Brisbane Roar have lost to the five other sides still in Championship contentionjust once in 15 games this season, but Ange Postecoglou says the slate has been wiped clean with the start of the finals.
Speaking with media the day after eight of his troops were named in the Professional Footballers Assocation Team of the Year, the Coach of the Year said he was regarding the awards night as a transition point marking the end of one competition and the beginning of another.
“It actually ties up our season really well… the recognition that we received last night was for the competition that we’ve won, and that was the league,” Postecoglou said.
“Now we’re in a separate competition, obviously finals football, and it kind of puts a nice full stop to that and I’m sure the players are now focused on looking ahead to the finals and being just as dominant there.”
The Roar’s one-loss season was so dominant that despite having seven players named in the first XI – Michael Theoklitos, Luke DeVere, Ivan Franjic, Matt Smith, Matt McKay, Thomas Broich and Kosta Barbarouses – and one on the bench – Jean Carlos Solorzano – Postecoglou says there were still Brisbane players unlucky to miss out.
“I was saying that (one or two of the boys were unlucky to miss out) last night, and everyone was saying I was greedy,” he said.
“I think there probably was one or two, but as I said, it’s more a reflection of what we’ve done as a team. When you see that sort of recognition, that’s the one stand-out, that it’s been a massive team effort.”
One of the players Postecoglou was undoubtedly referring to was 21-year-old midfielder Mitch Nichols, who has had a coming-of-age season, in which he forced his way into the starting side and consistently starred in attack.
But although he missed a place in the PFA Team of the Year, Nichols, who limped from the field in Brisbane’s 4-0 win over the Gold Coast in the final round of the regular season, has received his own piece of good news, in the form of a better than expected injury prognosis.
Having been cleared of any ligament or structural damage, the Roar are entertaining the possibility that he will be fit to play this weekend, giving him until Friday to prove his readiness for their first major semi-final clash with the Central Coast Mariners.
“(Nichols) is a lot better than we thought. He had a scan and the scan was clear, which was good. Now we just have to wait for the injury to settle down – it was a fairly hefty tackle,” said Postecoglou.
“He’s probably 50-50, which is better than I thought post-game. I thought he’d definitely miss one. We’re giving him every chance to be right.”
