Bulls want to use Aust Cup as platform for ALM season
Macarthur FC hope their Australia Cup triumph can help them move on from a torrid off-season and bounce into the A-League Men season.
The Bulls, without the likes of captain Valere Germain, Daniel De Silva and Chris Ikonomidis, upset Melbourne Victory 1-0 in Sunday night’s final at AAMI Park.
With their second Australia Cup title, Macarthur also secured an ACL2 spot for 2025.
That triumph came just four months after the club were plunged into chaos when now-former players Ulises Davila, Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were arrested over an alleged bet-fixing ring.
Earlier in September, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the Bulls to pay Dwight Yorke almost $215,000 compensation after finding the club sacked their former coach without just cause.
But Sterjovski indicated the club, with help from recruits Luke Brattan and Marin Jakolis, had moved forward from their tough past few months.
“Sometimes, things like that galvanise teams and bring everybody together,” Sterjovski said.
“The players that we’ve brought in play a big part in that; they’re great characters in the change room, they’re very positive, they teach the young boys, and they create that winning culture.
“We want to be successful in the league. We want to grow our fan base. We want to do all that. The people that we’ve recruited understand this and create the culture in our club.
“Us as a staff, we will do our best to try and perform as well as we can and help grow the club as much as we can.”
The Bulls kick off their season against Perth at home on October 20.
“We want to use the win as confidence,” Sterjovski said.
“We need to be playing a lot better, which I’m confident we can do.
“In this Australia Cup run, with the games that we’ve played against the NPL position where they sat deep, it’s taught us quite a lot. We’ve had to find different ways to win games.
“And even tonight, where we had the backs up against the wall, we still found the way to win. That’s great for our confidence, knowing that we can keep a clean sheet and find different ways to win.”
Back in 2022, Macarthur let the season slip away and then-coach Yorke was ultimately sacked.
Sterjovski was confident history wouldn’t repeat.
“It’s a different squad from (2022),” he said.
“We have a different mentality. We’ve brought in players who who have changed the culture in the team. That’s super important in a club.
“We take all those lessons and we move forward.”
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