“That probably is something where now it’s always been an aim and a dream to go to a World Cup … it’s still something that I want to tick off.''
A back-up keeper for years in the Premier League, first to Mark Schwarzer at Middlesbrough and with the Socceroos, then to Pepe Reina at Liverpool, Jones has heard all the jokes about back-up goalkeepers.
That it's money for old rope, that he gets paid for nothing, that almost anyone could do it.
But he also knows of the pressures that are brought to bear on the men with perhaps the most low-key but unenviable job in the game.
''You will get people who will joke and say you have been getting paid for doing nothing for the last however long, but … you might not have played for three months, and then all of a sudden you are going to play. Even more so then is the pressure of coming in.
Brad Jones was the No.2 at Liverpool until 2010.
Photo: Justin McManus
''You haven't got that back-up of outfield players coming on for 10 or 15 minutes, finding their feet or getting a few minutes in here or there so the team know them.
''In general as a keeper you are banged in because there is a problem … you are coming in thinking 'don't do anything wrong, don't make a wrong decision', because in general that is more what goalkeeping is about. You can make all the wonder saves, but if you make one mistake that's all anyone remembers.''
His last Socceroos appearance was just that. He came on for Mitchell Langerak in a friendly against Ecuador in March 2014 when the latter, himself a second-half substitute, had been sent off. Jones' first action was to face a penalty: Ecuador scored, and eventually won the game 4-3.
He made his Liverpool premiership debut in just such circumstances, coming on when goalkeeper Doni had been sent off, that time saving a penalty against Blackburn Rovers.
''The week after I was playing at Wembley in an FA Cup semi-final against Everton,'' he recalled with a grin.
But, as he spoke to journalists at the Socceroos team headquarters in Oslo in his first appearance in a national team camp since the bizarre game in London, he stressed that the basics of goalkeeping are always the same.
''The best-case scenario is not to be involved. That's the difference between a goalie and an outfield player. You just want to come on and get through the game. No talking points, walk off, job done, that's it."
Eventually he tired of being the back-up man at Liverpool.
In January 2016, he opted to leave the highly-paid security of Anfield and, at the age of almost 34, move on a six-month loan deal to NEC Nijmegen, a little-known club in the Dutch Eredivisie, to play for what was basically expenses just to prove to himself that he could be a first-choice professional again.
So impressive was he that several Dutch clubs came in for his services for the following season, but his big break came when Feyenoord, one of the biggest clubs in the Netherlands, rang to sign him. Their No.1, Kenneth Vermeer, had suffered a serious injury and they needed a high-quality replacement quickly.
Jones' first season was a dream. He kept 17 clean sheets as the Rotterdam team won their first league title for 18 years. Even when Vermeer, the Dutch national team's No.1, recovered, Jones held his place and went on to play in the Champions League this season.
Now that he is back in the fold he is older, wiser and loathe to make predictions about the future.
''Right now I am just happy to be back involved. I am not going to come out and say I want this and I want that. What I wanted was just to be back in, and back part of the group.
''It's been a long time … but even at my age I think I am probably playing the best that I have been in my career. I see now and the next couple of years as my best years.''
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Michael Lynch, The Age's expert on soccer, has had extensive experience of high level journalism in the UK and Australia. Michael has covered the Socceroos through Asia, Europe and South America in their past three World Cup campaigns. He has also reported on Grands Prix and top class motor sport from Asia and Europe. He has won several national media awards for both sports and industry journalism.
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