Former A-League star and Gold Coast product Shane Smeltz opens up in this week’s Big Q&A
HE was born in Germany, plied his trade in six different countries and was the star of New Zealand’s remarkable 2010 World Cup run. But the Gold Coast remains home for former A-League marksman Shane Smeltz, as he discusses in this week’s Big Q&A.
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HE was born in Germany, plied his trade in six different countries and was the star of New Zealand’s remarkable 2010 World Cup run.
But the Gold Coast remains home for former A-League marksman Shane Smeltz, as he discusses in this week’s Big Q&A.
Q. So after six months in Germany, you moved to New Zealand for six years before settling on the Coast. Tell us about your time here.
A. I travelled around a little bit when I was young with my parents and then we settled on the Gold Coast for a while. I played most of my junior stuff on the Coast. I would’ve been maybe 10 and my first club was Nerang. Then I moved around a little bit and had a few different clubs – Broadbeach United was one junior club, Surfers Paradise for one season. Then we moved to the South Coast and I was playing for Palm Beach as well.
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Q. Did you have always that natural talent and flair for the game back then?
A. There was a stage where I played for the (Gold Coast) rep teams in under-12s and 14s and then I played for Runaway Bay under Pat Hedges. That was senior football - maybe second division at the time – but I was only 15 so it was a good opportunity to play senior football. I know the Coast really well. I went to school at Palm Beach Currumbin and Nerang.
Q. You hung up the boots in 2017 after almost 20 years at the top level. What are you up to now?
A. I’m in Sydney now working at Sydney FC. When I was playing here and left the club – I had a couple of years here – I had an arrangement I would come back in a coaching capacity so I’m back here as head coach of the under-20s and assistant coach of the NPL first team. It’s all wrapped up together so we all train together as one big group. It’s been a good transition after playing football.
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Q. Was coaching the path you always wanted to follow when you finished playing?
A. When I was playing my full focus was on playing and myself but at the back end of the career you start thinking about these things and I was lucky enough to play til I was nearly 37. I had a good number of years and once you crack 30 you never really know when it is going to be time, so you do have to start thinking. Staying in football and coaching was something, in the last few years, I really took a liking to and felt I’d move down that path.
Q. So cracking it as an A-League coach must be a goal down the track?
A. For me, if I was going to do (coaching), I want to do it right and do it properly. I see starting out at a club like Sydney FC, which is arguably the best in Australia, is a really good stepping stone and a learning place for me. We’ve got a really good coaching environment here, obviously quality players that you’re dealing with at all levels, and a few good coaching mentors here. The likes of (Sydney FC academy director) Kelly Cross, who’s been working with all the coaches around Australia for 20-30 years, so it’s a really good working environment and somewhere I knew and felt I’d be able to progress. Whether you stay here long term or move on in the football world, no-one really knows but it’s a really good start for me. (Coaching) is definitely challenging because although you know the game and have been involved a long time, there’s other aspects that you’ve got to learn and develop. It’s a good challenge and I’m enjoying it.
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Q. You scored goals everywhere you went. Is that something you can coach?
A. Scoring goals, part of it, is a natural ability. It’s something I always enjoyed doing as a kid and you don’t realise at the time that all that work you’re doing through those junior years is setting you up for what sort of player you are. I’m in that space now working with kids from 16 up to 20 so you can really see what they do now is going to affect how they progress. It’s a little bit of natural ability and ... once you taste success with scoring goals at different levels it really just sort of becomes a drug.
Q. Why has Australia struggled to produce players who can score in recent years?
A. It’s a hard one. Part of the reason could be that in the A-League, a lot of strikers have been foreigners. The focus hasn’t been on playing young, Australian players and allowing them to progress. But in the last few years a few more have started to come through with the likes of (Jamie) McLaren, Adam Taggart and these sort of guys.
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Q. What are the things that stand out for you as your career highlights?
