This week sees the renewed rivalry between England and Australia as The Ashes kick start in Cardiff, so we’ve decided to take a look back at the players from down under who have pulled on a Reds shirt.
There have been very few players from Australia to represent Liverpool – four players in fact. However, one of those is left-back Brad Smith who despite being born in Penrith, Australia, opted to represent England at Under-21 before switching back to his native Australia at senior level.
Craig Johnston
The midfielder had a seven-year stay at Anfield and even though he was born in South Africa, Johnston grew up and started his professional career in Australia. He was signed by then manager Bob Paisley from Middlesbrough, for whom by the age of 20 he had over 60 league appearances to his name. He was overlooked for the start of the 1981 season but scored his first goal in extra-time in December at home to rivals Arsenal to help the Reds book a League Cup quarter-final place.
He played 61 games in the double season of 1985-86, and he managed to reach double figures in his goalscoring tally for that campaign. Johnston also found the back of the net as the Reds beat Merseyside rivals Everton 3-1 to win the FA Cup. The following two seasons were ones to forget for the Australian. Injury problems and matters off the pitch meant that he rarely featured before calling time on his career.
Clearly devastated by what happened on April 15 1989, he raised £40,000 back home but he also flew over to England to attend the memorial service at Anfield seven days after the disaster and also stayed to help counsel the families who lost loved ones.
During his time on Merseyside he won five League Championships, two League Cups, as well as winning the European Cup and FA Cup once each.
Harry Kewell
The Australian arrived on Merseyside in 2003 from Leeds United, and started his career in positive fashion during the 2003-04 season appearing 49 times and bagging himself 11 goals under Gerard Houllier. Plagued by injuries, it took Kewell a while to find his form the following season, and he ended up being substituted in three cup finals during his Liverpool career: the League Cup and Champions League finals in 2005, and the FA Cup triumph in 2006.
Despite playing in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the last two seasons of Kewell’s Reds career were mostly spent on the treatment table. His contract expired in July 2008 and he left to join Turkish side Galatasaray.
Brad Jones
The most recent Aussie to pull on a Liverpool shirt, just like Craig Johnston he was signed from Middlesbrough. He arrived for £2.3m as back-up for Pepe Reina despite the presence of Diego Cavalieri and Peter Gulacsi.
It came as no surprise that Jones only featured twice during the 2010-11 season against Northampton Town in the League Cup and Dutch side Utrecht in the Europa League when the Reds had already qualified for the knockout stages. In March 2011 he joined Championship side Derby County on an emergency loan.
During the 2011-12 season, Jones tragically lost his son Luca to cancer at the age of five. Days after the birth of his son Nico, Jones was called upon at Ewood Park when Doni was sent off after conceding a penalty which Jones saved and immediately pointed to the heavens for his late child. He was in goal for the FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley against Everton which ended 2-1 to the Reds.
Jones made 15 starts in 2012-13 campaign but never really challenged Reina for the number one spot and only made three appearances the following season. During his final year at Anfield, Jones played five times but his run in the side came to an end on Boxing Day against Burnley due to injury. He never played for Liverpool again due to Simon Mignolet regaining his form, and Jones left this summer.
