One of only a select few Sky Blue stars to have claimed two Hyundai A-League Premierships with Sydney FC as a player, we caught up with Captain Alex Brosque to get his take on this season, his feelings on leading the boys, and what we need to do to continue our run.
One of only a few two-time Premiership winners, as a player, with Sydney FC, how does that make you feel?
Very honoured actually and at the same time disappointed that there aren’t a few more. Hopefully we can follow on from this season, have a good run. I’m definitely happy to have been a player as part of two teams that have won Premierships.
Captain this time as well, does it make this one a bit more special?
Yeah it does. It’s nice to be given that honour to lead out the boys and be seen as someone that’s capable of representing the players. To be able to do it in a team as good as this one, one that’s broken all sorts of records, for me is a huge honour.
You’ve been around the club for a while, what are the differences this time compared to last time?
Just how everyone is on the same page, I’m talking all 23 players, everyone understands the quality of the squad that we have, the fact that players are going to be in and out of the squad, but everyone understands they have a part to play and for that reason the commitment to our end goal is hard to find within any other squad of this many players. For me that’s been the biggest difference.
How do you compare the two teams, having been a part of the 09/10 squad as well?
There’s a lot of similarities and differences. I think similarities, is how close the group is now and how close it was back then, and the differences are probably in our styles of play. Back then we were more of a team that would sit back, absorb the pressure and then break away and hurt you whereas this team we’re a lot more about getting into opposition’s faces, forcing turnovers in their own half and then capitalising on that. The styles of play are different but the camaraderie and closeness of the boys is something that’s very similar.
Finals Series to come, what do we have to do to keep our run going?
Just keep doing what we’ve been doing. Even though we wrapped up the Premiership a few weeks ago, other teams have got some disappointing results with the ladder set, but we haven’t stopped. We finished the Premiership with a convincing win in Perth, another convincing win against City and a good point away against Wellington. We haven’t stopped doing what we’ve been doing because we know how important it is to carry on. I think the fact that we’ve been continuing to win and stay undefeated in these last couple of rounds psychologically will do a lot of damage to whoever we come up against in the Finals.
Sydney FC take on the Newcastle Jets in their final home game of the season at Allianz Stadium on Saturday 15 April! Be there to see your Sky Blue presented with the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Premiers Plate!!!