A. One is my longevity in the A-League and in the game. Managing to play to 36, 37 years old and having 10 good years in the A-League, a couple of Golden Boots, the Johnny Warren Medal, those sort of things stand out. To top it off is probably the World Cup. I’ve played in three Confederation Cups but the World Cup was definitely a highlight. That whole six-week period with the build-up for it and then the actual event, and what we managed to achieve as a small nation and not losing a game. And me scoring and assisting in one of the games, it was just an amazing time. They say those moments live with you forever and I did a school visit the other day and it’s still a topic of conversation, scoring against Italy.
Q. Coming back to play for Gold Coast United must have been special too?
A. For me it was a real highlight. You speak to most players that were involved in it and they really enjoyed it. For me, I still feel like I’m from the Gold Coast - I grew up there, went to school, I’ve got friends there, my one and only property is there now so it still feels like home for me. At the time I was at Wellington Phoenix ... and there was talk a club from the Gold Coast would come in. The next minute I’d signed a three-year deal there. I couldn’t believe in my home town, a new franchise had come in. There was all that hype and everyone knows how great the Gold Coast is but then (the club) was actually successful on the pitch as well. It was a really good team, a really enjoyable team to play for and the boys were great.
Q. Could you ever see yourself coming back home to the Gold Coast?
A. I could. You’ve probably heard it from Thwaitey (Michael Thwaite) and a few other people that it was heartbreaking to see the way it fell apart there (for Gold Coast United). You never know what’s going on with football there. I know the Gold Coast is trying to do things now (to get back). If there was ever a region that I’d like to go back to and do something football-wise, it’s certainly a place. My kids love the place so it’d be nice. It’s just not the right time at the minute but certainly whenever I get a chance to get up there, I jump on a plane and have a little break, which is good.
Q. Did you ever have the chance to play for Australia rather than New Zealand?
A. That’s an interesting one. Obviously growing up here most of my life, I definitely felt we were Australian. I bought the Australian kit when I was a junior and went to the AIS on trial at one stage. I was in the pathway to play for Australia but it just happened that at a certain stage I hadn’t made the Australian team and then some interest came from New Zealand, which I’d never even really thought about. At the time you had the likes of Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka playing for Australia and it would have been tough cracking that. So it was a decision I had to make at the time.
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Q. Are there any teammates you’ve remained in close contact with in retirement?
A. There’s plenty, that’s one of the great things about playing football. Even when I left Australia I had two years in Asia, in Malaysia and Indonesia, and I’ve got some really good friends and contacts made from that. But (I stay in touch with) guys from my national team. I keep in regular contact with Andrew Durante, who I played with at Wellington and in the national team. There’s guys like Glen Moss, another Gold Coast boy who I went to school with and played in the national team with. Even Thwaitey, I speak to him fairly regularly, which is nice. There’s probably too many to name, it’s hard to keep in touch with everyone but I think the football community is like that. Whenever you bump into someone it’s as if you haven’t been away.
Q. What about opponents you lined up against? There must’ve been some tough ones.
A. I was fortunate enough to play against some really classy opponents around the world and some of the best teams. I played against France in 2003, which was an unbelievable thing, and then played against Spain in 2009 and 2010. They were great teams and individual players. Then you look at duels even here in the A-League, playing against the likes of Kevin Muscat and Craig Moore. You knew what you were in for. That was in the Gold Coast days and obviously I was a focal point up front. It was a really good challenge and you had to stand up to it.
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SHANE SMELTZ FACT FILE
Age: 37
Position: striker
Junior clubs: Nerang, Broadbeach, Surfers, Palm Beach, Runaway Bay
A-League clubs: Wellington Phoenix, Gold Coast United, Perth, Sydney FC
A-League goals: 92 (second-highest)
Highlights:
■ Played in Australia, NZ, Turkey, England, Indonesia and Malaysia
■ Fifty-eight caps for New Zealand for 24 goals, including one in 1-1 draw against Italy at 2010 World Cup
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