Rhyan Grant hopes his record-breaking appearance for Sydney FC won’t be as forgettable as his first.
“My debut was against Perth (in 2008) and I think I got 15 minutes and we lost 4-1,” he told AAP.
Grant will on Saturday surpass Alex Brosque and become the holder of Sydney’s appearance record in his 268th game for the club.
The 31-year-old defender has enjoyed plenty of success with the Sky Blues but any hope of silverware this season is fading as Sydney’s campaign continues to splutter.
On Saturday they host an A-League Men derby against Western Sydney, who are enjoying a revival under Mark Rudan.
Sydney currently sit outside the finals spots and the Wanderers, who won the last meeting, have two games in hand and can make ground on their rivals with a win.
Steve Corica’s side, who have faced a huge backlog of games and an injury toll, have won just two league games in the last six weeks and are in danger of missing the finals for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
“If we knew the answer as to why we would be able to turn it around,” Grant said.
“Inconsistencies have cost us and at times we have played some good footy and got some good results.
“Then other times we’ve been a bit lacklustre and a bit sloppy and we’ve only got ourselves to blame.
“We’ve had way too many draws and many losses for what we’re used to here at Sydney and for what we expect.
“We’ve only got six games remaining so we need to get as many wins as possible to make sure we secure a top-six finish.”
Grant had offers to go overseas earlier in his career but for one reason or another never took the jump to play abroad.
It’s a career-path which has yielded Socceroos selection and he hopes a trip to Qatar for the World Cup later this year.
Grant is aware Australia have underperformed in qualification under Graham Arnold but says that has little to do with the fact that so few Australians are playing in top leagues abroad.
“You’re always a chance of a look-in (for the Socceroos) if you do make the move overseas,” he said.
“At the same time, I know there’s a lot of players that have probably gone overseas and I wouldn’t say got lost, but went under the radar in that sense.
“Being here you can be under the national team coach’s nose and it’s worked out quite well for me.
“We still have a chance to get to a World Cup and match ourselves against those top nations.”
