A-League Men: Sydney FC star ‘confident’ Asian league wins are a sign of big football season ahead

Sydney FC are considered one of the favourites this A-League season before it has even started. Their star forward believes it could potentially be a massive year.

Joe Lolley said Sydney FC can juggle the A-League and playing in Asia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for A-Leagues)

The A-League Men season is still a week away and yet Sydney FC are already considered title favourites.

An early exit in the Australia Cup Round of 32 to Victorian NPL side Oakleigh Cannons was quickly overshadowed by two easy AFC Champions League Two victories.

The addition of Brazilian star Douglas Costa has only highlighted how strong Sydney look this season and veteran winger Joe Lolley said they’re just getting started.

“We’re confident,” Lolley said.

“We’ve built on last year, we’ve added a lot of quality in our signings and young signings coming through so yeah, we look ready to go.

“It was a difficult start, we had a very young team going out there and it was difficult that we didn’t get through (to the Australia Cup Ro16).

“But we’ve bounced back, we’ve had time to work a lot of stuff out on the training pitch and we’ve come away with two good ones in Asia and now onto the A-League.”

Sydney FC made it through to the semi-finals of the 2023/24 season. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)

The Sky Blues are expected to breeze through the group stages of the Champions League with a 5-0 win over Eastern and a 4-1 victory over Kaya FC putting them on top of their group in the early stages.

Playing in the Champions League means Sydney will be constantly on the road at least for the next few months, but Lolley said they’re not worried.

“Not at all,” Lolley said.

“Personally I’m used to it, throughout my career I’ve played a lot of games in the season and more games is always good.

“We don’t have to train as much because we’ll have to rest and recover for games and there’s a lot of travel involved, but The Central Coast (Mariners) proved that you can do Asia and still have a great season.

“We gain momentum and it can be beneficial.”

Sydney’s squad will have one of the lowest average ages in the league this season and Lolley said the new signings and academy graduates are looking really good so far.

“They’ve done really well,” he said.

“They’ve had a great opportunity in the pre-season to showcase their talents and I’ve seen a few who were also with us last year who have kicked on and developed.

“We know they’re going to play a vital role in our team this year.”

Originally published as A-League Men: Sydney FC star ‘confident’ Asian league wins are a sign of big football season ahead