He may already be captain of Dundee at the age of 25 but Ryan Sweeney insists he has plenty to learn.
The central defender wants to soak up all the lessons he can, just like he did in his early days at AFC Wimbledon.
In his first campaign as a 19-year-old Sweeney enjoyed a promotion at Plough Lane, going up to League One in a Wembley play-off final.
And he’s keen to use the experience he picked up back in 2016 to help the Dark Blues in their quest to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Though he hopes he won’t have to miss out on any celebrations this time around.
Jealousy
“When I was 18 at Wimbledon coming through, I probably played 10 games that year,” Sweeney said as he earned a move to Championship Stoke City that summer.
“We ended up getting in the play-offs and beat Accrington in the semi and then Plymouth in the final.
“I was on the bench for the final but it was still a great experience going to Wembley and being part of a winning side.
“There were nearly 60,000 there and it was just incredible to go and be a part of it.
“The celebrations afterwards were unbelievable.
“The lads got a trip to Vegas but I was too young to go!
“You have to be 21 but I had just turned 19.
“The gaffer told me the chairman wasn’t going to let the younger ones go.
“But I think I ended up in Ayia Napa with my mates that summer – which was definitely a big drop-off from a trip to Vegas!
“I enjoyed it, to be honest, but I still had to block my team-mates on social media as they were making me jealous with all the pictures they were posting – it looked unbelievable.
“So it would be great to win promotion again with Dundee.”
Sponge
Almost six years later and Sweeney finds himself in a different league in a different country, captaining his club aiming to put those lessons learned as a youngster into practice.
But he is still picking up all he can from his coaches, team-mates and everyone around Dens Park.
“I want to be like a sponge and learn as much as possible,” he added.
“I have been wearing the armband this year and that’s another responsibility that I’ve wanted to take on and I have enjoyed it a lot.”
‘Must-win’
There is still plenty of work to do before that might come to pass with the Dark Blues sitting second and trailing leaders Queen’s Park by four points.
Win all their remaining matches, including their game in hand, and promotion will be assured.
Taking on the league’s bottom side Hamilton today brings pressure to get a vital three points.
But there will be no getting ahead of themselves at Dens Park.
Sweeney added: “From the outside, people say things like games are must-win now.
“But to be honest, the feeling you get before a game is the same as when we were playing cup games in the first part of the season.
“As a player in the dressing-room, there is pressure in every game whether that is a pre-season friendly or a cup tie at Rangers – you always have that pressure to perform.
“The gaffer has been brilliant in terms of his mantra.
“He doesn’t care who we have next week or the week after, whatever game is coming up that’s who we focus on and like we have all season, just try to win a football match.
“For instance, we play Arbroath after Hamilton but he would never speak about that, the full focus is on the next game and putting that to bed.”
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