JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- All Riley McGree could do was put his hands on his knees and attempt to compose himself as best he could. After making the turn and providing the cutback that made it all possible, the Socceroos attacker had joined the green-and-gold throng that had sprinted to join Aziz Behich in near-delirious celebration after his 90th-minute winner against Japan, but, as the adrenaline began to subside, so too did his ability to stand up straight. Hunching over, both exhaustion and the weight of the occasion overcame him.
In just his fourth game of the year, after two years of injury hell, he'd just provided the assist that all but punched Australia's ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It was a great moment, but his lungs were aching and the emotions were building up, too, so before he went back to defend the lead for eight torturous minutes of added time, he needed a moment.
"It was a combination of obviously being a bit tired, but it was also quite overwhelming," McGree recalled to ESPN, sitting in the lobby of the Socceroos' hotel in Jeddah one sleep out from their clash with Saudi Arabia.
"I hadn't experienced something like that for a little while. I hadn't been on the pitch and played a part in an international game for seven months. It was just the occasion and the atmosphere and what it meant and the position it put us, to score that goal.
"At that moment, I was just a little bit overwhelmed and emotional. And tired as well!"
Introduced at half-time in Perth, the 45 minutes McGree had logged by the time he provided the assist represented the most he'd managed in any competitive fixture since Jan. 11. Dogged by persistent injuries, his only other minutes before the June international window had come in a 24-minute cameo against Millwall in early April, while his last appearance in a Socceroos shirt had come in their 2-2 draw away to Bahrain in November 2024.
Taking part in the Socceroos' pre-window training camp in Abu Dhabi, the 26-year-old entered those 10 days with serious questions hanging over his head for the coming fixtures against Japan and Saudi Arabia. Few doubted that he had the footballing ability to prove a genuine difference maker -- an assumption he would subsequently validate in the clash with the Samurai Blue -- but match fit, he wasn't.
Perhaps some of those fears were alleviated when he was named in the final 26-player squad. But other concerns continued to linger -- even after the decision to throw him on against Japan.
"Riley came on. He's had very limited game time. In all honesty, I was actually worried about him with about 15 to go," Socceroos boss Tony Popovic admitted after the win. "I thought he was really looking fatigued. But then Riley shows that bit of quality that he has, which we really want to harness and get him fully fit, so that he can show that over a long period of time. He's done that in the 90th minute.
"It was probably 20 to 30 minutes too long for him tonight, but he did a wonderful job."
For McGree, even if his fitness is a point of pride, plenty of his ability to find a way to play through the suffering to deliver his assist came down to mind over matter. It's not just enough to be able to still be running, he observed, but it also takes will power and concentration to be able to make good decisions whilst suffering through the pain. To be part of a famous moment.
Now, as he eyes helping his side secure a winning end to their qualification campaign against Saudi Arabia -- anything less than a five-goal defeat enough for Australia to go through, something he says would mean "everything" -- McGree feels he's in a good place both physically and mentally. The hope for the attacker is that this window won't just deliver World Cup qualification for the Socceroos, but also serve as a platform to build upon at both a club and international level.
Plenty of this is down to the specialist the Gawler-native was sent to see by his club Middlesbrough after his latest injury setback in April, seeking to get to the bottom of his persistent injury problems. And a more holistic view of his ailments seems to be delivering fresh promise.
"We were literally trying to do absolutely everything to figure out what was going on," said McGree. "From looking at the hamstring, to looking at my back, to looking at my diet, just literally everything. So we were just trying to dot the I's and cross the T's.
"We kind of have some kind of understanding of maybe where it's come from. There's maybe a few different combinations of things, but we're in a position now where I feel strong, I feel healthy, and I'm building a good base."
Importantly for McGree, however, his path back to the Socceroos -- a tattoo bearing his cap number, 609, visible during his conversation with ESPN -- and perhaps to that assist on Thursday night hasn't just come with newfound insight and growth into his physical profile. There's also a new level of maturity, of self-awareness and growth on an emotional level.
"It's hard work physically, but that's part and parcel of the game and that's something that I enjoy and I embrace; the suffering of the physical side and getting better and getting stronger," he said. "It was more mental for me.
"It was setback after setback; getting to a certain level, getting back into training, and then breaking down again. Knowing that I was doing everything and the people around me and the team around me were doing everything, and it just kept happening. It was more the mental willpower. I learned a lot and came away from that with a different kind of outlook on injuries -- and even life, to a certain extent.
"Maybe before, my life heavily revolved around my performances on the pitch. If I didn't play well or didn't train well, then that would linger for the rest of the day. But now it's more thinking about what I could control. If I did my best today and it didn't go my way, then I can put my head on the pillow knowing I gave my best and it just wasn't meant to be that day."
When McGree does return to Boro, however, he'll return to a very different place. The day before Australia clashed with Japan, the club announced that it had sacked Michael Carrick after two-and-a-half years in charge. The coach's arrival back in October 2022 coincided with McGree securing a place in Australia's 2022 World Cup squad.
"It's one of those things that happens in football, but it's always sad to see a manager go," said McGree. "I think I played some of my best football on him. He's got the best out of me, and many of the other players would say that. He's just a really genuine gentleman to have around. And I couldn't thank him enough for the last seasons.
"I'm a contracted player and I've got three years left. I'm ambitious and I think the club belongs in the Premier League. Every season we go into it, expecting [a promotion push] from ourselves and also the fans expect us to be there or thereabouts. That's the plan, that's the goal, and I'll continue doing that until I can't anymore."