Do not expect Premiership winners Perth Glory to rest on their laurels for the end of the Hyundai A-League campaign.
That’s the message from head coach Tony Popovic, who has total faith his team will maintain their high performance no matter the personnel he picks for the remainder of the season.
It’s why the 45-year-old will have no hesitation in rotating his charges for the final two rounds of the campaign as the club gears up for a championship assault.
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The depth of Perth’s roster, Popovic believes, has been one of the pillars of the WA club’s first trophy win of the Hyundai A-League era.
That Premiers Plate-winning squad quality should be on show in Thursday night’s top-of-the-table clash with Sydney FC, with Jason Davidson (knee), Juande (groin) and Chris Ikonomidis (shoulder) all out.
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“It’s the tough side of the job, but it’s also the enjoyable part of the job for the fact that we are on top because of the strength of the squad,” Popovic said.
“I firmly believe that anyone could perform in our squad in these important games coming up.
“I think we have a chance now for some of those boys to play in Sydney.
They want to put their best foot forward to say ‘coach, pick me for that major semi-final’. That’s all we can ask for.”
Meanwhile, Glory forward Joel Chianese is adamant Perth will not be taking the last two rounds of the campaign lightly despite etching their name on the Premiers Plate.
“It’s easy to say, ‘let’s just go out there and be blasé about the next few games’, but we know that the boss won’t want that,” Chianese said.
“And as players I think we’ve come a long way as a group to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
