Hibs new boy: 'I can't thank gaffer enough for keeping faith.'

Nectar Triantis has thanked Hibs boss Nick Montgomery for keeping faith with him despite a torrid start to his loan spell at Hibs. And the young Aussie, blossoming in a midfield role after struggling in central defence, insists he’s getting fully up to speed with the pace and physicality of the Scottish game.

Triantis, who won the A-League with Monty’s Central Coast Mariners last season, signed for Sunderland in the summer window but struggled to get game time. Jumping at the chance to move north in January, he was thrown into a team struggling for fit defenders – and saw his lack of competitive action exposed.

Looking like a man transformed since being dropped and then restored to the starting line-up as a defensive midfielder, the 20-year-old said: “My relationship with the manager has always been positive, it has always been good. He has always been good for me, and I can’t thank him enough for the belief and trust he puts in me.

“The way he does that for everybody, he is a great manager and a great man. It just puts belief in me personally. You can see it in my game, I am playing with confidence and knowing the gaffer trusts me in what I am doing.

“He didn’t have to sell the move; it goes both ways. It was a great fit for me and for the club. It’s a good model here and I fit well into the team.

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“I am getting out of what I hoped I would, 100 per cent. It’s a great league and a good standard. And as a young player I am learning off the more experienced players and picking up stuff every day.

“I was more of an attacking player growing up, I didn’t play in midfield until I was 16 or 17. But then someone put me on a stretcher, and I grew too much! They put me back to centre half.

“Yeah, I feel a lot more comfortable now. That comes with time, I don’t think it’s a personal thing, it’s a general thing of players taking time to settle and gel into the team. I think I have done that.

“The switch has helped. I am happy to play centre-half or midfield, it’s wherever the team needs me, and I am just happy to give my all.”

Explaining the enduring lure of British football to aspiring Aussie talents, Triantis said: “It’s an attractive style of play. The top end footballers in the world are all in England and Europe and the UK. So it’s an aspiration for most Australian players.

“And not just them. I think players all over the world look at the English and Spanish leagues and you can tell looking at the Champions League they are the best.

“Once I came to the UK you speak more and more to players and start to learn the leagues and how things work and what they involve. I was attracted to it (Scottish football) which is why I came here.

“It’s a very aerial and physical game and I have learned a lot from that aspect, how to deal with balls in the air, crosses, the ugly side of the game.

“Players here have experienced that for many years and are streetwise. All these little things help me develop as a player and as a young player you want to get better and better each and every day.”

Admitting that he’s had “positive” conversations with Soccer Australia management about a potential Socceroos call-up, under-23 international Triantis insisted he couldn’t really say much more on the subject. Watch this space.