History may be beckoning for Brisbane Roar on the weekend, but for midfielder Massimo Murdocca it’s a footnote in a much more personal story.
History may be beckoning for Brisbane Roar on the weekend, but for midfielder Massimo Murdocca it-s a footnote in a much more personal story.
Last season saw the diminutive midfielder make a return to regular first team action following a broken ankle sustained ahead of the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season – but regular injuries hampered his ability to make consistent contributions to the cause.
With a full pre-season under his belt, Murdocca is now reaping the benefits of hard word and persistent with a string of starts for the defending Champions.
On Saturday, Brisbane will have the opportunity to equal the all-time Australia unbeaten streak in any football code when they take on the Newcastle Jets at Ausgrid Stadium.
The current record of 35-games was set by Eastern Subrubs in the NSWRL competition and has stood since 1938.
For Murdocca, however, being healthy and in a position to contribute alongside his team mates is a much bigger focus ahead of Saturday-s match.
“We weren-t thinking about the record too much last year, but not that it-s getting close I can-t deny we aren-t thinking a little bit,” Murdocca said.
“But I think it-s a good pressure, it-s good to be thinking about something like that and it just gives us that little bit of motivation if we ever did need it.
“In regards to my position in the team at the moment, I-m just happy to be healthy.
“Last year was a tough time for me where injuries were ever constant, I-m just happy to be healthy and whether I-m starting or on the bench doesn-t worry me at the moment.
“This year is all about staying healthy and staying injury free, if I can start every week that-s a bonus for me.”
Newcastle will be looking to return to winning ways having been upset 3-0 by Melbourne Heart in Melbourne on the weekend.
While they have have had some troubles on the road, at home the Jets have won their opening three matches of the Hyundai A-League season and boast an undefeated run of five matches at Ausgrid Stadium.
With plenty of attacking options at their disposal, Murdocca said he expected the Jets to come out hard at the defending Champions but also highlighted his own team-s potential in the attacking third.
“I think the danger with Newcastle is they-ve won all their games at home this year,” he said. “So that adds a little bit of extra spice to it.
“We-ve got to be careful that we put in our best performance, because if we don-t, we-re going to lose the game.
“But we created a lot of chances on the weekend, so we can-t blame our structure, or the way we play it was just our finishing.
“That-s a positive, because we-re creating those chances.
“This week we-re looking for the same, we-re looking for those chances again, we-re going to play exactly the same way but we want to score the goals this time.”
