The Brisbane Roar will have a world of motivation this Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium, playing on the anniversary of the devastating floods that decimated the city last year and against the side that broke their record undefeated streak.
The Brisbane Roar will have a world of motivation this Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium, playing on the anniversary of the devastating floods that decimated the city last year and against the side that broke their record undefeated streak.
This time last year, Brisbane’s home ground was filled like a pool, with muddy waters rising into the first tier of seating.
But the damage to the ground was of little consequence in comparison to the thousands of homes and livelihoods destroyed by the unprecedented floods.
At the time, the Roar were on hand to lend whatever assistance they could.
They were selfless in their work for the community and then carried on in providing support, solace and distraction for their supporters with a flawless march to the Hyundai A-League premiership-championship double.
Speaking on the eve of the showdown with Sydney FC, coach Ange Postecoglou was reminiscing on all that has since transpired.
“It kind of hits you. We said that last time we were training out here, the last time we were here was before the floods,” said Postecoglou.
“It’s been a remarkable 12 months. There’s so many emotions through that year of highs and lows, both for the state and in a sporting sense. Sometimes you don’t get an opportunity to recollect, but when you think about the journey, it’s just been incredible.”
“I’m sure there will be a lot of people tomorrow night that will just be taking a moment to think about all that, because it just was a devastating time for so many people. It seems like ages ago, but it wasn’t that long ago.”
“It gives you a moment of reflection and maybe in the recent times we get caught up in the winning or losing of football games.”
“But if you take a moment to reflect on how many people were affected this time last year. Football clubs, sporting clubs, and just people in general.”
“A lot of our supporters were really badly affected by it. That kind of thing, being 12 months on and the circumstances of it, I’m sure from the players’ point of view, it’ll give them that extra drive.”
Postecoglou was less inclined to use his side’s week nine loss to Sydney – the club’s first in 37 matches – as motivation, but invited his players to use whatever source necessary to fuel a strong home-ground performance.
“Somebody was going to (break the streak) eventually. Another four teams had a good whack after them. It could be payback time for a while for us,” Postecoglou said.
“Maybe the players will use it as motivation, but to me whoever it was doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, it’s a game of football we have to win tomorrow night.”
“If it provides our players with a bit of extra motivation, great, we’ll use it, but it’s not my sort of thing … we just owe it to ourselves and our supporters to make sure we play some good football tomorrow night.”
