Wellington Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay says common sense should dictate an extension to the Isuzu UTE A-League season if there are further fixture disruptions.
Talay’s Phoenix are yet to hit the halfway point of their season – they’ve played 12 of 26 games ahead of their encounter against Newcastle Jets.
The Phoenix face potentially cramming half a season into a seven-week span – their last game before finals is currently slated for April 29.
Wellington have approached A-League bosses with scheduling suggestions, with Talay stopping short of openly lobbying for the season to be extended.
“I’m not really pushing for (it),” Talay told reporters on Tuesday.
“But I think just using common sense, there’s a backlog of games … it’s very difficult to get through those games – playing seven to nine games in a month would be very difficult.
“It’s going to be challenging and we might have use all the players that we currently have here to get through those games.
“The APL will have a look at it and if it needs to be extended, they may extend it for a week or so to make sure these fixtures are played.”
Weather-permitting, seventh-placed Wellington (18 points from 12 games) will meet the eighth-placed Jets (15 points from 13 games) at Central Coast Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Phoenix have been forced to train on synthetic turf, futsal pitches and a local park during the eastern seaboard’s big wet.
And Talay admitted having their past two fixtures postponed after a five-match undefeated stretch was frustrating.
“We had a short turnaround of five games in 14 days and (now) we had two weeks of no games,” he said.
“Obviously you can’t control Mother Nature.”