Hailing from the home of the Himalayas, the 26-year-old has swiftly adjusted both to Tasmanian sea-level life and Riverside Olympic's defence.

"I came last year and I'm liking it here," he said. "It's a great family environment at the club."

Phagami even offered a surprising comparison when asked for a short geography lesson about his homeland.

"Nepal is in three parts. If you go northern, that's mountain, in the middle is hills like Tasmania, that's where I come from, and further south is the plain area closer to India.

"Beni is my home town. It's quite similar to Launceston, we have river and hills, I find it similar.

"The weather here is also similar to my home town and the people. I like everything here."

Leaving Nepal at 21, Phagami moved to Sydney for four years and then relocated to Tasmania as his partner was studying here.

Working in aged care, he joined Olympic and began playing in the tough breeding ground of the Sunday social league before stepping up to statewide competition under coach Helder Dos Santos Silva.

"The NPL standard is very high to the game I was playing last year. I'm very thankful to Gaffer for giving me chance in NPL and happy for that. The level is high but I think I'm coping with that."

Affectionately known as Baz by his Windsor Park teammates, Phagami said there is a growing Nepalese community in Launceston and especially Hobart, mostly attracted by study and work opportunities.

The Manchester United supporter said the sport continues to grow in his homeland, aided by the country being drawn in the same group as the Socceroos for 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

"At the moment football is not that good in Nepal. The league is not happening every year and is not that strong compared to previous years. There have been changes to the FA of our country.

"But there is a real passion there. In qualifying, Australia and Nepal were in the same group, our team came to Canberra and it would have been very good if we could have the Socceroos in our country but because of COVID we could not host them and had to play in the neutral venue in Kuwait, so that was really bad for us.

"It was a shame because they would have been the biggest team to come to Nepal to play."

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