With their three-game stint in Victoria complete, Perth Glory’s A-League Men team will hit the road again as they prepare to take the next steps on their long route home.
Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Melbourne City followed a 3-0 win over Victory and 1-0 defeat to Western United, with Perth now having a 10-day break to get to Brisbane in time to face the Roar on December 18.
“We’ve got to get out of Victoria as soon as possible to be out of Victoria for 14 days,” coach Richard Garcia said on Wednesday night.
“So we’re away tomorrow. We then go into Adelaide I believe and then off to Brisbane.”
Doubts remain over whether the Glory players and staff will be able to make it home for Christmas with their families, as originally planned, given Western Australia has now put a hard border in place with South Australia.
Perth are meant to play Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on December 23 before heading home.
“It changes every day, honestly, so it’s a difficult one. It’s a hard one to take because you have different scenarios every day,” Garcia said.
“But we’re hoping to be able to get home for Christmas, whether that be in quarantine, which is more than likely, we probably will have to do.
“But I think people would just like to get home and see their families at some point.”
While skipper Brandon O’Neill is still in Perth awaiting the birth of his first child and Andy Keogh remains home rehabilitating a calf injury, star recruit Daniel Sturridge is among those who could benefit from the extended lead-up to the Glory’s next game on December 18.
“We’re definitely going to have to rest,” Garcia said.
“We’ll give them a little bit of a break and set them up again and hopefully by that time Daniel’s ready for some minutes, Cal Timmins can maybe play a bigger part because he played 20 minutes today.
“It gives the guys like (Adrian) Sardinero and (Aaron) Calver a bigger break.
“They probably went longer than we wanted them to tonight but due to circumstances and probably depth, you don’t want to put a young boy in a situation that is too tough. You’ve got to be wary of that.
“So I think we’ll probably be in a better place with that 10-day break.”
