Melbourne Victory mid-season signing Lachlan Jackson opens up on his four years in South Korea and what it took to fit in

Lachlan Jackson tried everything to fit in when playing in South Korea – including eating dried maggots – and admits linking up with Melbourne Victory mid-season has been a much easier transition.

Slotting into Melbourne Victory mid-season has been a breeze for Lachlan Jackson after four years in South Korea where he ate dried maggots to fit in with his teammates.

Jackson spent four years playing for K-League side Suwon FC – making the move from Newcastle Jets during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

He is now back in the A-League’s Men’s after signing an 18 month deal with Melbourne Victory during the January transfer window.

Jackson said moving to Melbourne was far less of a culture shock than moving to Suwon.

Born in Townsville, it took him and his wife two years to really settle in and he only managed to pick up small amounts of the language.

“But the food is a big culture shock,” Jackson said.

“I’ve tried dried maggots, intestines, liver, a live octopus soup – I didn’t try them a second time but I tried it once.

“There’s definitely more and some I wouldn’t touch again but some were delicious.

“Being at one team for a longer period you start to form relationships with players and they invite you out and to new places and try new things and that helped a lot. I had good teammates over there.”

Lachlan Jackson fully embraced the culture during his four season playing in South Korea – including trying all the food. Picture: supplied

Lachlan Jackson - and friend - in South Korea. Picture: supplied

He described his unit as a “shipping container in the sky” and grocery shopping was impossible without google translate open on his phone.

“The weather was everything, it’s the two extremes,” Jackson said.

“You have two months in spring and the autumn which is quite nice and then it’s very humid in the summer. It’s basically a four month winter which is freezing, it gets to minus 20 and you really can’t play football in that.”

A far cry from the very mild winters experienced in Queensland.

“I had many layers, many gloves, hand warmers – I wore it all,” Jackson said.

On the field posed just as many challenges for Jackson, especially in his first season with mandatory face masks for training sessions.

As a centre back, communication is key but that proved difficult when he was one of the only English speaking players.

“It’s just a lot of body language and trying to read people,” Jackson said.

“I guess playing football is different when you can’t communicate what you want and it’s a lot of just yelling and screaming at each other. It was an adaptation I had to get used to.

“One of the good things was when the coach would yell at you over there you don’t really understand what they’re saying so I’d just smile and wave.”

Despite the challenges Jackson said he still learned plenty from his time in the K-League – especially a new sense of calm.

“The games are managed until the last 10 to 15 minutes – it just turns into a frenzy,” Jackson said.

“It turns really end to end and passionate and I’ve learned to just try to stay calm and deal in those moments. The calmer you can be in the last few moments in a game is critical because it can cost you or win you the game.”

After four seasons and 85 games for Suwon FC Jackson and his wife decided it was time to make the move back to Australia.

Melbourne Victory's Lachlan Jackson in action after joining the side in the January transfer window. Picture: Anita Milas

“We really enjoyed our time there, we fell in love with the people and the culture, the food but we were ready to come back and settle in Australia and find a club that wanted to strive for bigger things and Melbourne Victory was the perfect place,” Jackson said.

“It is also difficult in South Korea for my wife to get a job, it wasn’t the easiest with the language barrier, so she can settle in here as well.

“I don’t think I would have stayed as long over there if she didn’t come with me, it’s been harder on her. I get to go out with the team and go to training, go away on trips where she was on her own.

“It was a big effort and commitment on her behalf and I’m very grateful.

“We really found our place over there, we loved it and we will definitely go back on holidays.”

Originally published as Melbourne Victory mid-season signing Lachlan Jackson opens up on his four years in South Korea and what it took to fit in