Maybe that is the key to his success.
The 22-year-old is having a season to remember for the Dunedin City Royals, as his team’s leading scorer (eight goals) and third-highest in the Southern League.
Yet it was hard to pinpoint where it had come from.
"I haven’t really changed anything," he laughed.
"I just keep doing what I’ve been trying to do for a while and maybe things are slowly starting to click together.
"I do think the quality of the team [helps] — [they’re] always on my back.
"They’re always supporting me so, yeah, always just kind of wanting to do the best for the team.
"I kind of keep trying to continue every week and when it comes together, I can only be grateful."
Originally from the United Kingdom, Stanley moved to Nelson in 2007 before heading to Dunedin in 2019, to study towards a bachelor of applied science.
The left winger, who is now completing his honours in performance analysis, played for Otago University for three years, but when the club no longer had a licence to play in the South Island league, he and a bunch of team-mates moved to the Royals last year.
The Royals had created a good club culture and training environment with everyone competing for spots.
"I feel like that’s only making me as a player better."
As had the Southern League. It was a tough challenge — with Christchurch United and Cashmere Technical currently holding on to the top two spots to advance to the national league — but it had improved the quality of football in Dunedin, he said.
The Royals remain in third position with a record of six wins, two draws and two losses, but with seven rounds left to go, Stanley believed there was every chance his team could make the top two.
"Obviously we’re there but we have had a little rough patch in the last three weeks, and so if we can bounce back from that, I believe we could prove that we’re a team that’s good enough for national league.
"But that’s really up to us."
The Royals drew 1-1 with ninth-placed Selwyn United last week, and lost to Coastal Spirit 1-0 two weeks earlier.
They needed to be more clinical at goal in the final third if they have any shot of moving forward, he said.
"Players need to realise that they’re capable of being selfish when they need to be in the right way, like the right arrogance of a striker.
"We need more players being like that, because it’s all good and well bringing it to, like, the Cash Tech, but if we’re not clinical against teams like Selwyn . . . we’re never going to be able to prove ourselves at a national level.
"I’d definitely say our backline can be unreal sometimes, like most of the time, and if we just put more chances away, we’d be breathing."
That will be put to the test on Saturday when they are home to sixth-placed Nelson Suburbs. The two met in round five and settled for a 1-1 draw.
Green Island also has a big task this weekend, hosting Cashmere Technical at Sunnyvale.
Green Island lost 2-1 in an earlier clash, but is in good form after beating FC Twenty11 3-0 last week.
