New Brisbane Roar captain Matt Smith is confident his team can contend again for the Hyundai A-League title despite the off-season departure of former skipper Matt McKay.
New Brisbane Roar captain Matt Smith is confident his team can contend again for the Hyundai A-League title despite the off-season departure of former skipper Matt McKay.
A fixture at the club since the inception of the A-League in 2005, McKay left the Roar following last season’s amazing premiership-championship double when Scottish giants Rangers came knocking.
But Smith believes the players the club have signed since that successful campaign will help cover the loss of Qantas Socceroos midfielder McKay.
“Yeah Matty McKay pretty much was Brisbane, he’s been there from day one and he was a great captain last year,” Smith said at the season launch in Sydney on Tuesday.
“(But) on the flipside football doesn’t stop.”
“Issey Nakajima-Farran the Canadian international is a very exciting player, I’d probably describe him a bit in between Thomas Broich and Henrique, he’s got a bit of everything so I think he’s definitely going to be a fan favourite.”
“(Besart) Berisha from Albania is going to be a top man and if you give him half a chance on goal I know he’ll take it.”
“We’ve got some very good young exciting players coming through (too) like Kofi Danning and Matt Jurman and Mohammad Adnan with the experience he’s got internationally as well.”
“We’ve got a good mix of boys coming through, mixed with a good group of players from last year that have played at very high levels.”
McKay’s departure has given Smith an opportunity to step up and lead the team but he insists it will be a collective effort for a leadership group that also includes Michael Theoklitos, Shane Stefanutto and Erik Paartarlu.
“I don’t think there’s too much pressure (on me),” he added.
“There’s obviously pressure in football to perform and that hasn’t changed regards of whether I’m captain or not and we place a huge emphasis on a key and strong leadership group at the club and that involves four of us as players.”
“We base a lot of decisions and leadership through that as opposed to one person.”
“I’m very, very proud to be captain, I’m very, very honoured and I’ll do my best to make sure I succeed in that role.”
As for the chances of the Roar going back-to-back, Smith won’t rule it out even if he isn’t making any big predictions.
“We’ve been working hard in the off season in terms of developing our systems and our games,” Smith said.
“We’ve got a little transition of players which have occurred in the off season so there’s new players that have come in and they’re very, exciting and I think they’re going to be fans’ favourites with the club.”
“We’re very much in our sights to go back to back so we’ll just take it each game as it comes.”
“We’re not saying that we’re going to win it again, all that we’re going to do is make sure that we keep developing our performances and that’s probably the key ingredient to what we’re trying to achieve.”
