White-line fever and rugby start made Devlin perfect for Tynecastle
Iām from a rugby league background so I donāt know if thatās fuelled my aggressive nature, winning the ball
The Herald - Herald Sport
Joel Sked Exclusive interview
JUST over 12 months ago, Derek McInnes spoke to Cammy Devlin for the first time as Heart of Midlothian head coach. The conversation was positive and hugely encouraging for the Australian midfielder. McInnes spoke very highly of him. He liked what he saw as an opposing manager. He liked his midfield attributes. But he knew he could help Devlin. And that meant the player doing one thing over anything else. Playing without restrictions when he crossed the white line.
The message was: āI want you to take the shackles off.ā āBe myself was a massive thing that he encouraged me to be. You know, energy-wise and all the rest of it and that really stuck with me,ā Devlin said when he spoke to Hearts Standard in April. āI feel like thatās a big reason why my formās been the way it has been this season.ā
Right up until he sustained an ankle injury that kept him out for eight games, Devlin was the best midfielder in the league. He had played every minute until Killian Phillips landed awkwardly on him. He had found another level in maroon and white and was a central figure in the clubās excellent season. Despite his fondness for the club though, it seemed that it would be his final season in Gorgie.
Due to timings and a second injury, this interview may never have seen the light of day. But with the club continuing to talk with Devlin and the player at the World Cup, it is only appropriate to reflect on arguably the best season of his career and delve into why Hearts are keen to retain his services. When you break it down, it is understandable that Hearts are eager to extend his Tynecastle Park stay beyond the five years and 176 appearances. He is a key leader within the squad and the natural successor for the armband following Lawrence Shanklandās departure and Craig Halkettās long-term injury.
More than anything, his input on the field is an extension of McInnes. When you watch Devlin and the intensity and attitude he plays with, it looks like he was created in a lab. Genetically modified to play in Scottish football. Designed to play for Hearts. A midfield tour de force. A dream to play with. A nightmare to play against.
Yet, not only did Devlin come into football later than most, with a preference for rugby league, he started as a striker. In his own words, he was āobsessedā with running about. Obsessed with winning. All he wanted to do at school was PE and all he wanted to be was a professional athlete. It was not until his early teens that he began to take football more seriously.
By then, he was in midfield and his rugby league experience helped shape the player he is and continues to act as the foundation of his game in the middle of the park. āIām from a rugby league background so I donāt know if thatās fuelled my aggressive nature, tackling, winning the ball back, the defensive side of the game,ā he said. āI started playing football a lot later than the majority of boys do because I was playing rugby league and that was the sport I loved.ā
Devlin is a Sydney boy and spent time in the youth ranks of both Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC. It was with the latter that he made the step up to firstteam football in the A-League, even if regular football was hard to come by. His big breakthrough arrived when he moved to New Zealand, joining Wellington Phoenix. He credits Ufuk Talay and Giancarlo Italiano as key to that breakthrough. Talay was the assistant at Sydney before taking charge of Phoenix. He took Devlin with him. For the player it was an opportunity to play games and experience life away from home in a new country.
In Wellington, he had āprobably the best two yearsā in terms of setting him up for the move to Hearts. It was in Wellington where he began to mature as a player under the tutelage of Talay and Italiano following an unfortunate injury to a team-mate. āWhen I got there I was a bit all over the place in terms of decision making and when to do certain things, when to run about and when to not. They just helped me,ā Devlin said.
āI was 21 years old so I was just learning the trade and you think at 21 youāve got it all figured out. I look back and youāre so different but obviously youāve got to grow. Football, itās such an interesting game that you just always learn and always grow.
āThere were two No.6s in that formation at Wellington and it made me into the player that I am now in terms of I had to be more disciplined. I was getting on the ball as much as I could to start the play which is what Iām doing now.
āThen in defence just trying to do what comes so natural to me and that is obviously just winning the ball back as much as I can. Doing all the dirty work, I guess you could say.ā His performances with Wellington earned a call-up to the Australia Under-23 side for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (which took place in 2021).
It was that experience with Australia at the Olympics where āthe switch kind of flippedā. Devlin knew he was making progress on and off the field. He was āspurredā on from his first season at Wellington where he was āliving the dreamā. That ādreamā took him to Gorgie.
Five years ago, with Devlin on his way to Tynecastle Park, this writer, for another publication, delved into his game. I wrote back then: āThere are aspects of his game which Hearts fans will adore... He chased and harried, ending up in the opposition box pressing the goalkeeper.
