From excelling in the unique surroundings that raised him, becoming a fan favourite, helping grow a new club and winning a championship with them and, of course, starting on the very biggest stage for his country, there are few figures in the A-Leagues landscape more decorated than Josh Risdon. Last week, the defender had the honour of returning home to the regional city he grew up in to have the ultimate full circle moment ahead of what it is, in his own words, the final stretch of his career. Front Page Football spoke to Risdon just a stone's throw from the soil where he first kicked a football, Hay Park in South Bunbury, as Perth Glory faced the Newcastle Jets in a pre-season tour of Western Australia's southern regions.
Risdon playing on home soil in Bunbury in a pre-season friendly against Newcastle last Sunday. (Image: Perth Glory)
To understand what made Josh Risdon the man and player he is today, we must first start with his early life in the regional setting of Bunbury. This pre-season tour represented not just his homecoming to the city that made him but also the club.
As a man developed by the academy system in Western Australia and through Perth Glory, Risdon spoke of the honour to return to said soil in the Glory purple ahead of a career swansong he had always wanted.
"It was always on the cards to come home; I wanted to be back here to finish my career at Glory, to be at home (in Bunbury) with a young family while being around my extended family and even back in Perth. I'm just looking forward to this season ahead," the veteran told Front Page Football.
"Seeing family and friends and getting to play at Hay Park (in pre-season), just getting engaged with the community and giving back to somewhere like this, the place where it all started for me, is incredibly special."
The community outreach especially means a lot to Risdon. As the more family-oriented activities flourished throughout the weekend of the first game against the Newcastle Jets, these programs, clinics, and fan days were of vital importance and pride to him, believing that football would make a mark in the area.
"Especially down here in the South West, we don't get these opportunities too much for any professional teams to come down. I know when I was younger, I was buzzing and always so excited to have a club like Glory down. Hopefully, this will spur on a young kid," Risdon said.
"Getting out, having the clinics in the morning, and just kicking the ball with them and seeing their faces, they really enjoy this. I'm hopeful that we can expand football in the regions; I know it has come such a long way."
While the hometown return not just to the South West but also to Glory, where Risdon first made his mark and became a fan favourite, has been a significant honour, his time away from the club and what he achieved throughout this period may have defined him in more ways than one.
In the late 2010s, after taking an opportunity at the Western Sydney Wanderers during the first of many sliding-door moments, Risdon stood out for the club and became a prominent contender for the Socceroos' starting right-back spot.
Risdon commented on this period, saying he was thankful to the Wanderers for the opportunity and what it led to in the 2017/18 off-season.
"I had the option to go over east to Wanderers during such an interesting period. I got there, and Tony Popovic was coaching only to leave in pre-season, so there was a bit of change present at the club; it maybe wasn't ideal in terms of what was going on, but I had a great experience," he said.
"I really believe that if I did not make the move there, I would not have got into the Socceroos squad, and that ended up getting me to a World Cup."
Although the Wanderers stint was a flash-in-the-pan moment for most A-League fans and perhaps even Risdon himself, it set up a journey very few can experience. Much character and growth came from his time in the green and gold; upon reflection, his time as the Socceroos right-back, especially with the well-aligned timing, was all about enjoying and taking in as much as possible.
"It was all part of the journey. I enjoyed my time in Sydney, and the World Cup really was all about the experience. Going into the first camp, I played and trained with the team for about a month, and obviously, our season finishes a lot earlier than in Europe, so I felt underdone," Risdon explained.
As for the World Cup itself, with Risdon playing in all three group stage matches against France, Denmark, and Peru in Russia 2018, it first took a whole level of appreciation and adjustment before the reality of his opponents and the formidable challenge they posed played out. The experience is something Risdon says he would change next to nothing about, being ever proud to represent Australia on the biggest stage on the planet.
"Once I got settled in with the camp, and we had those few friendlies leading up to the World Cup, the games became a real experience. I did not take any of this for granted at all; it became about trying to soak up every single minute of the time there while trying to focus on the game being played," he said.
"Obviously, I played a part in all three games; it was pretty special. I'll look back on this as I get older, reflect as much as I can. Yeah, it was the most special time, and I'll be grateful to have had that experience."
