ADAM Federici is the first to admit that he endured a frustrating time playing second fiddle to Marcus Hahnemann.

But with the American now at Premiership new boys Wolves, the 24-year-old Aussie is ready to make the Reading number one jersey his own.

He will go into the new season as Brendan Rodgers" first choice keeper and the Australian is revelling in the extra responsibility.

He said: 'It"s been frustrating but now I have a chance to go out there and prove to everyone that I"m the number one at this club and will be for many years to come.

'I"ve always wanted to step into the role but with Marcus there it was never going to happen. He"s gone now which has given me a great chance to step up and I"m looking forward to that challenge.

'It been a frustrating couple of years, especially when we went down as there were a big spell of games where I thought I could have made the difference. Then last season being dropped for no reason was another frustrating point.

'So this a big chance for myself, it"s been a long time coming. I"ve played in patches but I haven"t been able to keep the shirt so this is a chance to prove myself.'

An example of Federici"s new found senior status amongst the squad is that he has eyes on taking the captain"s armband.

Rodgers has yet to decide on who his skipper will be and while the Australian keeper admits others are in front of him, he hasn"t ruled out putting his own name forward.

'I will throw my name into the hat,' he said. 'As I"ve said, I consider myself now a senior member of this team and I"d be happy to take on that responsibility. But I would say there"s a few people in front of me.

'Harps and Ivar are both great role models. Pearcey as well. But I would say Ivar is the one that everyone looks up to at the moment.'

Federici and the rest of the Royals squad are coming to the end of their first week working with Rodgers on the training ground.

So far his training methods have proved to be a real hit and the Australian says there is a real buzz amongst the squad.

He said: 'Everyone is just really excited about the place. He (Rodgers) has been brilliant, he"s different to what we"re used to which is refreshing. It"s a different style of football, it"s fantastic how professional and organised everything is.

'Everything is set out, everyone knows what they"re doing for the week, for the month. It"s really good to come back to somewhere so organised, so prepared.

'It"s going to be exciting for us as players to play the way he wants us to. He had a talk to us on the first day about how he wants us to play and you could see a smile on everyone"s face.

'As a footballer you want to play good football and I think that"s what we"re going to do this season. It"s going to be fantastic.'