After more than four years away from the Subway Socceroos set-up and almost five since his last cap, Massimo Luongo is thrilled to be back on international duty.
The midfielder made his debut in 2014 and has gone on to win 43 caps and score six goals for his country, while being named player of the tournament as Australia won the AFC Asian Cup 2015 on home soil.
But following his last match at the AFC Asian Cup in January 2019, Luongo's career has since been hampered by injury and adversity along the way.
However, still only 31, Luongo has returned to his scintillating best and has enjoyed a resurgence in his football since joining Ipswich Town earlier this year which coincided with promotion to EFL Championship.
And his stellar form did not go unnoticed with the former Queens Park Rangers man earning a recall from Head Coach Graham Arnold for the upcoming friendly matches against England and New Zealand.
"It's nice to see everyone, players have changed, it's just nice to be back," he told Socceroos.com.au.
"I haven't met a lot of players but you know when Aussies meet it feels like you've known each other for a while so it's just a nice environment to come back into."
Despite paradoxically being somewhat of a new face to a lot of the current members in the squad, Luongo said it will not take long to get reacquainted and meet his teammates.
"I think eventually the more you play on the pitch you get to know people but looking at the squad to be fair I didn't know many," he said.
"I (know) Jacko (Jackson Irvine), Aziz (Behich). Obviously I know Burge (Cameron Burgess), Maty Ryan obviously and it's just like catching up again."
Luongo believed his call-up was a testament to his resilience and simply hard work.
"To be fair I had a pretty tragic run of injuries which probably kept me out for a little bit and then if anything, it was just about getting everything right off the pitch like mentally and working hard and being happy," Luongo stated.
"And before you know it, I was 30 years old 31 already. It's just one of them that I didn't really think about because I had so much else going on I needed to get right and stuff like that.
"So that was the priority I think I feel like a call up is like a little reward for me for working hard and getting myself back to where I needed to be."
Indeed, Luongo's strong form has been one of catalysts behind the Tractor Boys' auspicious start to the new season, occupying second spot behind Leicester City on the table with nine wins and 28 points.
"We're doing well, it's only 11 games in but I think everyone knows how important a start is," he admitted.
"So we'll just see how it goes. We're doing well but we we've got a good group and we'll just keep doing what we do well and just taking every game as it comes."
Upcoming matches
England v Australia - International Friendly
Friday, 13 October
Wembley Stadium, London UK
Kick-off: 7.45pm local / 5.45am AEDT (Saturday, 14 October)
Australia v New Zealand - International Friendly
Tuesday, 17 October
Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford, London UK
Kick-off: 7.45pm local / 5.45am AEDT (Wednesday, 18 October)
Tickets: Purchase Here
The upcoming Subway Socceroos matches will be broadcast live and exclusive on 10, 10 Play and Paramount+.
As always check your local guides.