Ryan Thomas: All Whites midfielder on his return to the team

Highly rated midfielder Ryan Thomas is back in the All Whites after an absence of almost six years.

The 30-year-old has battled a series of long-term injuries, turning his club career in Europe into a stop-start affair after making a big impact when he first arrived in Holland more than a decade ago.

He joined Piney to discuss further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk Zed be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Your Whites Meet Australia and the second Soccer Ashes football
match tomorrow night, Go Media Stadium, Australia. On the first
match on Friday night Wonderland Canberra, the trophy has decided
on aggregate scores across the two games. Ryan Thomas played
his first game for New Zealand in six years on
Friday night, returning from an awful run of injuries and
standing out for the All Whites. I caught up with

(00:34):
Ryan Thomas today and asked how he felt to be
back in All Whites colors and how he came through
Friday night in Canberra.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, good, felt great, felt great being back. I've had
a little bit of running joke with the staff and
that this week the boys has we that it's been.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
Actually too easy to come back after six years.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
I've fit in quite well and I felt real comfortable
from the get go, so that's obviously a big credit
to the group and how they accept new things.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
So it's also good.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
And yeah, I've I've pulled up good after the gamer.
I don't feel any problems. I played sixty minutes and
that was kind of the aim. Didn't want to come
straight into ninety minutes and then have a question mark
for Tuesday, so I think it was better to play
sixty minutes and then we can go again tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
The performance of the team, I mean, geez, good as
i've seen for a long time. How did the players
feel about in particular the first out, but the performance overall?

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah, good, good, very good.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
We've watched the bag, I've had a good talk, but
from what I've obviously seen this week, being being a
newcomer for last six years, haven't obviously been in the group,
and to see how much it's progressed from okay, we
can compete, so then yeah, we can actually hurt teams.
And that's our mindset now and that's how we want
to how we want to be going forward. So what

(01:52):
you saw Friday night was how we want to carry
on playing. And if that's our level from now, then
we've got to make sure we're putting those chances away
and then winning games. And it was really good to
see the different type of football that a New Zealand team.
I mean, we have seen that for I don't think ever,
and especially in the national team, especially in the game
not against the Islands.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
So yeah, it was a lot of positives to take
away from that.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
One hundred percent. And you're so right the way that
you were comfortable in position, the fact that their goalkie
but the Australian goalkie was probably man of the match.
That's never happened against New Zealand. Is that just come
from the confidence of having so many guys now playing
at a at a decent level and being able to
miss quickly once you get back in. I mean, like
I say, you've been away six years. Didn't look like
there was any any clunkiness.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yeah, I mean it's good.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I mean it was quite funny when my last game
was six years ago and the front six players were
the same. Wow, So that was that was quite interesting.
But yeah, obviously I've grown up. I mean I've known
Woods my whole life. I've grown up with Carlum and
Eli Me and me and Joe are basically the same.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
I mean, we think the same about football.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
So it was quite easy to come in and yeah,
for all of us, we're all playing at a high
level now or a higher level now than in previous years.
And you see that as soon as you come back,
it's just nice instead of having so many nationalities, you're
coming back and your kiwis again. And I've said that
to so many guys this week, especially all all the staff,
and that it just feels good to be a key
we of be in New Zealander. Put that shirt back

(03:18):
on and then once you've got that shirt on, you
you feel like you're one with with everyone. And yeah,
that's that's such an important thing to have for the
national team because you can see that that self strength
and yeah, that's what we've got to build on and
especially for the games coming up leading into the World
Cup next year.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
And you mentioned some of the guys have been around
for a while in that front six. That's a great
stat but there are some youngsters too, Finn Sermon and
Tyler Binden, you know, finding their way. Marco Stamin it's
not here, Matt Garb buttt not here, but another couple
of guys with big futures. It must be also pleasing
to see the new waivers coming and there's real competition
for places on this team, isn't there.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, definitely definitely, And that's and that's what you want.
I mean at club level. That's what makes the team
better is competition. And for so long, if you if
you went over to Europe, it was it was basically, yeah,
you're gonna you're gonna be starting in the national team.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
But that's just not the case anymore.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
And that's where we want to be as a as
a national team, if we want to grow as a
as a national team. And it's so nice to see
all the young boys coming through that are doing really
well at the club level and when they come back
here they're not They're not just wanting to be part
of the group or something. They want to they want
to take the national team to that next level where
where we think we can achieve great things with this group.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
So it's it's really promising to see.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
That's the voice of Ryan Thomas ahead of tomorrow night's
Sick and matching the Soccer Ashes series.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
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