Season 2008-2009 was a milestone in the career of the former Churches United and Bathurst '75 talent as he made his A-League debut and was named players' player in the premiership winning Sydney FC Super Youth League outfit.

Back then the 17-year-old was excited about testing his skills against the best footballers in Australia.

But now, 10 years later, Grant himself ranks as one of the best footballers in Australia and his goal is to challenge himself against the finest exponents of his chosen sport in the world.

On Friday he was named in the 23-player Socceroos squad that will represent Australia in their first qualification match for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

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Grant, who has seven Socceroos caps, is expected to start in defence for the September 10 match against Kuwait.

And once on the field, the Canowindra native will be doing all he can to impress and ensure he gets as many minutes possible in the green and gold.

"Staying around the Socceroos is a massive goal of mine and it's always an honour to be called up," Grant told socceroos.com.au

"World Cup qualifiers are very important games, so to be amongst the group and be playing in games such as them would be awesome and something I'd be very happy to do.

"There's always things I need to improve on. Bringing work rate and having that base fitness is one of my strengths, but that's just lucky that I have that in my locker, but there's other things I constantly need to work at to get better.

"I'm aiming to improve on different parts of my game and continue to get selected in Socceroos squads and push from there and knuckle down a spot."

After the match against Kuwait, the Socceroos will play Nepeal on October 10, Chinese Taipei on October 15 and Jordan on November 14.