Overlooked Hingert keen to show Ange what he’s made of

Brisbane’s Jack Hingert is determined to show Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou what he is missing out on.

Brisbane Roar’s Jack Hingert. Picture: Tim Marsden

It stung when Brisbane’s Jack Hingert was overlooked for the 30-man Socceroos squad for this month’s World Cup qualifier in Thailand, but the 26-year-old is determined to show coach Ange Postecoglou what he’s missing out on.

“Who doesn’t want to be in the squad?” the right-back said yesterday. “It does hurt but I’m happy where I am at the moment.”

Many pundits believed Hingert was ripe for the picking. He tops Roar’s statistics after four A-League games, with 241 passes, and is equal fourth in crosses and clearances.

“I love playing with Brisbane. Last season was quite a consistent one for me and I’m hoping to continue that this season,’’ Hingert said.

“If it does lead to a call-up to the Socceroos squad later on I’d be delighted as that is certainly something I’m aiming to do.

“I’ll keep pushing and do my best to achieve that.”

The former Northern Fury player is nearing 100 A-League games for Brisbane — this Friday’s round-five match against Melbourne City will be his 93rd — and his silky skills were on display in the 2-1 win over Perth last Sunday.

Coincidentally, Glory right-back Josh Risdon has been
called into the squad for the match against Thailand on November 15, where he could add to his three international appearances. Postegolou is trimming the squad to 23 this week.

Roar coach John Aloisi has a similar abundance of talent to choose from, with midfielder Manuel Arana and striker Dimitria Petratos expected to return.

Aloisi already has players such as Brett Holman, Tommy Oar, Thomas Kristensen and Jamie Maclaren all working well together.

“I can’t imagine the headache John’s going to have when all the boys are back,” Hingert said. “I’m glad they’re his headaches and not mine.

“We’ve got a great squad, great depth. And as you can see, we are starting to gel after those new signings. It does take a couple of weeks for all that to happen, and if we continue to do that we’re going to have a great season.”

Aloisi admits it’s a nice problem to have. “We knew it was going to get better. We wanted it to click straight away ... that’s not always the case but it is getting better,” he said.

“And the players coming in, like (Dimitri) Petratos, know the way we want to play. So it won’t take him time and the players around him know him.

“So it’s a good headache to have options. But we need options because we’ve got a game within five days so we might need to make changes if players don’t recover well.”

Melbourne City face a further numerical hurdle at Suncorp Stadium, where Roar have an imposing record of 74 wins and 30 draws from 146 games. They are on a nine-game unbeaten streak going back to last season.

“When I played with Fury, the Townsville heat and summer was the same and we still hated coming here,” Hingert said. “I can imagine it’s a lot harder for teams coming up from down south.”

However, the attacking ability of Bruno Fornaroli and Tim Cahill should travel well.

“At the same time, we’re becoming very dangerous ourselves moving forward,” Hingert said.

“We can attack them as well as they will attack us, so we’re in for a very entertaining game.”