Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic challenges his team to rise to ‘unrivalled’ Sydney derby
The Wanderers face their biggest test yet against the high-flying Sydney FC in a match their coach believes is Australia’s premier sporting spectacle.
Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic has declared the Sydney derby the “biggest event” across all of Australian sport’s club competitions and has backed his battling team to rise to the occasion on Saturday night.
The Wanderers haven’t beaten Sydney FC since November 2023 and will start us underdogs at CommBank Stadium against a Joe Lolley-inspired Sky Blues side sitting on top of the A-League ladder after four successive wins.
In contrast, the Wanderers have made a largely disappointing start to their 2025-26 campaign, but they at least take winning form into the derby after securing their first win of the season last weekend with a 3-2 home win over Central Coast.
“We just knew we had to tweak a few things and get over the line really, and it’s more almost a little bit of a mental hurdle rather than a technical or tactical one,” Stajcic said.
“I don’t think we’ve played poorly, but I don’t think we’ve been great throughout a whole 90 minutes yet either.
“We’ve been good in patches in every game and probably deserved more out of a lot of games, but ultimately we haven’t been good enough for long enough in all our matches so far.”
That needs to change on Saturday if the Wanderers are to have any chance to ending Sydney’s winning run despite Stajcic claiming the form “doesn’t matter” going into a derby.
“I don’t think anything matters coming in a game like this really – form doesn’t matter and history doesn’t matter,” he said.
“It’s a single occasion on its own and there’s enough riding on it as it is. It’s almost like grand finals – anything can happen.
“It’s certainly a game that can go either way, but if all goes well certainly I feel confident we can get over the line.”
Stajcic was also confident he wouldn’t need to emphasise the importance of the derby to players new to the rivalry.
“Everyone understands that,” he said.
“For me, it’s probably the biggest event on the domestic sporting calendar regardless of the code. I don’t know any of any bigger game.
“The atmosphere’s unrivalled in any sport. I’ve been to a lot of AFL and NRL matches – they don’t match a Sydney derby for noise, excitement, passion and fever.
“We’ve really got one of the marquee events in our competition, and it’s important that we embrace all that as fans and as members of both clubs, fans of our sport, players in the game and administrators in the game.
“We really do have one of the pinnacle occasions in the sporting calendar.”
Sky Blues coach Ufuk Talay was more focused on team’s bid for a fifth conservative win rather than where the match stood in Australian sporting circles.
“The team that doesn’t play the occasion, and sticks to the game plan, will have the best opportunity,” Talay said.
“We want to keep winning and keep playing dominant football. The derby is another opportunity to do that.
“The first 10–15 minutes is always a bit chaotic, but once the game settles, it’s important we play our game, with and without the ball.”
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