Jacob Burns believes the Perth Glory squad is fitter than ever and hopes that can help to lead them a vastly improved Hyundai A-League season.
Jacob Burns believes the Perth Glory squad is fitter than ever and hopes that can help to lead them a vastly improved Hyundai A-League season.
The Glory have taken advantage of the longer pre-season to play 14 friendlies, while also spending time in South Africa and New South Wales in an attempt to get the new-look squad ready for the campaign.
The captain said he was confident they’d be rewarded for that extra work when the new campaign commences on Sunday at nib Stadium against Adelaide.
“It’s been a long pre-season, I think all the boys are absolutely biting at the chomps to get out there and show what we’ve been working on for the past 30 weeks,” Burns said.
“I think it is (the fittest we’ve been) and it’s because of a number of things. The long pre-season layoff and the fact that there’s been a whole lot of players come in so there’s extra training to do, plus we went for the altitude training in South Africa.”
“It’s been a long one but I think it’s been needed.”
After the long gap between seasons, Burns said there was a real sense of anticipation within the Glory squad for the start of the new campaign and a chance to put the frustrations of 2010-11, where they won just five games, behind them.
“You can only play so many friendlies and trial matches. We’ve been building the whole time for this game,” he said.
“We’re highly motivated on the back of last season. We’ve got a point to prove to ourselves and our fans.”
“The guys that we’ve signed are experienced and proven players in the A-League and abroad. It’s exciting and enjoyable to be around.”
The 33-year-old former Socceroos midfielder said he felt the new additions to the club, which include Shane Smeltz, Liam Miller, Travis Dodd and Danny Vukovic, have given coach Ian Ferguson a much greater degree of depth to work with for the new season.
“I think there’s a lot of players who can play a number of positions and are quite versatile,” he said.
“It keeps other teams and other coaches guessing and it’s a good position to be in.”
