Glory coach Tony Popovic not rushing Diego Castro back for Roar

Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic is in no hurry to rush attacking midfielder Diego Castro back into the side.

Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic hugs Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy after their win against Melbourne Victory. Picture: Getty Images

Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic is in no hurry to rush attacking midfielder Diego Castro back into the side as the West Australians look to build on their impressive start to the A-League season.

Even without their captain and marquee player, Glory are unbeaten in their opening two games of the season following a draw with Western Sydney Wanderers and last week’s last-gasp win over Melbourne Victory.

The Spaniard has been sidelined for the past six weeks with a hamstring issue and is edging closer to a return to the line-up.

But Popovic is not about to make any rash decisions about the 36-year-old, who is now in his fourth season with the club and who is still regarded as one of the best players in the national competition.

“Diego is tracking well but he won’t be ready this week,” Popovic said yesterday before the squad trained ahead of tomorrow night’s game against Brisbane Roar.

“The situation has not dragged on with him.

“Your body is your body, so we are just following the right process and that means he is not quite ready.”

Asked who would make the decision on when he returns, Popovic was succinct: “I am the coach … it is always me as to whether he is or isn’t ready to play.”

Popovic has several other injury concerns: Chris Harold, Brendon Santalab and Matthew Spiranovic are also unlikely to be involved in the match.

“With Brendon, we will see today and tomorrow at training. He is probably 50-50 at this stage,” he said. “Chris is back in full training and has his strength back after his illness but we are monitoring it and it is a day-to-day thing.

“As for Matthew, he is in the squad and is ticking all the boxes. But we have to be careful. He hasn’t played for 12 months now and there are a lot of things to take into consideration. First we have to consider his wellbeing and then what is best for the team. It is a fine balance.”

Popovic said he hadn’t tried to bring the players down to Earth following the win against Victory.

“I know the A-League is a marathon and there is a long way to go, but I want the players to enjoy the moment (of last week’s win),” he said. “It was a fantastic victory on the road. They worked so hard to put something together like that.

“I want them to remember why it was possible we got the result we did, why we got it and what we had to do to get it. And I want them to try and repeat it.”

Brisbane have also had an unbeaten start to the season with two draws, so Popovic is wary.

“They are a very dangerous team and are hard to score against,” he said. “They could have won both games and had some very good opportunities to score.

“But this is about us imposing our style of play on them. If we do that then we will send our fans home happy.”