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I caught
up with the former Socceroos defender as he put the kids to bed to get an
insight on his career so far, the highs
and lows of being a professional footballer and what keeps him going...
JQ: “You’ve been a professional footballer for the best part
of a decade now, you’re 33, but you’re still as fit as ever. What’s the secret?
Is it the yoga?”
DH: “A decade? Has it been that long? I suppose if you count
back the years of the A-League and then a bit with Sydney United before that it
would be a decade. There you go!
Yeah I’ve always tried to look after myself. The yoga definitely
helps. It’s unreal. I love having a good stretch, but also the meditation side
of it. You have a 15-20 minute chill out at the end and it’s like having a four
hour sleep.”
JQ: “I could go for a four hour sleep in 15 minutes, I might
have to try this yoga business.”
DH: “Definitely mate, I would highly recommend it!
I think a big factor
in what has kept me fresh is the fact
that I wasn’t really playing professionally until my early to mid twenties.
I grew up playing alongside guys like Adam and Joel
Griffiths, and when they went on to play in the first team about 18 or 19 years
old, I was going oversees to Canada with my mates, was happy just training
Tuesdays and Thursdays and living a normal life.
It wasn’t until I was about 23 that the opportunity came
along with the Mariners when the A-League started.
I look at guys my age who have been training and playing every day since they were 18 and they’re burnt out now, I feel much younger than 33.”
I look at guys my age who have been training and playing every day since they were 18 and they’re burnt out now, I feel much younger than 33.”
JQ: “Can you see
yourself being one of these guys who play into their late 30’s? What drives you
to keep going?”
DH: “What drives me? Good question. I don’t know. I guess
(pauses) you just always want to be better than you are. You always want more. (laughs)
I’ll come home after a game, even after a win and people will
say things like ‘great game’ and ‘well played’ but I’ll be thinking ‘yeah but I
should have done this’ or ‘I could have done that better’.
As for playing into my late 30’s, yeah I can’t see why not.
As long as I’m still enjoying it. You’re a long time retired so I’ll play as
long as I can.
We (the Wanderers) just got back from Asia doing a
pre-season tour and we were worked pretty hard in training and games, and the
body was recovering as well as it ever has.
I’ve been pretty
lucky with injuries, I guess, not too many bad ones over the course of a
decade.”
JQ: “You did have that nasty broken leg though.”
DH: “Yeah that was a pretty bad one. More so just because of
how long it took me to get fit again.
It set me back seven months. Then when I got the cast off they
said it hadn’t fully healed and I needed to go back in the cast for another few months.
That was pretty hard.
But in hindsight, it probably kept me fresh as well, having
a large chunk of time away from the game.”
JQ: “Does it still give you any problems?”
DH: “The injury? No, not at all mate. In fact it’s the opposite.
I’ve still got the rod in there holding everything in place
but I actually feel like the leg is stronger now than it has ever been.
I went through a period there after I came back where I just
felt like there was no ‘spring’ in the leg. I couldn’t jump very high off it, I
couldn’t take off quickly or change direction suddenly. But now it’s as good as
it’s ever felt and able to do all those things. I feel great.”
JQ: “Dealing with injury must be a stressful time for
somebody who relies on their body for a living. Harry Kewell says he can’t
watch games while he’s injured, it’s too frustrating. Are you the same?”
DH: “It depends; if I’m not able to play I’ll definitely go
to the games and support the boys as much as I can. But when I had my leg in
the cast I didn’t even like going to training because I hated seeing everybody
else out there running around knowing I couldn't join them.”
JQ: “What are some of the other down sides of being a
professional footballer?”
DH: “There aren’t many, we have it pretty good so I won’t
complain. You have to be prepared to make sacrifices. There are little things,
like the amount of time away from your family.
I missed my brother’s wedding because I was in Germany. That
was upsetting because I wanted to be there with him. And my sister’s wedding
day, I missed that as well. Actually the day I broke my leg was the same day my
sister got married.”
JQ: “It surprised a
lot of people that Perth Glory let you go after last season. Were you
disappointed they didn’t try to keep you?”
DH: “Yeah well my contract was up at the end of the season,
so I was always looking set to leave.
But then we started playing well and getting good results
and I was playing pretty much every game.
It looked like we
might have a crack at the finals and talk of a new contract started coming up.
But in the end nothing really came of it.
The season ended, my contract ran down and my family and I
wanted to go home, so we did.”
JQ: “Is it a nervous time being off contract, not knowing if
you’ll get another one or where it will be?”
DH: “It can be nervous, yeah. But I figured that all the
coaches out there know what I can do by now, so as long as I stayed fit over
the off season then I was likely to get a game somewhere.”
JQ: “It couldn’t have worked out much better then, ending up
in Sydney?”
DH: “Yeah there were a few options on the table but the
Wanderers were definitely my first choice for where I wanted to go, so when the
offer came from Poppa (Wanderers Coach Tony Popovic) I was very happy to sign.”
JQ: “You must be excited to play in front of the Wanderer’s
fans?”
DH: “Absolutely, I can’t wait. I played there with Perth
last season and they were unreal, I can’t wait to have them on my side!”
JQ: “Has Poppa given you an indication of where he intends
to play you?”
DH: “Well I’m officially signed as a ‘defensive utility’ so
it could be anywhere across the back, but hopefully it’s on the left.
Poppa
almost choked on his coffee when I told him I’d prefer to play as a striker, so
based on his reaction I agreed to settle for the defensive utility role.” (laughs)
JQ: “So you were dead serious about playing striker?!”
DH: “Yeah mate! (laughing) I had a game there last season
for Perth when we had some injuries up front and it was great fun. I’d go to
hit a diagonal pass, miss hit it and it would end up being a perfect through
ball for a team mate. You just have to pretend like you meant to do it.”
JQ: “The ‘utility player’ tag can be a good and bad one to
have though.”
DH: “Yeah for sure. Being a ‘utility’ can mean you have to
make way for a player who can only play in their preferred position, and you
end up getting shifted out somewhere else or even out of the team altogether.
We had a game last season in Melbourne where I started at
left back, got moved up to left wing, we had a man sent off and I went back to
left back, then when we were chasing a late goal I got pushed up front. All in
one game.
But it has its upsides. It helped me get my contract here
because Poppa knew he was getting a player who could fill a number of positions if needed to.”
JQ: “How have you found the Wanderers set up?”
DH: “It’s great, I love it. Everybody here works so hard on
the tiniest details. Everybody is trying to be better than they were the week
before. The players have a real winning attitude and the coaching and training staff
are superb.”
JQ: “Anyone in the squad do yoga?”
DH: “Everybody does! All of us!”
JQ: “I think we’ve found the Wanderers’ secret weapon then! Anyone
in particular impressed you at the club?”
DH: “Mark Bridge. He’s so dedicated to being as good as he
can be. He’s lost a heap of weight, trains harder than anyone. Some of the guys
might enjoy a chocolate or something like that here and there after dinner but
he’s so disciplined. It’s no surprise he had a great season last year.”
JQ: “Does the squad feel any pressure to repeat the
unbelievable run you had last season?”
DH: “Obviously we’ve now got a target on our back and won’t
be catching any teams by surprise, but the only pressure we have is the
pressure we put on ourselves to be the best we can be.”
JQ: “Cheers mate, I’ll let you get back to the kids.”
DH: “Thanks buddy, good talking to you again. Take care.”