Fresh from starting his first game for Sydney FC in eight months, young gun Rhyan Grant speaks about the Sydney Festival of Football, his injury and the upcoming Hyundai A-League Season.
Fresh from starting his first game for Sydney FC in eight months, young gun Rhyan Grant speaks about the Sydney Festival of Football, his injury and the upcoming Hyundai A-League Season.
Q: Rhyan, your first start for Sydney since your ankle injury, how did you pull up from the game last night, are you back to full fitness?
A: I feel alright, a bit stiff today in the ankle but that-s to be expected. I am pretty close to full fitness; I-ve been doing a bit of work with Craig Duncan (Head of Human Performance) and some of the other injured boys, so I think I am pretty much there.
Q: The wet conditions obviously made it quite difficult last night, were you pleased with Sydney-s performance?
A: It thought we did well to get a draw, that-s a good result for us as they are a pretty big club in Europe so it wasn-t a bad result for us. We could of maybe created a few more chances but I suppose we did alright in the end.
Q: Rangers are a team with Champions League experience; how important is it that Sydney continues play teams of this quality?
A: It-s good experience for all the boys not just the young ones, but the older ones too. To get clubs like that (Rangers) and Blackburn and Athens is only going to be a positive for all the boys, so if it could continue to happen it would be good for Australia, the A-League and all the boys involved.
Q: Being quite a young but also a focal member of the first team squad, what are you expectations and goals for the season ahead?
A: The boys want to continue a good year like they had last year, we we-re champions so there-s a few expectations for us to do well. I-d be happy to be involved in a couple of games throughout the year, I will be trying to push for a bench spot, maybe start a couple of games, those are just my personal goals. The boys are just keen to get back into the season and have a good year.
Q: Just getting back to your injury, you were out for eight months, how tough was the recovery both mentally and physically?
A: It was pretty challenging, at the start I was a bit down but it didn-t take long for me to get my spirits up. The boys were pretty nice about it, I had my family there and was able to go back to Bathurst and catch up with some mates and family. It was a bad experience, but a good learning curve for me too, I-m glad I am past it and ready to get back into the games.
Q: Your next game is against Blackburn, how do you feel about taking on a Premier League side with loads of international experience?
A: There a good club, a well-known club to a lot of Australians. It will be good to come up against us and match ourselves against an EPL team; hopefully I get to be part of the game and get a bit of experience out of it.
