ULTRA MAG | ISSUE 22 - LUKE BRATTAN

Luke Brattan is an Australian Football great. 3 Premierships, 4 Championships, 1 FFA Cup & 4-time PFA team of the season. At 32 years old, Luke has recovered from a potential career-ending knee injury to bolster the Sydney FC squad after a disappointing 21/22 season for the club.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Luke to chat about his recovery, the UK music scene and life away from football.

How are the vibes in the Sydney camp at the moment? 

Spirits in the group at Sydney are still high, we obviously know that we aren’t doing well enough at the moment and we’re doing everything we can to change that. We’ve got a great group of players and we still believe we can do something this year. We’ve shown in glimpses what we can do but we need to find some form and build on it. The league is so close so if we become more consistent we’ll be up there come finals time.

Were you watching the Socceroos over the World Cup break? What kind of impact can a run like that have on domestic football? 

Yeah I watched every Socceroos game and a lot of others too. The Socceroos doing so well had a huge impact on Australian football because it proves to everyone that we’re capable of competing and shows that we have the players and talent to compete. We just need to help push that along.

Have you always been into your fashion? 

Yeah I definitely used to be more into it. I look back at some of the stuff I wore and I'm like man... haha. But yeah, I used to be really into my fashion. I've just gone off it a bit now. Other priorities. 

Do you have any other Hobbies outside of football then? 

I loved fashion & photography but my main hobby now is the girls. I'm really into my golf now too. I try to get out there once a week. We have a good group at Sydney; Joe Lolley, Alfie &  Jack Rodwell all play. 

How's life in Sydney? Do you miss Melbourne? 

It's so different. I was in Collingwood and I loved Melbourne. we miss it but it's hard to compare the two. I live in Coogee now so it's different. It's a really great lifestyle by the beach for the kids, we love it. 

Was it weird getting back on the park after such a long time out? 

Sort of. For me I did so much in rehab with tackling & everything you need to do to strengthen it up. I took a couple knocks in training but you need that. Our physio has looked after 30 or 40 rehabs so I was in safe hands.

Did you know straight away with the knee?

Nah not at all, I sort of got pushed from behind and went to stop and my knee buckled and I felt a bit of pain. I told the physio I was alright and came back on for 5 minutes. They checked it again at half-time and realised i had ruptured it, I couldn’t believe it, no pain no swelling no nothing. It wasn’t until the next day when I had the scan that I really realised. After surgery it blew up and it properly hit me. 

What got you through the injury? 

Looking back it was mostly the girls... but my team mates and the big boys on COD helped alot. I’ve never been a big gym guy and I was in the gym every day. It was good to come home and see the girls, they didn’t know what was happening so we didn’t talk about it. 

How are you finding the new stadium?

Yeah it's so sick. Ridiculous. It’ll be so good for the Women's World Cup. I can’t wait to take my daughter, her favourite player is Princess Ibini so I'll be taking her to watch for sure. 

Do you follow much football outside of the A-League?

Yeah, there was a period where I didn’t watch it but i'm back in now. I love the Premier League. I’m not really a supporter of any team but I love watching City play. I just think the way they play is the way the game should be played. Just keep the ball, pass the ball, they’re incredible. 

Is that a potential coach mentality that you might have then?

Yeah, I think i’d be a decent coach, and obviously football develops and changes every year but yeah if I was a coach that's definitely the way I would want to play

Do you think you might go down that path one day?

I want to yeah, depending on the next couple of years and how it goes but I want to start looking at getting my badges and gouging into coaching, we’ll see.

How much time did you get to spend at City when you were over in the UK?

Yeah so I was in England for 11 months and was at Bolton for 6 Months. When I first got to England I was training at City for 2-3 weeks and I lived on the training ground and then got the move to Bolton for 6 months. And then in-between Bolton I came back and trained at City for another couple weeks and then went to Rotherham for 4 weeks and back to city for another 2 weeks and then to Berry and back and then Oldham. So every time before I went somewhere again I would come back and train at City. The facilities were a joke, it was unbelievable.

How was the lifestyle living in those areas in the UK?

I didn’t really leave Manchester too much, even when I went out on loan I still lived in Manchester. I loved it. It reminded me a lot of Melbourne actually. There were a few Australian cafe’s we could get lamingtons and Milos and stuff like that.

Are you into Music?

Yeah for sure, I didn’t have any mates over there so me and my partner did everything together, we would go for dinner and go and see a gig and stuff like that. A few concerts and yeah we loved it. She wants to go back and live there, it was good when we were 25, haha. The best part about it was the football though, I went to so many games including a few Manchester derbys. But anyway not too much music now, mainly the wiggles.

Who’d you like back in the day?

I like SiR hes great hes like soul, hip hop. Caceres knows some pretty cool musicians so I just copy all of his music, haha. I love all the UK grime & stuff. I saw Stormzy and future in Manchester. Drake, Kanye - I've seen some good ones.

How do you & the group reflect on last season?

Obviously, last year was disappointing, and yeah even before that, I think if it wasn’t for me getting sent off, not just because I would have been on the field but having 11 men on the field, that was our 3rd Grand Final in a row, I think we would’ve won that if I didn’t get sent off.

Was that tough for you to deal with mentally?

Yeah of course, yeah it was rough, because then my next competitive game was when I did my knee, that year I was focused on getting a bit of redemption and I feel responsible for that Grand Final loss. We’ve changed formation, our style of play, new signings, so I think we’ll definitely be in the mix this year.

Do you have any thoughts on the APL's Grand Final Decision? 

With the APL’s decision obviously, it’s not ideal and the players had no idea about it happening. I don’t agree with it but at the same time, the game, the league and the clubs need money. I understand the decision and I don’t think there would have been as big of a backlash if the APL was transparent about it. I’ve been involved in 5 grand finals and I know how big of an occasion it is and not just the game itself but everything leading up to it is a great spectacle… I definitely don’t agree with the decision but if it helps our game then it is what it is…