Robbie Slater: If Tom Rogic wants Socceroos World Cup selection, he must first explain qualifying withdrawal

Arnie places team culture above all else and works incredibly hard at maintaining a healthy dynamic within the playing group. He’s built his managerial career on it.

On the surface, Rogic’s decision to withdraw at the last minute before the Socceroos’ sudden-death World Cup qualifier against the UAE and playoff against Peru flies in the face of that.

It was devastating to the squad.

I have spoken to quite a few of the players and they’re still understandably upset about it.

Their disappointment isn’t so much centred on Rogic’s decision to pull out at the eleventh hour, as difficult as that was, but rather the fact he provided absolutely no reason for his absence.

He was coming.

He had passed his Covid-19 test.

And then, out of nowhere, came a message that he was out.

There was no explanation.

The team was shocked. Arnie pleaded with him to change his mind. To lose a player of his quality before two of the biggest games in our nation’s history was a devastating blow to strategy and morale.

The fact the Socceroos qualified, miraculously, might have taken some of the edge off Rogic’s shock decision in the minds of the public, but it is still fresh for the Australian players and coaching staff.

Was he physically incapacitated? Was there a mental health issue? The team, and the country, would have understood and provided Rogic with all the space and time he needed. Look at Michael Hooper with the Wallabies recently, and any number of athletes across mainstream sport who have taken a leave of absence to look after themselves.

If Arnold is to select him for Qatar, it would surely be on the condition that Rogic provides context to the team and the public as to the circumstances surrounding his late withdrawal in June.

This all assumes, of course, that Rogic is playing well.

At his best, he can run a game. As we saw many times at Celtic, Rogic can control from the middle of the park, score crucial goals and create opportunities for others. He’s a player that, when you’re under the pump, gets the ball and takes the edge off the other side.

There’s no doubting his quality and what he can bring to the team.

A player with the ability to score goals and make goals is something the Socceroos don’t have in abundance at the moment.

But he is walking into a difficult situation at West Bromwich Albion. They are 16th in the Championship with one win from their first eight. Steve Bruce is under incredible pressure and could be gone in weeks. West Brom want promotion. They were relegated in 2021 and for them Rogic is a big and, in some ways, a desperate signing.

I have played in teams in this situation and know what they’re like. Rogic will be entering a group of unhappy players. They won’t be very welcoming. He’s essentially coming in to take someone’s spot. Add this to the fact he has only a dozen or so games to prove to Arnold he should be included in the squad for Qatar, and the enormity of the task ahead becomes clear.

Rogic won’t be selected for the Socceroos’ friendlies against New Zealand. Those games will be crucial in shaping Arnold’s thinking about whether the team needs him at the World Cup, or can make do without him. Of course, Australia is a better side with Rogic in it but the events of the last four months can’t just be dismissed, either.

In the end, Arnold may simply decide that Australia’s best chance of emerging from a group that includes France, Denmark and Tunisia is with Rogic in the squad. Will that go down well with the playing group? Probably not. Would that be fatal to the campaign? No, it wouldn’t.

Rogic isn’t the first player to have opted out of important games for Australia. Mark Bosnich was among those who did the same during his playing career and players of that era will tell you they weren‘t particularly happy about it when he returned. It changes the way teammates view you. But, of course, everyone wants to do the best for their country and, as much as they carry those sentiments around, they put them aside when the game starts. We did it with Bosnich, who was one of the best ‘keepers in the world during the 90s.

One of the critical elements here is the fact Arnold and Rogic go way back. Arnie was the one who plucked Rogic out of nowhere and gave him a start at the Central Coast Mariners, thereby launching an excellent career.

Will that be enough to bring him back into the fold for the World Cup? And, if so, will it upset the team culture?

Arnold has a difficult few months ahead.