He’s set to notch an impressive milestone and defender Storm Roux hopes to celebrate with a much-needed win to help turn Central Coast’s Hyundai A-League season around.
Roux will make his 100th Hyundai A-League appearance on Saturday night in the Mariners’ clash against Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.
It’s a special achievement for the 25-year-old, who has matured into a real leader at the club since making his debut against Western Sydney Wanderers at the start of the 2013/14 Season.
“I think the first game is definitely a highlight – coming in for that first season after winning the Championship and being in a great team was probably my proudest achievement in my career so far,” Roux said.
“Players like Nick Montgomery who have been here from the start of when I’ve been here, and he’s still involved with the club. He’s a big mentor for me, he’s always been good to me.
“Other players in the past as well like Hutch [former Mariner John Hutchinson], our captain, he’s been at the Mariners so long and he’s helped me a lot.
“I’m 25 now and I’ve grown up at the Mariners in my young career, so I look up to players like that who take the lead.
“I was very honoured to wear the captain’s armband a couple of times last season – it’s a special feeling when you’ve been at the club for this long. This club has really helped me grow as a player and as a person so I am very honoured to have done that.”
While Saturday’s match will be special for Roux should he get on the pitch against Adelaide, it will be truly memorable if the Mariners can snap their 10-game winless run.
After looking like potential top six contenders in December, Paul Okon’s troops now have plenty of work to do if they want to figure in the Finals Series.
“We’ve just got to keep going. We know we’ve needed wins desperately these last few games,” Roux said.
“We’ve had a chat with all the boys and we’re desperate to get wins on the board, and it has to come now.
“I definitely think we’re losing games and drawing games that we should be winning, but we’re not getting blown out…it’s tight games, and we’re always giving ourselves a chance to win the game.
“We just need to keep the defence nice and tight and hopefully pick up some wins in these last games.”
Asked about the challenge of facing the Reds, the Kiwi international said: “We know Adelaide are a very physical team – they are very fit and we are ready for it.
“We have a game plan in place and like I said, it helps that we’re fresh.”