As he did so he waved his team forward, urging them to get up the pitch to keep the pressure on. That is his game when the opposition have the ball. Intensity.ā
I added: āSuch a combative style, not too dissimilar to a certain Julien Brellier, will go down well with fans, likely ruffle up a few feathers around the rest of the division and see him on first-name terms with the countryās referees.ā
It is that part of the game that is natural to Devlin. He compared it to Shankland in front of goal and Craig Gordon when faced with saving shots. It perhaps also comes from a will to win. Which, in turn, sees him leave everything out on the pitch. Devlin uses a phrase that is more common in rugby and Aussie rules football: āWhite-line feverā.
Essentially, in a sporting sense, it is the moment when a player is transformed as soon as they step over the white line. They become someone who is laser-focused, aggressive, competitive and has a win-at-allcosts mentality.
āItās hard to explain, I feel like the aggressive side of my game in terms of tackling and wanting to do that side is definitely my upbringing. My dad, my three brothers, my best mate that lived up the road for me, we used to just play rugby league, we played footy every single day and we loved it. I feel like thatās put me in good stead in terms of that side of the game,ā Devlin said.
āIn terms of reading the play and interceptions... Iāve got white-line fever. Iām quite chilled and relaxed when Iām off the pitch, as soon as I get on it, Iām just so focused. I want to win. āIf you ask my mum and dad, if Iād never win when I was a kid Iād be bawling my eyes out for hours. Iāve always wanted to win. I canāt really get that out of me. I feel like itās a really good thing.
āI feel like that part of the game just feels right and comes natural to me.ā IT is a misconception that Devlin is a red card waiting to happen. He has missed five games through suspension in five seasons. That āwhite-line feverā is often channelled perfectly. The way he plays makes him a yellow-card danger. But only once has he been sent off for two yellow cards, and that came in extra time of a cup match.
He may have to walk a tightrope during games but it is something he masters brilliantly and does not dilute his game. If anything, it makes him all the more focused. The stats back up a defensive tour de force in the middle of the park. He finished top five in the league for interceptions, tackles, aggressive actions and ball recoveries per 90 minutes, as well as a whole host of pressing actions.
He has led the league for tackles and interceptions combined in the last two seasons. āWhen I was at Wellington I think I was leading the tackling charts as well and itās been the same sort of thing when Iāve come over here because thatās just what comes natural to me,ā Devlin said.
āI just try and work as hard as I can every single day when I step on the field on a Saturday. While Iām out there I leave everything out there every single week. I usually canāt walk for the next few days after a game but thatās just how I am and thatās how Iāll always be, I feel like the stats come with that just based on how I play.ā At Wellington, he also acted as a conductor. In his final season in the A-League, he recorded the second most passes per game and frequently played the ball into the final third.
It is more the role that he took on this past season. Only Marc Leonard averaged more passes than him at Hearts, as opposed to the previous season when six defenders topped the Hearts charts for passes. It pointed to a change in style. If there is an area of Devlinās game that brings questions from fans, it is the progressive part of his possession play. It is a part of his game that even McInnes has teased him about.
He said this year: āI mentioned Cammy Devlin to Sir Alex [Ferguson] the other day and he said we missed him when he was out injured. So I told that to Cammy. The wee man said, āhe never said thatā. I told him he did, and then I said, āand he says you need to pass forward more, you need to switch the play more and you need to shoot moreā. He actually didnāt say that, but now Cammy thinks he did!ā
Devlin is not going to be a regular scorer from midfield, nor is he going to play defence-splitting passes but the Hearts head coach got more from him in terms of what he wants from his No.6 with the ball. A higher percentage of his passes went forward. The average length of his passes increased. He played into the final third more often.
That is a part of the change in style, from a slower, possessionbased one to a more direct, engaging and exciting one. āThe manager does have a different approach which I absolutely love,ā Devlin said of working under McInnes. āThe manager just wants to be direct but in a positive way. Not just lumping it up the park but having your boys on the top line playing with two strikers, runs in behind, and that is what brings the crowd together.
āI do feel like that is something that he drilled into me in terms of sometimes playing the longer pass which I maybe wouldnāt have and just opening your eyes to it and itās still something that I need to get better at definitely but when I have done it and thereās been occasions where itās worked and it shows you thatās another thing you can add to your game.ā He added: āI do feel much more comfortable [in a deeper role]. I feel like it benefits the way I see the game, play the game, what comes natural to me, trying to win the ball back as much as I can and then controlling the game from the back end of the pitch and getting us moving forward and giving it to the boys at the top of the pitch that can then go and do things that theyāre really good at.
āI know that the defensive side of the game is definitely my strongest part but then also just starting the play is definitely something that Iām better at from deeper.ā This past season, Devlin played with the shackles off. Going after opponents without the ball and the freedom to play without restrictions with the ball.
It was his best season in a Hearts top. Perhaps the best season in his career. It took him to the World Cup. But where will it take him next in his career? Everyone connected with Heart of Midlothian is hoping it will be back to Gorgie.
