AFW catches up with Wellington Phoenix captain Andrew Durante for a quick chat.
Last week Jon McKain told us the wind is really bad in Wellington, is he exaggerating?
The wind is terrible, especially during winter and we get horizontal rain here – it rains sideways – so you get blown away.
Does your shooting improve thanks to the mighty wind?
[Laughs.] Yeah it makes it a bit more accurate because I-m usually off the mark.
I-ll put you in my dream team then, I need the points…
[Laughs.] Yeah go for it!
When it comes to fitness work, who-s always lagging behind at the back?
Daniel, he-s always at the back of the pack. When it comes to the football-side of it he steps up and plays, but when there-s no ball he doesn-t want to know about it.
Who-s got the worst dress sense?
It-s got to be a battle between Daniel and Karl Dodd; they wear clothes that don-t even match. Daniel comes to training in a pink top and brown shorts – he-s got all kinds of problems.
Who looked better with a mo during Movember?
Manny Muscat actually looked better with a mo, when he shaved he didn-t quite look the same, he looked worse than when he had the mo. It suited him.
What about Ricki-s mo? That was a full-on effort.
Yeah Ricki-s one was funny; he had a ginger mo and grey hair. It looked funny. Then he tried to put a rinse through his hair to make the colour of his hair the same so that was good when we caught him doing that.
If you were stuck on a desert island with one teammate who-d it be and why?
Probably Troy (Hearfield), I get on the best with him and he lives in my apartment block – we-re always hanging out together.
Would he be any use on a deserted island?
He-s useless, he-s got no survival skills, he doesn-t cook for himself – he-s always at my house and my missus cooks for him. He-d be terrible to have on the island but he-d be good fun anyway.
Does your wife feel like she has two husbands then?
Yeah, we call him our son. And round the Phoenix crew he-s known as my surrogate son. He-s always at our house.
Anyway… If you had your own after shave what would you call it?
What a question! [Laughs.] Dura Essence or something, yeah that-ll do it.
Favourite Godfather movie?
To be honest I haven-t watched them.
Blasphemy!
I know, criminal isn-t it? I-m into all the mafia movies, but I haven-t watched those ones.
You can-t be into mafia movies if you haven-t seen the Godfather movies, we-ll buy it for you for Christmas. Finish these sentences…
Wellington Phoenix will definitely make the four because…
Shane Smeltz will continue to score every week.
If I was linked with a move to Real Madrid I would…
I would be over the moon.
If I had $50 to gamble I would bet on…
Wellington Phoenix to make the top four – we-re $20 or something to make it.
The one thing I couldn-t live without is…
My PlayStation.
If I ruled the whole world for one day the first thing I would do is…
Increase the amount of money I-ve got.
If Pim Verbeek came over for dinner I would make him…
A nice Aussie barbie, throw some steaks on.
I think AFW is…
A fantastic magazine.
Cheers Andy.
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