Jamie Maclaren

Background

Jamie Maclaren grew up in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne.

Career

He first joined the junior side of local team Sunbury United at the early age of four or five, then switched to the youth ranks of nearby Victorian Premier League (now National Premier Leagues Victoria) side Green Gully in 2003, where although he continued to play against older players, his team was very successful, at one point winning around 50 games in a row. In July 2009, aged 15, he was invited to trial for Blackburn Rovers" U-16 squad. In his first trial match he scored two goals against Derby County"s U-16 squad, followed by a hat-trick against Manchester United, which resulted in a contract offer from Rovers.

Maclaren benefited from the mentorship of fellow Australians Vince Grella and Brett Emerton at Blackburn, where he soon progressed to be a regular U21 squad player and training with the senior team

However, after four years in England having not broken into the first team, he was released by Rovers at the end of the 2012/13 season. Seeking first-team game time, Maclaren elected to return to Australia and signed a three-year contract with A-League club Perth Glory at the beginning of the 2013/14 season.

The 2014-2015 season was his breakout year, scoring 10 goals in 23 appearances across all competitions, and earning the April nomination for the league"s young player of the year award. He also made a number of appearances in the National Premier Leagues side scoring 11 goals in just 5 games.

At the end of the 2014/15 season, in the fallout from the Perth Glory salary cap scandal, Glory agreed to release all contracted players who wished to leave the club, with the sole exception of Maclaren.

In response, he lodged a formal breach-of-contract notice against Perth Glory to the players" Union, Professional Football players Australia. Maclaren was subsequently released by Glory on 29 June 2015. During the A-League off-season, on 5 July 2015, Brisbane Roar signed Maclaren to a 2-year deal.

Maclaren made his debut with the Roar against the Western Sydney Wanderers on 8 October 2015.

In the same game, he scored a brace for the Roar, with goals in the 9th and 34th minutes of the match. Later that season Maclaren reached his 50th senior A-League appearance, scoring a goal and assisting another against his former club, Perth Glory.

His first started when he was called up for Scotland U-19 because of dual citizenship, his father Donald having been born in Scotland. He received two caps playing against Denmark and Norway.

Jamie Maclaren was also a part of the Australian under 20 squad, and scored a goal against the hosts Turkey in the 2013 Fédération internationale de football association U-20 World Cup.

Maclaren joined the Australian U-23 team, the Olyroos, for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification Group F games held in Taiwan in March 2015, which doubled as Olympic qualification. Maclaren was named in the Australian squad for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship, where he played every minute of Australia"s campaign in three games against the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Jordan, scoring against Vietnam.

Achievements

• Maclaren scored his first senior club hattrick, scoring all three of Glory"s goals in a 3-1 win against Melbourne City on 19 April 2015. He scored his second senior club hattrick in a win against Melbourne Victory on 12 March 2016. He played in two of the Olyroos" three games, scoring a hat-trick against Hong Kong and another two goals against Myanmar, achieving the second highest tally for the qualification stage out of the entire AFC.