Son-of-a-gun Neill wants to make his own journey

Marcus Neill is proud to have an iconic Socceroos name on the back of his shirt but dares to dream of forging his own path.

The son of former Socceroos skipper and Premier League defender Lucas is a promising striker who recently signed his first professional contract with Sunderland.

Now, the 18-year-old is set to lead the line for the Young Socceroos in U20 Asian Cup qualifiers against Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia, starting on Monday night in Vientiane.

"It's a real big driver, trying to create my own journey and my own pathway," Neill told AAP.

"But I also do feel proud to be the son of my dad and I want to follow his footsteps and hopefully more.

"But I want to drive my own journey and I'm a different type of player so it's not gonna be Lucas Neill times two.

"He was obviously a defender and I'm gonna be something different hopefully."

"I don't remember watching him as a kid but I used to search him up like every other player," he said.

Neill has also seen the contentious penalty his father conceded to Italy's Fabio Grosso at the 2006 World Cup.

"I think he was hard done by," Neill said, then added, jokingly: "Maybe I would have gone down."

Neill soaks up advice his father, who played against "all types of strikers" gives him - be it watching clips of his own game, learning about football's "dark arts" or getting his diet right.

Explosive striker Neill is also inspired by players like Fernando Torres, Joao and competitive "animal" Jamie Vardy.

"I'm just hungry as ever and I go out every game like it's my last and I just give 100 per cent always wanting to score," Neill said.

Australia teammate Archie Trimboli, on the books at Brentford, also has a unique perspective.