Cammy Devlin confirmed he had signed a one-year extension to his contract at Hearts and he declared: “It has obviously been such a good move for me switching from the other side of the world.”
The Aussie midfielder has been at Tynecastle for over two years after and the 25-year-old conceded: “It has changed my life in so many ways.”
Edinburgh, he added, feels like home now. He added: Australia will always be where my family are, but I love living over here, I have a girlfriend over here and it is nice having her and her family. I love the city and the boys and they make it feel homely as well.”
Moving to Scotland from Subway Socceroos, said Devlin, has assisted in him making the Australia World Cup squad and he added: “For anyone, when you are in a workplace and you are obviously valued, and to know that they (Hearts) wanted to take my option of another year up, is obviously a really nice feeling.
“It adds confidence being in any workplace and in any job knowing that you are valued by the people in charge and, hopefully, I can turn that into performances.”
The player has made 81 appearances for the Jambos since joining ahead of the 2012/22 season and he believes this is a massive year for the Tynecastle club.
The players desperately want to get back to that third spot in the cinch Premiership table and he admitted they fell short last year which was, he said, so disappointing.
Devlin added: “I just want to help the boys that were here last year, and the players that have come in, to have European nights which is one of our goals.
“For the national team (Australia), every time I get the phone call to say that I am representing my country is what you want to do as a footballer, and to know I have that extra year at Hearts is a good step.”
He admitted: “When you are at massive football club like Hearts there are expectations on you in every game, especially away from home. We know we haven’t been good enough and it is a cliche but we believe so strongly in the training we do under our coaching staff.
“I am loving working under them and, for me as a player, giving me the freedom to go out and play is great. We believe so much in what they (the coaching staff) are doing and it is about us as players to replicate that on the field. That is our responsibility as footballers.”
Devlin stressed that the squad are working so hard to achieve success and he added: “We have to turn that into performances and that starts against Kilmarnock (in the Viaplay Cup, quarter-final, at Rugby Park on Tuesday, kick-off 19.45). We want to take Hearts back to Hampden and that is an experience I have enjoyed.”
The tenacious midfielder added: “In that changing room we are all desperate to bring that (a trip to Hampden) back to Hearts and we are working so hard and we believe so much in the staff. We are doing everything in our power to succeed.”
Kilmarnock are a tough team, he said, and Hearts drew 0-0 with the men from Rugby Park on August 13, Matchday Two of 33 league games this season, a result which Devlin said was disappointing.
He added: “We believe so much in the the game plan we go out with and it is about us as players putting that on the pitch. That is our job and we get the instructions. We are paid professionals and we have to perform at a high level.
“Kilmarnock are a good team but I think we will have a lot of the ball. We’ve had that in the past few weeks but we haven’t got those little final things right. Once they click we will be find. The final pass and the final action went our way and (against Aberdeen) and we produced a win and a clean sheet.”
PICTURE: Cammy Devlin smiling despite the heavy rain as he runs to training at The Oriam at Heriot-Watt University after signing a one-year contract extension. Picture by Nigel Duncan
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