In his post-2018 World Cup career, with the Wanderers stint coming to a close, new A-Leagues club Western United approached Risdon to be one of its inaugural signings, an honour he jumped at. The opportunity to raise the club and community from scratch, going on to win the A-League Men Championship in 2022 and play the first-ever match at their new home in Tarneit, all while being captain, became an honour perhaps even on par with his Socceroos achievements.
Risdon joyfully spoke of how the move came about, the start of a journey that saw him become an established leader in green and black.
"The chance came at the back end of my contract at the Wanderers, where I knew I was unlikely to be staying there, and when things first came up, I knew it was so exciting to be part of the fabric of a club from the very start. It was tough at first, obviously, putting together all the moving parts," he explained.
After two topsy-turvy years under Marko Rudan, Western looked to build a winning culture, and Risdon maintains that the vital part he had to play in the whole process was no surprise or secret. The next year, the 2021/22 season - John Aloisi's first in charge - their plans came together in the best way possible to form a structure worthy of the success it achieved.
"I wasn't as senior of a player back then, but I still had a big part to play in building the culture of the club. I think my third and fourth seasons there that I had when I was captain, I took on a lot of responsibility, and we ended up winning the championship; that was such an unreal experience," Risdon said.
"It spoke so much to the good culture we built within the change room; everyone played for each other, and we had that feeling from the start we were tough to beat."
The honour of the championship, the roots established by Risdon among others in the squad, became something he regards as a defining moment, not just as a 'club builder' but also as something that brought about such heralded success at a vital point in his journey.
"It stands out as such a highlight of my career to date when you have something you are such a big part of with so many close-knit people coming to celebrate together," he said.
"I was forever grateful for the time at Western United, but it needed to be cut short for me to come home. It was too important for my family for me to be playing back here (in Perth), so I am really happy with this decision."
Risdon's decision to come back home is also about a renewed structure and defined plan for Perth Glory moving forward. It will be built on the backs of an exciting young core and foreign players, as well as veterans and familiar friends of his, like Brandon O'Neill. That local spark could quickly make the club a force far beyond this current crop in the coming years.
"It is very exciting looking around at where this club can go. The boss (David Zdrilic) has said, we can start the club again, have that chance to build that great culture within the club, and there are new owners, new coaches, new players, someone like Stan (Lazaridis) has come on board, who is just doing so much behind the scenes which helps so much on the pitch," Risdon shared.
"We have a group with a great vibe at the moment, people like myself and Branno (O'Neill) being back here; I can tell you we really wanted to come and give back so much to the club. There have been so many lean years, we desire to get us back where we deserve to be."
Risdon links Perth's potential as the only professional side in the region to an inherent success that can come through building for 2024/25 and beyond. The veteran also mentioned the hurt the fans have felt through the ownership drama and the five-year finals drought, which Risdon made clear the squad would endeavour to end while giving thanks to those loyal to the club.
"There is always going to be potential in WA; Glory are the sole club in the city. It is just such an exciting time, and I have no doubt with the work that is being done under a new coach this pre-season, we can do incredibly well, so let's see how we go," he said.
"It would be so great. Perth fans are very loyal, and they stick by the club. To be able to play finals and win something would top off my career perfectly, to come back and win something for the club when we missed out previously. I never won anything in the last stint here, we made three finals and lost them all."
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Ultimately, being able to put on the jersey that has defined him for one last time in the coming years, which Risdon is proudest of above all, is another reason that delivering any success, especially in the finals, will be an accolade above many for the defender.
"To come back and have that honour to win something would be extra special, and see that joy delivered to fans of the club and all the people that have stuck by the club and been with us for so long, and have the honour to repay that faith. So, we will see how we go this season. It might not happen straight away, but with the way the club are going, in the next few years, everyone will see some reward for the new change that has happened," he said.
Once a Glory boy, always a Glory boy. Beyond that, the Socceroos caps at a FIFA World Cup and the building of a championship-winning franchise make Josh Risdon unique.
His legacy will stand the test of time, not just for the people South West of Western Australia but for the broader football landscape. We should only salute the career, life, and times of the A-Leagues journeyman we have come to know, whose mark on the game will always be cherished wherever he goes.
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