PRIZED Newcastle Jets recruit Brandon O'Neill has won multiple championships and played in Korea but, in terms of football, the industrious midfielder has never felt more challenged - or been happier.
The Jets on Friday completed the first week of their pre-season and to say O'Neill has been impressed is an understatement.
"I haven't smiled like this on the football field in a long, long while," O'Neill said after a 90-minute session. "I feel like I am getting better every single day. That is the environment we are building here. It is an absolute joy to be part of it.
"From the boss, to the coaching staff, to the boys, there is a level and a standard and an intensity to what we do that I have not been involved in. I wish I got here sooner."
O'Neill won two A-League Championships at Sydney FC under current Socceroos coach Graham Arnold and had a season for Pohang Steelers in the K-League.
Asked what he liked most about working with Jets coach Arthur Papas, O'Neill said: "It is the football methodology that he brings. He has a philosophy and everyone buys in. If you don't buy in, then it's on you.
"That is the best thing about this environment. We are all on the bus together and on the same journey. Every single player, whether you are a striker, right back, goalkeeper, coaching staff member ... we are just here to get better. I know that is an environment that I thrive in."
O'Neill, 28, had two years to run on his contact in Perth, where he was captain and said his reason for departing was purely football related.
"It was nice to make a football decision, which is something I haven't been able to do in a long while," O'Neill said. "I was happy as a bloke in Perth. My family were there and we were very settled. In my footballing, that wasn't the case. I had to have a few honest conversations with Perth [management] It worked out best for both parties."
A player of O'Neill's calibre, would have no shortage of suitors, so why the Jets.
"I remember watching them last year and going: 'there is something definitely going on here'," he said. "Watching the style of play, they looked like they are having a great time.That is what hooked me to watch them. Then obviously when it became apparent that we could start having those conversations, the more I talked to them ... it wasn't just the football, it was interlinked with getting the best version of yourself on and off the park."
O'Neill will make his debut for the Jets against Adelaide in the Australian Cup at McDonald Jones Stadium on July 30.
Two weeks is not a lot of time for new player to absorb information and get fit.
"The biggest thing is that I need to know my role and responsibility," O'Neill said. "The boss is very clear in the way he coaches and the way he directs me. He has been awesome in simplifying things and making sure I am doing the best for the team.
"The level that we do things - when you haven't been exposed to it, you walk out of here and your body feels it. It is a shock to the system.
"Every day I feel better and better and better. In three months, six months , 12 months time, I will love to see where this group will end up."
O'Neill is renting former Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley's home in Hamilton and will be joined by wife Nicole and seven-month old daughter Scotti before Christmas.
