Roughly 10% of Australians identify as possessing Scottish ancestry. It currently feels like the other 90% are playing in the Scottish Premiership.
The Scottish top flight's love affair with Australian football shows no signs of abating. At the conclusion of the January transfer window there are now no less than 13 Australians plying their trade in the league, and that's not including Dylan McGowan being loaned out by Kilmarnock to Scottish Championship side Hamilton Academical and Philip Cancar returning to A-League Men side Newcastle Jets after a stint with Livingston.
Indeed, per FbRef, Australia is now the fourth best-represented nation in the Scottish Premiership, trailing only the Republic of Ireland, England, and Scotland itself.
In Celtic playmaker Aaron Mooy, Australia can also count itself as the birthplace of one of the most in-form players in the league as well.
After starting his tenure at Parkhead slowly, Mooy has hit his straps in a big way coming out of the World Cup break, his recent goal in a man-of-the-match performance in the Bhoys' 4-1 win over St Johnstone on Sunday meaning he has now netted six times in his last nine games, with a couple of assists thrown in for good measure.
While it needs to come with the caveat that Celtic, alongside Rangers, should be expected to be sweeping aside their domestic foes thanks to their significant advantage in resources, the 32-year-old has nonetheless added yet another string to the bow of Celtic's hopes of going back-to-back in the league.
Rotating in and out of the starting XI, the Hoops are scoring a net of 2.83 goals -- the sum of goals scored against goals conceded -- when Mooy is on the park. That's 0.76 better off with him on it compared with when he is off it, showing the embarrassment of riches at the club stretches well beyond the likes of Golden Boot leader Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and Liel Abada.
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Familiar with Mooy's work from his time as Socceroos boss, coach Ange Postecoglou has been rewarded for the gamble he took on bringing him into Celtic ahead of the season; the midfielder at the time without any club football since Jan. 2022 when China's strict quarantine regulations saw him terminate his contract Chinese Super League side Shanghai Port in order to help Australia qualify for the World Cup.
He was also the first Australian player signed by Postecoglou after his return to clubland following his stint as national team boss (Milos Degenek was already on the books of Yokohama F Marinos when he arrived, as was Tom Rogic at Celtic).
But now, Mooy is also getting a kick out of the famously lyrical Hoops fans singing his name.
"I don't like attention much, but it's a great feeling," he said. "I try and hold back my smile, but I can't when they sing it. I'm enjoying it and the fans enjoy singing it.
"This is a big club, you're playing for a big club. The fans are amazing. Home and away, even around the city, back home. It's a bit hard to explain. It's something you have to experience yourself. I'm enjoying it."
Moreover, with the midfielder's family based with him in Scotland -- the 32-year-old flashing an "S" celebration for his daughter after scoring against St Johnstone -- it appears that Mooy is well and truly enjoying his football and home life after a very tough few years with COVID restrictions and family tragedy.
The touch 😮💨 The finish 😍
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 5, 2023
Aaron Mooy 👏
#STJCEL | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG🍀pic.twitter.com/TwLwIr0nm5
"I've got my family here, I'm happy off the field and I walk into training every day with a smile on my face. I'm enjoying it," Mooy said.
That's a good omen for Postecoglou, given that he's indicated that he's looking to tie the 57-time Socceroo to a new long-term deal.
"Long term? I'm getting a bit older. I'm just enjoying what I'm doing day by day," Mooy said after the St Johnstone win. "That's as far as I think ahead. We'll see."
Possessing a nine-point buffer over second-placed Rangers atop the Scottish Premiership, Mooy appears set to win his first Scottish crown this season -- he got his start in professional football at St Mirren -- as does Socceroos legend Harry Kewell, who joined Postcoglou's staff as first-team coach ahead of this season.
For his part, Postecoglou appears set not just to win his second straight league title on the bounce, but also as a coach likely to be off to the Premier League as soon as he is presented with a project that he deems worthy of leaving Scotland and a club that he has made his home.
The sacking of Jesse Marsch by Leeds United means that Elland Road has become the latest destination linked with the 57-year-old Melburnian, and through the likes of Kewell, Mark Viduka, Jacob Burns, and more, Leeds does possess a long history with Australians. However, former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer doesn't believe a move to Yorkshire is imminent.
"He would be an exceptional fit. But do I think he's going to leave Celtic and go to Leeds United right now, at this moment in time? I don't think so," he told Sky Sports.
"Not that I have spoken to him, I'm completely speculating here. But I don't think personally he would leave Celtic, if he were going to leave at all, at this particular moment in time.
"I think his relationship and rapport with the club and the fans is too important to him. Also, the job he is doing at Celtic is phenomenal, if anything, it's a little bit underrated of how good a job he has been doing.
"I think if Ange is ever going to leave the club, it will be during an off-season. It will be done amicably, it will be done in the right manner because that's how he does business."
But of course, the green-and-gold contingent wearing green-and-white hoops are hardly alone in representing antipodean football in Caledonia.
Sent out on loan to Hearts immediately upon signing with Premier League giants Newcastle United, Garang Kuol has now joined Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson in an Aussie-laden squad at the Jam Tarts, while across Edinburgh, Martin Boyle, Lewis Miller and the newly signed James Jeggo reside on the books of Hibernian.
In the Lowlands, Ryan Strain and Keanu Baccus, despite the latter receiving significant reported transfer interest off the back of his World Cup performances in Qatar, are with St Mirren. In Perth, Ryan McGowan remains with St Johnstone while Aziz Behich and Mark Birighitti continue to plug away with Dundee United, who sit last on the table and in danger of relegation back to the Championship after earning promotion in 2019-20.
In addition, Riku Danzaki's loan spell with Brisbane Roar was cut short in January by parent club Consadole Sapporo to facilitate a sale to Motherwell.
They'll all still be chasing Mooy's Celtic, however, who host St Mirren in the Scottish Cup Fifth Round on Saturday.