Socceroos gun Mat Leckie says he's open to playing up front for Australia; just don't expect it to happen against Kuwait.
Graham Arnold will take charge of the Socceroos for the first time in his second stint as national team coach against the Gulf country on Tuesday morning (AEDT).
He's promised to bring more goals to a team that needs new attacking avenues.
Recent departures Mile Jedinak and Tim Cahill contributed a whopping 42 per cent of the goals (38 of 90) Australia has scored in the past four years.
Leckie will be a big part of the new scoring mix, and has been mentioned by his boss as a future option up front.
"When I heard about it, it was pretty exciting," he said.
"The way Arnie wants to play, playing in the middle and playing on the wings, he wants both to be aggressive in that high area.
"It can be dangerous, especially if we want to hit them on the break."
Leckie was possibly Australia's best performer at the World Cup in Russia - just as he was in Brazil four years previously - but has just eight national team goals in 56 appearances suggesting he hasn't hit his full goalscoring potential.
He's netted just once in 2018 for club Hertha Berlin, held back this season by a slight strain in his medial ligament.
Given that setback, the 27-year-old said he expected either Apostolos Giannou or Tomi Juric to start up front against Kuwait.
"This week I've just trained as a winger. That's it," he said.
"We've got Apo and Tomi here that are number nines ... it would be just as much of a surprise for me (to play as a number nine) as it will be for everyone else."
Australian Associated Press
