The Tinkler name has become a household name as of late and the NSW Premier League has it’s own Tinkler.

New Zealander Cole Tinkler joined the APIA Leichhardt Tigers this season and has starred in the centre of defence.

``I’m hoping to find out if I am related to (Nathan Tinkler) to be honest,’’ Tinkler said.

``I am really enjoying my time at APIA. It is a fantastic club who is well organised and they try to be as professional as possible.

``For a league like this to be as professional as you can makes a huge difference.’’

The 24 year old played for Auckland City before joining the Macarthur Rams in the NSW Super League last season.

And Tinkler is hoping his team’s performances will give him a chance to pinch an A-League contract.

``The main aim I came over here was to keep playing and try to play professional football,’’ he said.

``This league has some really good players in it and even in our team we have people like Chris James who you can see is a really good player and others like Franco Parisi.

``I think having players like that in the league with the amount of experience they have can only be good for it.

``If the team has a good run and we do well obviously players from our team can be recognised.’’

APIA host the high flying Sutherland Sharks at Lambert park on Friday and Tinkler hopes the team’s first win against Blacktown last week will give them confidence for the rest of the season.

``We played them pre-season and I know that is not a great indication but I think we can definitely get a result there,’’ he said.

-By Chris Georges

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