It was hard just being in the moment being at the World Cup and dealing with all that and the noise around it, and my dad asking me every day what's going on." Devlin says it was "a hard decision to make" to leave Hearts. "Hearts is such a special football club and I will be forever grateful for giving me the opportunity to play football outside Australia," he said. "There were obviously other things I had to weigh up with Hearts - I've never been in that position where I've been off-contract. As for last season's title heartache, Devlin added: "Football is cruel sometimes and you just have to pick yourself up and take the next opportunity.