In an age when our every movement can be recorded through our wristwatches or smartphones, it is perhaps unsurprising that footballers are taking advantage of technology to enhance their performance.

But Football Federation Australia are leading the way in monitoring player activity, as Partick Thistle midfielder and cap hopeful Ryan Edwards has explained.

Edwards received his first senior call-up earlier this season after a fine campaign for the Jags, and he has ambitions to be a mainstay on the international scene for his country.

If he is to make it though, he will have to adhere strictly to an edict to use a ‘Big Brother’ style app that allows the Aussie football authorities to keep a close eye on a select band of players.

For Edwards, it is far from a problem though, with the associated physical benefits and the knowledge he is on his nation’s radar despite being thousands of miles away more than ample compensation for any inconvenience.

“There are about 35 or 40 of us that have an app that the Australian FA have developed that lets us put our training data in and they can monitor me all the way over here in Scotland,” Edwards said.

“You have to do it twice a day, every day, but it doesn’t take too long and it can be a really useful tool for managing your training and your workload.

“In the morning it takes about 30 seconds, just putting in the hours you slept and any fatigue you are feeling and stuff like that, as well as pressing on a picture of a body any places where you are experiencing pain or discomfort.

“Then in the afternoon after training you spend a couple of minutes just putting in what sort of session you had, whether it was heavy or light and whether you had a gym session afterwards and that sort of thing.

“If you are doing too much, or too little, which is rare, then the Aussie FA will get in touch with me and the club to discuss my training schedule and my needs so that I can be in the best possible condition.

“I always try to look after myself anyway, but it’s good to keep you disciplined and make sure that you are always striving to be in peak condition.

“I’m desperate to be involved again with the national team, so I don’t mind doing it at all, and hopefully the feedback they are getting from me is positive. The training here is great and you have all the support we need.

“But it’s always good to know as well that your national team are keeping tabs on you, and hopefully I can play my way into the coach’s plans again.”

If Edwards maintains the form that has seen him nominated for Thistle’s McCrea Financial Services player of the year award, then you wouldn’t bet against him doing just that.

“The season has gone better than I could have imagined,” he said.

“My aim for this season was just to play as many games as possible and help the team push towards the top six.

“To play in every league game so far, make the top six, pick up a few player of the month awards, get an international call-up and be nominated for player of the year, I couldn’t have asked for any more.

“It’s been great and I can’t thank the management team enough for having faith in me and giving me the platform to go on and perform.”

Edwards is hoping that the Jags can surpass their pre-season target of a top-six place by overhauling tomorrow’s opponents, Hearts, and he is hoping to crank up the pressure on them with a win in the capital.

“There’s no reason at all why we can’t go to Tynecastle and win,” he said.

“We should have won there the last time, but that was a real turning point in our season and we then beat them at Firhill, so there is nothing to fear.

“Hopefully we can silence the crowd, and we’re confident that we can.”