Bragg coasting towards success

Amongst the list of emerging Hyundai A-League stars in the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 is Daniel Bragg at the Central Coast Mariners Academy who is gunning for his next shot at professional football.
Balancing his full time job as a Barista in Western Sydney’s Glenwood, Bragg and his fellow teammates Tomislav Cirjak and Dillon Vorster do it the hard way, trekking to the Central Coast several times a week for training and matches.
Despite a hectic schedule and plenty of time on the road, Bragg sees football as the area of his life that makes the long hours worthwhile.
“The travel is not too bad,” Bragg told Football NSW.
We all carpool together but you realise as you get older that football’s not going to pay the bills so you end up having to get a job, so with the job and travelling it takes a bit of a toll but when you get here you push through it and you learn that you have to keep pushing hard for the first team gig,” he said.
In the 2011-12 Hyundai A-League season, Bragg was rewarded with a “first team gig” at the now defunct Gold Coast United where he was able to ply his trade on the nation’s biggest stage. Since his short stint on the Gold Coast, Bragg has settled in well with the Central Coast Mariners National Youth League set up and is keeping match fit with the newly formed academy side.
“Being in the A-League was fantastic at the time but unfortunately it had to come to a halt but coming back here there are still a lot of quality players.
At the end of the day it’s an honour to play with those players and I’m just an ordinary boy and it’s a quality league,” he said.
Bragg is one of the league’s highpoints, responsible for the Mariners’ Academy set pieces and is constantly involved with the Mariners’ well constructed go forward.
When asked about his recent run of good form Bragg was the first to take a modest step back and give full credit to the boys around him.
“It’s always good to personally play well but at the end of the day it’s all about getting three points for the team,” he said.
It has been a long road for Bragg with many ups as well as some devastating downs. The young-gun, who has only one kidney that was donated by his father at the age of 15, is lucky to be alive let alone chasing a career as a professional footballer.
His tenaciousness and willingness to make it to the top has seen him triumph his medical battles with the help of his dedicated family and a never say never attitude.
A condition that was expected to keep Bragg on the sideline for the rest of his life now takes a backseat to his footballing career and does not see his circumstance as something he should be judged by.
“I try not to use that as an excuse, I try to push through it and get the best out of myself and just like to be treated as another player no different to anyone else,” he said.
"Of course it was scary when it hit me."
"When you are 15 or 16, you don’t see it coming. You should be in your prime, getting older, fitter. You should be excelling. Then this was put on me, it was upsetting and scary for me and my family.
"The first question I asked the doctor was, ‘Will I ever play again?’ He said, ‘Daniel, what do you mean by playing again? You’ll play football but only in the park with your mates’.
After overcoming the doubters, doctors and everyone who said continuing with football would be too dangerous or even impossible, Bragg earned a taste of A-League action and is hungry for more.
On top of world-class icons such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho, Bragg also has some heroes that are closer to home, in the Trifiro brothers, Jason and Glen.
“I always look up to closer friends like Glen and Jason Trifiro, I am very close with them so I am training with them every day, they are keeping me going and keeping me inspired,” he said.
Bragg truly is a young talent to look out for and if he continues his hard work and patient attitude there is no doubt he will again feature in the Hyundai A-League soon enough.
-By Tyson Scott