Hearts' Kye Rowles making the most of Hearts' last games before heading to Bangladesh and facing Palestine

The Australian centre-back will be playing well into June

Kye Rowles won’t get too much recuperation time this summer, although you won’t hear the Hearts defender complaining. After the last three matches of the Scottish Premiership campaign he faces Bangladesh and Palestine on international duty with Australia. The last game of his season will be on 11 June.

The early summer period is often a hectic time for international footballers and Rowles is used to the schedule by now. He will swap his domestic hat for a Socceroos cap as the Asian qualifiers start for the 2026 World Cup. Rowles has already started researching the trip to Bangladesh before Australia host Palestine in Perth.

“The Bangladesh game will be interesting,” he said. “I bumped into Jason Cummings the other day and he played there when he was in India. He said it’s pretty interesting so I’ll see how it goes. It’s a short summer but it’s worth it to play for your country and they are World Cup qualifiers, so it’s important stuff.”

Rowles scored his first international goal against Lebanon in March but has yet to find the net for Hearts. “The goal was pretty special,” he smiled. “I’ve not managed to get one here but I’ve come close a few times, hitting the post or bar or saved. Hopefully I’ll get one this week. I wouldn’t dare ask to take penalties off Lawrence [Shankland], though!”

The rest of the year will be no less frenetic for Rowles and his Tynecastle colleagues with European league-stage football guaranteed. First, Hearts must complete their Premiership schedule against Dundee, St Mirren and Rangers.

“It’s obviously nice to have third place wrapped up – bit the foot will still be on the gas,” stressed Rowles. “There’s only three games left and it would be silly to throw away all the hard work with sloppy performances to end the season. We’ve got two home games as well and we are all determined to put on good displays and enjoy it. There’s no pressure left so we can really go out and play with a freedom and with smiles on our faces.”

Hearts face the Europa League play-off and will drop into the Conference League should they lose that two-legged tie. “There’s been a bit of chat about it but either way it’s a great opportunity for us and I would still fancy us in the qualifiers,” said Rowles. “It would be special to compete in the group stages of the Europa or the Conference and it's a good reward for the boys working all year.”

Hearts sampled the Conference League group stage in 2022. “We’re buzzing to be back in the mixer. I think having a lot of the boys still here from that first season in the group stages definitely will help in terms of being used to playing on the Thursdays and Sundays. It’s really tough doing it week in, week out for a couple of months, just with the travel and stuff, and the fatigue can build up.

“I think for us, we had a lot of injuries at the same time but we’ll be better equipped this time, for sure. The games will be more spaced out this time and that will make a difference. It will go a long way to staying fresh – in body and mind – if there’s the odd gap weeks in there.”

Rowles did not take part in the 2022 group games because of a broken foot, an injury which cast a slight shadow over his first season in Edinburgh. “I was pretty bummed out to miss out last time. I was pretty much watching the away games from my lounge,” he recalled. “The atmosphere for the Tynecastle games was just second to none. It was so special.

“You wish you could be out there running around with the boys. The teams you can face in these competitions are amazing and I can’t wait to get stuck into it. You look at the amazing stories every season and we want to create our own by going on as deep a run as possible.

“We don’t want to just make up the numbers. We’ll work hard in pre-season and make sure we are fighting fit to give ourselves the best opportunity in the qualifiers. It would be nice to experience a few new countries – I’ll be taking photos for sure.”