Town boss Kieran McKenna is delighted that Cameron Burgess has received his first full Australia call-up and praised the centre-half for the “huge strides” he has made over the last 18-20 months.
Burgess is one of eight Town players who will be away with international squads during the break, the 27-year-old having previously won caps at U20 and U23 levels with the Socceroos and prior to changing his international allegiance with Scotland’s U18s and U19s.
Having been signed from Accrington Stanley for £750,000 in the summer of 2021 during Paul Cook’s time as boss, Burgess didn’t get his chance under McKenna until the 2-0 home win against Lincoln in March 2022, the current manager having taken over in the December.
"It's wonderful for him,” McKenna said. "I think it's worth knowing Cameron's story. I think Cameron probably didn't play in the first three or four months, maybe three months I was here.
"He was probably the only senior player in the squad who wasn't getting rotated in the team or wasn't getting minutes.
"I think that's worth noting because it's part of the story of why everyone here is so proud and so happy for him because he's a fantastic professional, he's worked so hard at the game, he's made huge strides over the last 18-20 months and we know how much it means to him to represent his country and everyone's so proud of him.”
Has Burgess had a smile on his face during training? "He's pretty steady-away, Burge, you've seen him on the pitch. He's never too up or down, so he's not going to be dancing around the dressing room or anything like that.
"But we know how much it means to him we know he's really proud it was a goal for him going into the season and we know he's very pleased and certainly everyone's very pleased for him.”
McKenna added: "I'm delighted for him and for all the players. I think it's great individual recognition for them, but also I think we should be proud as a club because it's not that long ago we didn't have any internationals, and now we've got players who've been here and been part of our journey over the last couple of years getting that individual recognition that comes on the back of their excellent performances but also comes on the back of the team and the club's progression.
"So, to have Samy [Morsy] back in the Egypt squad again, something that he's very proud of and thoroughly deserves, Wes [Burns] and Nathan [Broadhead] getting called up for Wales, I'm sure those boys don't take that for granted and that means a lot to them.
"Wes is an example that you can break into an international side and squad later on in your career, which is not easy so a great reflection.
"And Elkan [Baggott], of course, going [away with Indonesia’s U23s], Cieran [Slicker] going with [Scotland’s] 21s, Dane [Scarlett] going with the 21s.
"I know that Jack [Taylor] is really close and is knocking on that door [with the Republic of Ireland] and I think we can all see that Massimo [Luongo] has been incredible for the last eight months and I know that he's certainly knocking on that door very very hard as well for an international call-up [with Australia].
"So I think it's a nice landmark for the club to have players getting that recognition and something that we're proud of and a nice thing for them, but a nice thing for everyone involved at the club as well I think.”
The other side of that is that the Blues could lose a number of those players in January and February when the Africa Cup of Nations and AFC Asian Cup take place.
Morsy’s Egypt have already qualified for their finals in the Ivory Coast, which could see him miss up to five games if he is included in the squad.
Australia and Indonesia will be at the Asian Cup finals in Qatar, which could potentially see Burgess, Luongo and Baggott away for a similar spell.
"That’s football,” McKenna shrugged. "If we want to be back in the Championship and beyond some day, then these inconveniences are part of modern football - international tournaments, playing on Sundays and Monday nights and all these things.
"That’s part of modern football and that’s the table that we want to be at, we want to have players getting that recognition and contributing in those tournaments because ultimately that will benefit the club.
"They’ll learn from the experiences, hopefully they’ll come back better players and hopefully that helps improve the group and helps everyone else get better.
"We’ll deal with those call-ups if they come, that’s part of trying to re-establish ourselves as a club and progressing as a club.”