Ryan Thomas in action for the All Whites against Peru in the 2018 World Cup Intercontinental play-offs. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Ryan Thomas never ruled out a return to the All Whites, but the timing had to be right.
The midfielder has played 19 times for the All Whites, last putting on the jersey against Ireland in Dublin in 2019, but a run of injuries and surgeries alongside limited playing minutes with two different Dutch clubs meant the 30-year-old did not want to make himself available again for the national side until he felt ready.
Coach Darren Bazeley had kept close tabs on Thomas, who debuted for the All Whites as a teenager, and said it was a "relatively easy" decision to offer him a place in the squad for the upcoming two games against Australia.
"He's had a really tough time of it and the last two, three years he never ruled the All Whites out, he's just said to me that he needs to have a good six months of full fitness with no injuries," Bazeley said.
"He had a good end of the season last year, good off season worked hard pre-season and now he started the season really well, he's captain at his club [PEC Zwolle], playing 90 minutes which is great to see."
Bazeley said Thomas was the kind of player that was worth the wait if his last performance for the All Whites was anything to go by.
All Whites midfielder Ryan Thomas, centre, in action for PEC Zwolle Photo: AFP
He said Thomas was a "mature and intelligent player" who had been looking at the bigger picture and his playing future when he made himself unavailable.
"We have to remember that this is his life and his livelihood. He gets paid to play football and there was moments over the last few years where that was potentially in doubt, would he be able to carry on earning money playing football and that's quite daunting for a footballer to go, 'Well, what do I do next?'
"He's got a family, he's got young girls and so that was what he had to prioritise, making sure that he was always in a position where he was employed.
"The worry was taking on extra football in regards to [All Whites] maybe makes the percentages of getting an injury higher.
"So until he felt fully fit and he wasn't worried about getting injured he didn't want to take on the extra workload and the loading but now he feels really strong, and he told me the other day, it's as fit as he's ever felt."
Thomas' inclusion is one of six changes from the squad named for the 1-0 win over Ivory Coast and the 2-1 loss to Ukraine in June.
While some of the All Whites' regulars, Chris Wood, Libby Cacace, Sarpeet Singh and Marko Stamenic, will be back for the Soccer Ashes, three players who switched clubs in the off season Matt Garbett, Ben Waine and Tommy Smith will not be.
All White Coach Darren Bazeley. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Bazeley saw the trio as still having potential to push for FIFA World Cup spots at next year's tournament in North America.
"They've newly joined [English lower league] clubs that don't stop for the international window, so if we were to call them up they would be missing games, where as everybody else, their clubs stop for the window so they're not going to miss football.
"So we felt like it was a really probably the best for these three to stay at their clubs, really embed themselves into their clubs and make sure that they're getting good game time at their clubs to put themselves in the best possible position to be selected in October."
For the September window, Bazeley called up seven players based in Britain, seven in New Zealand, two each in Australia and the US, and one in each of Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway and Serbia.
Despite the travel, some of them would have to endure with multiple flights to first get to Canberra for the 5 September game, and then on to Auckland four days later for the home game, Bazeley was happy with the balance of the squad and their match fitness by the time the first game was to be played.
"I think it's a good blend that we have positionally and strength wise and age wise and experience wise.
"Bringing in a couple of the younger players, Jesse Randall and Logan Rogerson coming back in and Callan's very young as well, he's good but we also got the experience with Woodsy and Kosta and Boxy, so I think there's a good blend in there, good balance."
James McGarry also returns after two years out of the All Whites set-up.
"We called James up a couple of years ago and then he got injured when he was at Aberdeen, and he got injured just before the tour, which was a shame, and since then he's moved around and fought a couple of injuries as well, and went to Greece for a while, and went back to Aberdeen and now he's ended up in Brisbane.
"We felt like this was a good opportunity to bring him in and have a look at him within the camp, within the environment, and obviously it's local for him so he doesn't have the burden of long travel."
The Socceroos have not named their squad yet but Bazeley expected they would take a similar approach to him.
"I know [coach Tony Popovic] there's no way he'll want to lose to us, that's for sure.
"He'll also be working on building towards the World Cup. So I can imagine him having a blend of similar to us, a lot of locally based domestic players and probably half of the squad coming from around Europe and Asia and they've got some players in Asia, so it's not so far, but I'm pretty sure they'll have a good balance."
The games against the Socceroos represent the first time the Soccer Ashes have been contested since 2023.
The Socceroos defeated the All Whites 2-0 in London to retain the title in 2023 after the contest was revived for the first time since 1954.
The All Whites have lost the last seven times they have played Australia.
This year the trophy will be decided on goal aggregate over a home and away leg.
"It's the first time we've really had this sort of scenario, it's like we're playing those old intercontinental playoff games where there was a home and away game against Mexico and Peru.
"But it will be a good experience for us, we know we're going to get a good game and Australia ranked 24 in the world - they're on a run of winning games and they've just qualified for the World Cup as well. So it's going to be super competitive.
"New Zealand against Australia in any sport is competitive, but when we look at football they're a team that we haven't beaten for 23 years and that's something that the players are aware of and that they want to put right."
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