After an unbeaten start to the season, you would think things could not get any better for North Queensland Fury, but assistant coach Stuart McLaren has dared to predict more improvement from his squad over the course of the season.
After an unbeaten start to the season, you would think things could not get any better for North Queensland Fury, but assistant coach Stuart McLaren has dared to predict more improvement from his squad over the course of the season.
The Fury have turned an tumultuous off-season off the field at the club to one of great promise on it after a win and two draws against quality opposition in the first three weeks, including Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Melbourne Victory with just nine men.
After Round 3, they sit second on the table thanks to an industrious work ethic, good organisation and youthful enthusiasm, but McLaren expects more.
“It’s a tremendous credit to everyone at the club, but the player in particular that we’ve come out of this difficult start, Perth away, the champions at home and Melbourne Victory away. We are unbeaten and have five points to show for it,” he said.
“At the same time, it-s only the start of something hopefully. Going through all these circumstances, the games up until now and today, just gives the boys a bit of belief that no matter what-s thrown at them, they can continue to be resilient. But we have got to work hard every week to try and improve our quality, in an attacking sense.”
“We-ve shown we can be organised and we can work hard for each other and frustrate the opposition and deny them opportunities, but we need to improve upon our quality if we are going to achieve the goals that we set out.”
McLaren said there are good signs that the quality play is starting to emerge and he said the groundwork laid in the off season in terms of recruitment is starting to pay off.
“It-s been very thoughtful process, right from day one. We’ve signed and looked to sign not only talented footballers but footballers right the way through who gave the squad a proper balance in terms of quality, in terms of that youthful energy and enthusiasm, but also the right level of experience in the right positions. We feel we’ve done that,” he said.
Coach Franz Straka and McLaren are believers in building a strong dressing room culture in order to help the development of the team and he feels that has been the key to early success in 2010-11.
“We-ve made sure we-ve signed players with the right personalities, that could gel together, that weren’t disruptive in a dressing room, that did have good character that come into a situation like this where we need to really stick together,” he said.
“We need good team players, and then every day, every week, we put the hard yards in, and every task we’ve set for the players they-ve taken to it tremendously. It-s a simple recipe.”
North Queensland’s next test is against Adelaide United at Dairy Farmers Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
