Lucas Herrington staying grounded at Hull City despite meteoric rise: ‘It’s pretty crazy’ | Joey Lynch

On the opening day of the Premier League season, with just over an hour gone in Hull City’s clash with Manchester United, Lucas Herrington got up off the bench. With the Tigers 2-0 up, manager Sergej Jakirović turned to the 18-year-old Australian to replace injured goalscorer Nobel Mendy with a clear role in mind.“I knew the job that had to be done,” Herrington says, two weeks after his debut. “I knew that we had to see out the game. It wasn’t going to be easy because they were going to throw everything at it. With their subs, they did. They were more attacking.”Herrington had been in the UK for just over a week at that point, having jetted in after joining from MLS side Colorado Rapids on a five-year deal. Reports as to the exact fee have varied, as have breakdowns between the base figure and various add-ons. But the consensus is that Herrington has now become one of the most expensive Socceroos of all time, the most expensive Australian teenager of all time and the subject of the most lucrative deal ever made for an MLS defender.To say the Queenslander’s rise has been meteoric is to sell his remarkable journey short. He’ll mark his 19th birthday with a visit from Aston Villa this weekend, almost a year to the day on from a preseason game he played against NPL QLD side Olympic FC. The announcement that he was off to the Rapids in 2026 had already been made by then, but few would have anticipated it would be followed by regular starts in the American top-flight, an international debut, a World Cup debut and then a Premier League move.Herrington has come off the bench in both of Hull’s opening games, with his new club, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal the only sides with 100% records intact. It was hardly expected of the newly promoted outfit coming into the season. Nor of Herrington, the teenager with fewer than 50 professional games under his belt. But already he is making things look far less daunting than they actually are.“I wouldn’t say it’s easy. But it’s definitely been very enjoyable,” he says. “The intensity of the games – you have to be focused at all times. You’ve got to always know your surroundings; you’ve got to be scanning, communicating. It’s great for me; in my position, you have to be communicating. You see the whole field. It’s been great.”Off the pitch, he finds himself in the unfamiliar position of being recognised and stopped for photos in the streets of Hull. He’s got himself a car “nice” enough to fit in a Premier League car park, too, and is eagerly anticipating facing some of the best strikers in the world. Manchester City’s talisman Erling Haaland, in particular, stands out. “It’s pretty hard to look past him when it comes to strikers,” Herrington says.“It’s pretty crazy. It’s the trajectory that I’ve always dreamed of being on. But I’m just very grateful to the coaches that have given me the opportunity, and that includes [Socceroos coach Tony Popovic] for giving me that opportunity to play at the World Cup at such a young age. Every coach that’s helped me along the way at club level. It’s all meant so much to me.”Plenty of exciting young talents have emerged from Australia in recent years, but none have done so at such breakneck pace.Then-Brisbane Roar boss Ruben Zadkovich declared Herrington “the best defender in Australian football” before he’d even played in the A-League, let alone the Premier League. Socceroos skipper Harry Souttar described him as a “Rolls-Royce” after his World Cup bow against Paraguay. Popovic trusted him enough to start in a knockout game against Egypt and, regardless of whether it was a good idea or not, to take a penalty in the decisive last-32 shootout. The superlative “unbelievable” got rolled out by seemingly every teammate who was asked about him in North America.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHerrington poses with some young Hull fans. Photograph: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd/ShutterstockZlatan Ibrahimović even followed up on his offer of a conversation with Herrington after the youngster’s missed penalty against Egypt. “He said, ‘really, don’t fear anyone; I’m here for a reason, so just go enjoy it’,” says Herrington. “It’s a great league; he played in it. His message was just to go have fun, and don’t fear anything. Go, work hard, be yourself … because it’s a great experience to play in the Premier League.”There are going to be further adjustments in the weeks ahead when his mum, who watched on from the stands as he debuted against United, returns home to Brisbane after helping him settle in Yorkshire life. But one of the most striking features of Herrington is that, even at his tender age, the unflappability he displays on the pitch is seemingly mirrored off it. Much of the praise from Socceroos teammates has centred on his mentality as well as his footballing abilities.“My parents have always instilled that factor of humility in my life, and having that humbleness to stay grounded and to keep working hard,” he says. “Obviously, I’m still only 18, so I’ve got a lot to work on, a lot to improve on. I remember that every day. I’ve had a lot of coaches tell me that as well: to stay humble, keep working hard. To hear it from everyone in my support group is really instilling, and I’m always trying to get better.“Always having that positive mindset that I’ve still got a lot of things to work on. I’m not the finished product. So continue to work hard.”