F ootball fans mourning the loss of Mel McLaughlin to Channel 10 can dry their eyes on their Wanderers jerseys - Fox Sports has found a more than capable replacement.

Fans bemoaned soccer tragic McLaughlin's move to Ten when it was announced this month, with one devout supporter complaining: "Mc-Laughlin's departure is a step backwards for the growth of the A-League."

Enter newcomer Tara Rushton, who Confidential can reveal is the new face of football at the sports network.

The 29-year-old is set to make her on-screen debut in coming weeks.

She may be a former model and actor, but when it comes to football, Rushton is not just a pretty face.

Like McLaughlin, Rushton comes armed with a degree in journalism and an encyclopedic knowledge of the game, having fronted the weekly English Premier League show Tiger Goals On Sunday during a lengthy stint in Singapore.

media_camera Melanie Mclaughlin.

"I think that if you go into something like this, and you don't know what you're talking about, you get found out pretty quickly," Rushton told Confidential yesterday.

"Football is something that has been such a big part of my life for a really long time. I grew up in Perth, I follow the Glory in the A-League.

"To be able to make a career out of it and combine sport and journalism, doing something I love, has always been the master plan."

Rushton is likely to make her on-screen debut on Australian TV in the next couple of weeks, according to Fox Sports boss Gary Burns, who approached the football-mad newcomer after viewing what he described as a "pretty unbelievable" show reel.

"We realised we couldn't work out a way to do it so that Tara could stay in Singapore, even though we thought about it, but then she came out here for a holiday and we caught up and I just thought, 'Bugger this, we can't pass this up' so we signed her basically," Burns said yesterday.