North Queensland veteran Paul Kohler has urged his team-mates to build on the momentum of the past fortnight in Sunday’s clash against Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The Fury have lifted themselves off the bottom of the table and into finals contention on the back of successive wins over Perth and Gold Coast. It means they are unbeaten in five and Kohler said it’s important the fledgling club carries that form into the FIFA match day break.
“I think it-s a really big match coming up. The win on the weekend against Gold Coast was pretty impressive from the boys and I guess a bit of relief and excitement,” he said.
“With the break next week it’s important we get a bit of momentum and if we can get three points, it-s a big factor in the crowd we get in two weeks in Townsville.”
Kohler said the confidence the playing group has gained from the past two victories has transformed the team and that will help greatly against the bottom-placed Jets.
“We need to go out there and believe in our own ability. I think the last couple of weeks have been a really good foundation, we’ve stuck to what we are good at and it’s paid off,” he said.
“Clean sheet, you can’t lose. It’s our first one with a victory. It’s important to get a clean sheet and hopefully that will help.”
It will be a reunion of sorts for Kohler, who played 48 games with the Jets. But the experienced defender/midfielder said he will not be getting too emotional about the match.
“There’s a lot of good memories, we won a title there. But that’s in the past, this is a new chapter in my life, and it’s really important, after the last two weeks, if we get a win this week in Newcastle, it’s massive and it will put us right back in the mix,” he said.
“To be fair there’s not much of the old team from when I was there. The old coach is gone, probably three quarters of the players from the previous team aren’t there. It’s more important to build on the last couple of weeks. This is a new part of my life, and hopefully we can go out there and do that.”
