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Reality is starting to bite for Brisbane Roar’s foundation player Massimo Murdocca who says the side needs to do something ‘special’ against the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Murdocca said he and a lot of his teammates have never tasted ultimate success and the realisation of only needing to win two more games to be crowned A-League champions is starting to sink in.
The Roar bagged an away victory in the first of two major semi finals against the Mariners last weekend and are favoured to take out the second major semi final to earn the right to host the grand final.
“It’s a big responsibility for everybody,” Murdocca said.
“I don’t think anyone has been in this position before. A lot of us haven’t won anything.
“So it will be a massive, not only for Matty (McKay) and myself but for the whole squad to do something special for Brisbane.”
Although he has played 25 of a possible 31 games this season, Murdocca expects to again find himself warming the bench at kick-off.
A quad injury towards the end of the season robbed the midfielder of the opportunity to be fully match fit for the finals.
Being a substitute may not be his preferred option, but Murdocca has vowed to have an impact.
“It’s just about getting confidence and momentum now for myself,” Murdocca said.
“I should be coming off the bench again and I’ll get more confident with that and we’ll see where that takes me.
“I’ll probably have to be a bench player for the rest of the year which is a bit of a disappointment.
“But that’s the way it goes and if that’s a sacrifice I have to take for the team to win the championship, I’ll be happy to do it.
“If we win this weekend, it’s the grand final so it’ll be tough for me to start in the next couple of weeks.
A veteran of three Roar finals’ campaigns, Murdocca was part of both teams that bowed out at the preliminary final stage in 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
It’s the bitter taste of defeat in both of those preliminary finals which has been driving the Roar’s finals campaign and makes them desperate to take the express route to the decider and avoid a sudden death play-off.
“We’ve been here before and we know how important these games are,” Murdocca said.
“We don’t want to let it slip so we’re going to work extra hard this time.
“The best result would be to win and the only way to win is to attack.
“We know finals are a dangerous time … we have to treat it like a new game.”
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