Poletti 
Jackson Irvine in action against Bahrain during a World Cup qualifying match on the Gold Coast in 2024. Photo: Aleksandar Jason/Subway Socceroos
When the Socceroos face Indonesia on Thursday night at the Sydney Football Stadium, they will do so wearing the new Australia kit for the first time.
The kit, designed by First Nations artist Reko Rennie, was launched in February, and was first worn by the Matildas in the side’s ill-fated SheBelieves Cup campaign.
Whether a kit is held in high-esteem by fans usually relates to how successful a side is wearing it. Win games, and it’s a classic. Lose a lot in it, and it usually gets thrown to the side, forgotten about as quickly as it launched.
There are a few exceptions to that, where kits become iconic regardless of how the side performs on the pitch.
Jackson Irvine is a keen kit aficionado who often rocks up to training and games in a wide variety of eye-catching kits, and he believes that the new national team kit could be one of those.
“I absolutely love it,” Irvine remarked.
“It’s something completely different. It has such a great story behind it. It’s got real substance to it.
“It’s perfect for where we are as a team right now. I’m really excited to wear it.
“I think it’s got the makings of a modern-day classic.”
The Socceroos come into the second-last World Cup qualifying window in Group C in second place on seven points, but the group is delicately poised, with four of the six teams sitting on six points (Japan is in first on 16 points).
The tight nature of the group makes securing results in this window against Indonesia and China an absolute must, with heavy-hitters Japan (home) and Saudi Arabia (away) awaiting in June to close out Group C.
Some of Popovic’s selections for the window brought about some questioning from fans with the inclusion of some players over the absence of others, most notably Max Balard and Nestory Irankunda.
Irvine said that every player who is part of the squad deserves to be there.
“They’ve obviously shown [Popovic] that they’re capable of representing the national team at the highest level and that’s the most important thing,” he said.
The Socceroos face Indonesia at 8:10pm AEDT on Thursday night at the Sydney Football Stadium, before facing China on Tuesday night in Hangzhou at 10pm AEDT.
