“I’m not really thinking about playing for the national team. Every player wants to play for the national team. Tony Popovic is an A-League coach, so he’s seen me play a lot, which is helpful.

“But I’m really just focused on the Roar.”

On Friday, Halloran will be out to avenge the squad’s A-League Men’s season-opening 2-0 loss to Auckland when they return home, where they will face Sydney FC – who may be without Brazilian star Douglas Costa (hamstring).

But Halloran believed that under coach Ruben Zadkovich there would be the makings of the famed “Roarcelona days” – the club’s back-to-back championships under Ange Postecoglou.

Halloran’s sole season with Brisbane came after the Tottenham Hotspur manager’s days – the 2012-13 season that ended with a semi-final appearance, before the Roar prevailed again the following year.

During Postecoglou’s two campaigns, the Roar’s 108 regular season goals dwarfed the next best (Central Coast Mariners, with 90).

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Halloran recalled being attracted to the play style that was “dominating teams, we’d have 78 per cent possession”, a brand he said Zadkovich was beginning to implement.

The hope, he said, was this would not only prove the catalyst for a return to the club’s glory days, but draw crowds back to Suncorp Stadium.

“I know it can be done. We need a few things to come together – you need a few young boys to break through, we need everyone to be playing well because it’s got to be tough,” Halloran said.

“Getting back to that possession-style ‘Angeball’ is what we’re aspiring to get. The Roar played a completely new brand: no matter what position you’re in on the pitch we’re going to pass our way out of trouble.

“It was revolutionary for Australian football, and there’s no reason Australia can’t be like that at a domestic and international level.”

Ben Halloran

“It’s not great for home fans to be watching a team with 20 per cent possession and scoring on a late penalty. You want to be watching a team on the front foot.”