Josh Nisbet is relishing the opportunity to dispel any doubts about his physical ability to compete at Ross County.
At 5ft 3in, midfielder Nisbet is among the smallest players to have featured in the Scottish Premiership following his move from Central Coast Mariners.
Nisbet made his debut as a substitute in last weekend’s 6-0 defeat to Rangers at Hampden Park, and is in contention for today’s visit of Aberdeen.
In recent years, Nisbet had become frustrated at being overlooked for the opportunity to move to European football.
He has now signed a three-year deal with the Staggies after winning the A-League player of the year in a treble-winning campaign with the Mariners.
Nisbet insists he had to prove many people wrong to show what he is capable of.
‘Great step in my career’
He insists holding his own in the Scottish Premiership, which is renowned for its physicality, will further silence his doubters.
The 25-year-old said: “It’s a great step in my career.
“It’s also going to prove a lot of people wrong when it comes to physical doubts, if I can compete in probably one of the most difficult leagues for physicality.
“I have a low centre of gravity and I get my body in the way.
“I’m not going to go out there and absolutely smack someone, but I will compete and work hard to make sure you wouldn’t doubt if I can physically compete or not.
“At the start you get down a little bit, but now it’s a case of ‘say what you like’ and I’ll back myself to do what I need to do.
“Even throughout my youth development, I went out having to prove people wrong about my height.
“As much as you would like to hope it’s different, coming into senior football it’s still a bit the same.
“An opportunity in a league like this, which is still high quality as well as physically demanding, is going to be great to step up and prove myself.”
Familiar faces have inspired midfielder
Nisbet is by no means the first player to move to Scotland from Down Under in recent years.
Of the Socceroos World Cup squad in 2022, six were playing in the Premiership at the time and a further four – including former Staggies Jackson Irvine and Harry Souttar – had previous Scottish experience.
Nisbet will come up against a former team-mate this weekend in Aberdeen’s James McGarry, and he insists he has not been short of well wishes following his switch to Dingwall.
He added: “It has been an ambition for a few years. I thought I was doing all right, and a lot of other players got transfers that I was hoping I would get.
“That time has come, where my opportunity has arrived.
“I had a lot of good feedback from Australian boys that had been here.
“If I could maybe follow in their footsteps, I’d be doing all right. It definitely puts confidence in me.
“Harry Souttar reached out to me and said the club is good, the staff are good, and it’s a good place to start an opportunity.
“I know all the Aussie boys, but Lewis Miller and Kye Rowles are ex team-mates of mine back in Australia.
“To be fair, I didn’t speak to Jimmy. He did really well at the club – he wasn’t even there for a year, I think it was six months and then he was off to Aberdeen.
“He did exceptionally well and got the move, so it will be great to catch up with him and see how he is doing.”
Nisbet aiming to continue Socceroos progress
Nisbet made his breakthrough into the Australia national team earlier this year, winning two caps against Lebanon and Bangladesh.
He was this week called into Graham Arnold’s squad for an upcoming double header against Bahrain and Indonesia.
Nisbet insists keeping his place in the Socceroos’ setup is a major ambition.
Nisbet added: “When I was eight I got Socceroos everything for my birthday. It was always an ambition of mine, but you don’t quite realise how close or far it is at the time.
“I was playing well and hoping for it, and fortunately it came. I hope to keep pushing and stay in there as long as I can.
“There’s a lot of competition in the Australian midfield. We’ve got a lot of players playing in high level leagues.
“I need to make sure I’m performing and doing well. I back myself to do that – and I back Ross County to help me do that.”
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