I trust Aussies to handle Rogic with care ahead of our European journey

SAYS BRENDAN RODGERS FOR ALL BREAKING SPORTS NEWS VISIT

FOR all his mesmerising talent, Tom Rogic’s susceptibility to injury throughout his four years at Celtic has been such that his club must be tempted to plaster a label on his back as he heads off for a potentially taxing summer of international football.

The Australian faces a World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia, a friendly against Brazil, then three Confederation Cup games against Germany, Chile and Cameroon — with the outside chance of also competing in the final in Russia.

With Brendan Rodgers’ side due to face their first Champions League qualifier on July 11, the Celtic manager can only hope his player is afforded the same treatment as other precious cargo marked ‘fragile goods — handle with care’.

Mercifully for the Celtic boss, however, in Ange Postecoglou — the Socceroos manager — he has a man who he knows and trusts to do the right thing by a player he recently called his magic man.

‘I know Ange. He’s a good guy,’ Rodgers said. ‘I first came across him when we went with Liverpool to Australia and we played against his team in Melbourne before he became the national manager. I chatted with him — he has good ideas and he’s a good coach.

‘It is something that I trust Ange on. He has other players there, Tom is one of them and I don’t think there is any drama in it.

‘He’ll look to use him as much as he can, as well as being aware of where he’s at with his injury.’

Rodgers needs no one to remind him that the 24-year-old only made his belated comeback from an ankle injury in the 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle on April 5.

Given he lost the thick end of four months on the sidelines, there’s a school of thought that extending his season through international matches may be no bad thing.

But it’s the distances involved that represent red flags. Adelaide, Melbourne then back to Europe. Sochi, St Petersburg then Moscow. Just too many miles spent in confined spaces.

‘We just need to look at that,’ Rodgers added. ‘Tom is a very proud boy and wants to play for his country, of course. He has missed a large part of the season with a number of months out, so it could be the best thing for him to get a number of games. We’ll see.

‘I was talking to him on it as there’s a lot of travel for him. To Australia and then back out again to Russia to play in the tournament. I’m not sure he’ll play in all five games. The season is coming to a close really and he’s missed out on a number of months, so we’ll just see where he is at.’

Rogic’s re-emergence could hardly have come at a better time for the player or his club. Now over the line in the Premiership, the remaining six league games — starting away to Ross County on Sunday — are as much a test of self-motivation as anything. The small matter of Rangers in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup seven days later ought to take care of itself, though.

If the chance for Rogic to atone for missing the decisive penalty in the corresponding game last season is gilt-edged, a victory would take his manager within 90 minutes of becoming just the third boss in Celtic’s history to win the Treble.

Rodgers has already done enough to sweep the board in the various manager of the year awards with something to spare. Which is not to say that others are not deserving of an honourable mention.

For the man who has presided over a 39-game unbeaten run to this point, the list of fellow managers who have essentially overachieved is lengthy.

‘I’ve been really impressed with Derek McInnes at Aberdeen,’ said Rodgers. ‘He’s done very well, they have a very good shape to their team and they are hard to play against with good players. Derek has done very well to keep that fight going. ‘Tommy Wright gets the best out of what he has and has done so over a number of years.

‘Alan Archibald at Partick — I’ve been impressed right the way through the season. He goes about his job and his work quietly and does it very well. His teams play different systems and shapes and you look below that and it’s tough.

‘You have Richie Foran coming into the job and it’s never easy. Stevie Robinson is in now at Motherwell and will be looking to see how he does.

‘Jim McIntyre is very passionate. He’s a good guy who works well and tries to make the best of the resources that he has. There are lots of real good managers. It depends on what you deem as success.

‘You can say Celtic has the big budget, but it has the big pressure, so it works all ways. I was very privileged to get the award in the Premier League a couple of years ago. We didn’t win the league, but we got as close as we possibly could and played a level of football which was high consistently.

‘We jumped from seventh or eighth the previous season to runners-up, so there are many good coaches and I’m sure the right choices will be made.’

The identity of the man or men who will take the individual awards is less clear-cut. Scott Sinclair’s 23 goals have been only part of the story of his renaissance. But what of the impact Moussa Dembele has made?

And then there is the Scottish duo. Scott Brown — playing the best football of his career one year after looking fit for the knacker’s yard. Stuart Armstrong — style and substance in abundance.

Players at other clubs have enjoyed fine seasons yet none have quite hit the heights of Rodgers’ star men.

‘It’ll be from Celtic,’ Rodgers predicted. ‘That is no disrespect because I think there are a lot of good players out there. ‘The Aberdeen boys have done great. Jonny Hayes I know well. I took Jonny to Reading when he was 16 so I know how good a player he is and I have been really impressed with him. Niall McGinn and Kenny McLean, too, have been excellent for them. ‘They have good players who have done very well but I look at the level our players have played at, the consistency and the quality and I would be surprised if it wasn’t a Celtic player who takes it.’ The individual and collective improvement under Rodgers has been so great that you wonder how he can maintain the rate of progress. Three blue-chip signings would help matters. But it’s the everyday challenge of building not just a football team but a club that gives Rodgers a sense that his work is only just beginning.

‘That is what excites me,’ he explained. ‘I am not a maintainer of anything. I don’t like to do that. I like to create, to build stuff. I was asked to do that when I came here. That was the beauty, the attraction. Come and be the architect of the club, were Dermot (Desmond’s) exact words.

‘For me that means assisting Peter (Lawwell) and his board to make decisions that help.

‘My job is to look after the football club and to have really talented people within the organisation to make decisions and improve the facilities, the structure.

‘I’m here at Celtic for a period of time to support the club I love, to give them everything, so when the time to move on comes then I know I’ve given it absolutely everything. And then someone else can come and benefit.’