Sky Blues desperate to regain A-League title after a barren season
Sydney FC captain Alex Wilkinson is adamant the Sky Blues’ core group of veteran players is good enough to regain the A-League title.
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Sydney FC captain Alex Wilkinson says stability is the key to the Sky Blues regaining the A-League title from reigning champions Melbourne City.
The Sydneysiders failed to win any silverware last season for the first time since their 2015-16 campaign.
Not that they didn’t come close, with Sydney finishing second on the ladder and beaten in the grand final by the premiership-championship double-winning Melbourne City.
But close isn’t good enough for Wilkinson’s team.
“From our point of view, at a club like Sydney, we pride ourselves on getting trophies,” Wilkinson said.
“It was the first time in five seasons we hadn’t managed to bring a trophy back to the club, so it’s a big year for us.
“We’ve got to improve, and I think we’ve done that.”
That’s despite not adding a big-name recruit to their squad.
Instead, the Sky Blues will again pin their hopes on a core group of ageing players who have been instrumental to the club’s success.
Key defender Wilkinson (37), playmaker Milos Ninkovic (36) and strikers Bobo (36) and Adam Le Fondre (34) are either in the veteran status or fast approaching it.
Add to that fellow 30-somethings Kosta Barbarouses, Rhyan Grant, Andrew Redmayne, Luke Brattan and Michael Zullo, and James Donachie (28), Paulo Retre (28) and Anthony Caceres (29), and it’s a Sydney squad that doesn’t exactly have youth on its side.
But Wilkinson isn’t concerned.
“We haven’t made a lot of changes, but look through the history of the club in the past five or six seasons and we haven’t made many changes in those seasons, either,” the evergreen centre-back said.
“The club has built itself on stability and keeping a core playing group together and that’s exactly what we’ve done again this year.
“We’ve brought in players who can add to the depth that we’ve already got and can fight and push to be in that starting 11, which is good; that’s exactly what you want – competition for places.”
The new faces include defender Donachie, former Western United midfielder Max Burgess, ex-Newcastle Jets left back Connor O’Toole and former Melbourne Victory livewire Elvis Kamsoba.
Sydney’s bid to dethrone Melbourne City starts on Saturday night with a derby against Western Sydney Wanderers at CommBank Stadium.
“Melbourne City had a great year last year and thoroughly deserved what they got,” Wilkinson said.
“If you’re basing everything on last year, then they’re the ones you’ve got to hunt down this year; they’re the ones that everyone’s going to be chasing.
“That’s our challenge this year. We were close last year in a few different regards in the premiership, and then the grand final … but not quite there.”
Originally published as Sky Blues desperate to regain A-League title after a barren season
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