He’s lifted the trophy with Sydney FC and Newcastle but Mark Bridge says winning the A-League championship with Western Sydney would mean far more.
The striker is determined to return the Wanderers to the pinnacle after they crashed out in the group stage of their Asian Champions League title defence on Tuesday.
The disappointing end to their continental campaign compounding a dismal A-League season.
At 29 Bridge knows he’s in the latter stages of his career and the nightmarish workload he’s had to endure this season has made him far more aware of his own fragility.
The Wanderers return from China, where they ended their ACL campaign with a 2-0 win over Guangzhou Evergrande, looking to rebuild their squad with a host of players set to exit the club.
The likes of Tomi Juric and Kerem Bulut are expected to sign elsewhere with the futures of Ante Covic, Mateo Poljak, Nikita Rukavytsya, Brendan Hamill, Iacopo La Rocca and Anthony Golec still up in the air.
Bridge says he’s confident the club will recruit well and says the benefit of an uninterrupted pre-season will set them up perfectly.
With no ACL next season they’ll also be able to focus all their attention on domestic matters.
The Wanderers have come so close to A-League championship glory making back-to-back grand finals in their first two years of existence.
Bridge has won the title with both the Jets in 2008 and Sydney in 2010 and scored in both grand finals.
Having claimed the Asian crown and the Premier’s Plate with the Wanderers he is now desperate to complete the trifecta.
“I’ve still got two more years left on my contract and I don’t know what my future will be after that and how my body will hold up,” Bridge said.
“So these next two years are very crucial and I’d like to go out with at least one championship with the Wanderers.
“Winning a championship with this club would definitely be more satisfying than any other club. It’s my home town and and my family and friends are still there.
“It’s actually killing me how successful we’ve been since we started, that we haven’t won it.
“So it’s something that not only me but everyone involved with the club next year will be aiming for and we’ll be aiming to get ourselves back in the Champions League.”
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