Brian Kaltak exclusive: Glory ambitions, Pacific pathways and the problems facing Vanuatu football

Brian Kaltak has established himself as one of the Pacific’s most successful footballers, but as another A-League season approaches, the Vanuatu international believes the game in his homeland still has significant ground to make up.

Speaking exclusively to Oceania Football Center, the Perth Glory defender discussed his preparations for the 2026/27 season, the future of football in Vanuatu, the development of the next generation of Pacific players and when supporters might see him wearing his country’s colours again.

For Kaltak, the immediate focus is Perth.

After an outstanding first season in Western Australia, in which he was named Glory’s Most Glorious Player as well as the club’s Members’ and Players’ Player of the Year, the 32-year-old is preparing for another campaign in purple.

“Pre-season is going strong. We are all looking forward to the season starting,” Kaltak told Oceania Football Center. “Some new players have been added to the squad and they are settling in well. It will be an exciting season for us.”

Kaltak arrived at Perth in 2025 following three highly successful seasons with Central Coast Mariners. His time in Gosford included two A-League Championships, the 2023/24 Premiership and the AFC Cup title, transforming a player who had spent years trying to break into professional football into one of the competition’s established defenders.

His ambitions at Glory, however, remain straightforward.

“For now, my focus is with Perth Glory. I want to help the team be successful this season.”

While Kaltak prepares in Australia, Vanuatu are competing in Fiji at the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup without their star defender. The defending champions have taken a significantly changed squad into the competition, providing opportunities for a younger group of players.

Kaltak has been following them from afar.

“It is our new generation of players that are coming through, and it is good to see them do well with Team Vanuatu and also the national team,” he said. “I would like to wish them all the very best for this tournament.”

But when the conversation moved from individual players to the state of domestic football in Vanuatu, Kaltak offered a much more critical assessment.

Asked whether he had seen improvements through his involvement with football development back home, he made an important distinction between grassroots development and the national competition.

“I don’t see any improvement at all with our local football. I think we need to improve that,” he initially said, before clarifying: “Our national league, I mean. Grassroots have made some progress over the years.”

It is a significant assessment from arguably Vanuatu’s most prominent active footballer.

Kaltak believes the issue goes beyond the quality of players. For him, the structure surrounding the game needs to change, and development cannot remain concentrated primarily around Port Vila.

“Football in general in Vanuatu is lacking structurally,” he said. “There are a lot of things that need to be done, and Vanuatu Football itself cannot solve the issue. We need a long-term plan to develop and strengthen football around Vanuatu, not just Port Vila.”

He went further, arguing that lasting reform will require cooperation beyond football administration alone.

“From what I’m seeing now, and to have the power to make this work for the long term, the Vanuatu government has to step in with Vanuatu Football to make it work,” Kaltak said. “Strengthening football all around Vanuatu.”

Against that backdrop, Kaltak sees the new OFC Professional League — and Vanuatu United’s participation in it — as an important opportunity to create the pathway currently missing for local players.“Yes, it’s a good pathway for our local talent to showcase their talent, and the league itself promotes our football from Oceania to the next professional level,” Kaltak said.

His support for the competition also connects with a wider question facing Pacific football: whether a stronger professional environment within Oceania can eventually produce more players capable of moving into competitions such as the A-League.

His comments carry particular weight because his own career illustrates what can be possible for players emerging from the Pacific.

Kaltak did not make his A-League debut until 2022, but subsequently became a championship-winning defender with Central Coast Mariners and an established starter in Australian professional football. Now at Perth, he believes others from the islands can eventually follow the pathway that he and Fiji great Roy Krishna have helped establish.

“Maybe in the future there will be some Pacific Island players in the A-League following our footsteps.”

Whether Kaltak himself will soon return to international football is less certain.

Asked when Vanuatu supporters could expect to see him representing the national team again, his answer was simple: “I don’t know yet.”

When Oceania Football Center noted the difficulty of balancing club responsibilities with national-team matches staged outside FIFA international windows, Kaltak agreed.

For now, that leaves one of Vanuatu football’s biggest questions unanswered.

Kaltak remains closely connected to the national game and is watching the emergence of the country’s younger generation, but his immediate professional priority is a Perth Glory side preparing for a new A-League campaign.

At the same time, his message for football back home extends well beyond his own availability.

For a player who has experienced the transition from Pacific football to the professional game at its highest level in the region, developing the next Brian Kaltak will require more than discovering talented players. In his view, Vanuatu needs the long-term structures capable of giving those players a pathway — across the entire country.