Wilkshire was lying on a beach in Thailand when Graham Arnold rang in July.

The former Socceroo had just finished a second stint with Dynamo Moscow and was contemplating his next move while on holiday with his young family.

At 35, and as one of the few members of the 2006 golden generation still playing - decidedly less consistently than he'd have liked - retirement was well and truly on the cards.

Opportunities in Russia's lower leagues weren't piquing his interest, and it wasn't until the call from Arnold that Wilkshire realised he wasn't quite done.

As it turned out he was only just beginning, as the Wollongong product embarked on a new, unexpected chapter with his first professional Australian club in his 18-year career.

Eleven A-League games in, Arnold's decision to recruitWilkshire as a season-long replacement for Sydney FC's injured right-back Rhyan Grant seems a stroke of genius.

For Wilkshire, now 36, slipping into an A-League title defence has been something of an awakening.

"It wasn't something on my radar," Wilkshire told AAP. "I was close to calling it a day last time before this opportunity came up.

"But it's sort of brought me back to life and I feel great. And I definitely don't plan on finishing after this season.

"The last few years I hadn't been playing regularly. I realised how much I missed it now I've started to play again."

Once his ageing body had passed the fitness tests of Sky Blues strength and conditioning coach Andrew Clark, Wilkshire's mind set about adapting to the change in climate from Russia.

He describes