In this new series from Sporting News, we take a dive back in time to look at some notable player debuts in the A-League and abroad.
At the age of 17, most young Australian players can only dream of playing in the A-League for the first time.
For Mitch Cooper, that dream turned into a scary reality in February 2012 after impressing for Gold Coast United's youth side.
Not only would the attacking midfielder make his senior debut, but he'd do it while wearing the captain's armband.
"We just played a youth game in Newcastle on the Sunday, flew back and it was Monday night. I was just chilling, watching TV and I get this phone call," Cooper told Sporting News.
"They go ‘Hey Mitch, this is Clive Palmer. Just wanted to let you know that coming up this weekend you’re going to make your debut’.
"I definitely deserved it, I was on fire at the time, but he also mentioned that I was going to lead the boys out. He didn’t say I was going to be captain so I didn’t know what he meant.
"Then I came to training the next day with the first-team and Miron Bleiberg pulled me aside, said ’So Clive gave you call? You’re going to make your debut and you’re going to be captain’.
"I was shocked. My mind was blank. It was national news and kind of just snowballed from there. It was a crazy week leading into it but once we got out there we did really well.
"I was thrown in the deep end a bit but there comes a moment where you either run away from something or you run towards it."
Palmer, who owned the club, made the decision to hand Cooper the armband as a way to highlight their commitment to youth with usual skipper Michael Thwaite out injured.
Gold Coast coach Bleiberg was less than impressed about it all however with Palmer suspending the coach after he tried to downplay the situation.
Bleiberg would ultimately leave the club in the aftermath with a 17-year-old left to shoulder the responsibility of a debut and controversial captaincy call.
"It was wild. It’s not like I didn’t appreciate the opportunity - it was more the magnitude and how ridiculous it was to do that," Cooper said.
"It wasn’t just becoming captain at 17, it was captain on debut. It’s ridiculous.
"I had such a good bunch of boys around me and football at the end of the day is what I know best so just ran out and went hard."
United lost the match against Melbourne Heart 1-0 with Cooper scoring in his next match for the club in a 3-3 draw with Central Coast Mariners.
The teenager would join Newcastle Jets the following season and was most recently playing for Hume City in National Premier Leagues Victoria.
In 2019, Cooper donned the captain's armband once again, this time for Vanuatu, with the experience bringing him some closure and a desire to thank Clive Palmer for giving him a unique first taste of it all those years ago.