join German second division powerhouses St Pauli at the end of the A-League season, linking up with Socceroos teammate Jackson Irvine.
On top of the move to Hamburg, Metcalfe is also right in the running for a spot in the Socceroos' squad for Australia's do-or-die World Cup qualifier against the UAE on June 8 - and then hopefully onward to the World Cup itself, to be held in Qatar in November.
So, even with the world at his feet as he prepares for his big overseas adventure, Metcalfe still takes the time to cast a thought back to where it all started.
"It just makes me feel proud, coming from a town that's NRL-dominant. There aren't many players that come out and make it professionally from those regional areas, so when these things happen and the opportunity arises it just makes me feel proud, and I think of all the people who have helped me," he says.
"Hopefully little kids back in Newcastle can look to me in a way and say, 'Hey, it's not impossible to make it.'"