Head Coach Mark Milligan speaks on the first day of training for the 2026/27 season, the new members of the squad and the Australia Cup Draw
Question: Welcome back. How does it feel to be kicking off another pre-season?
Mark Milligan: “Exciting, it’s nice to be back. It’s good to see some new faces as well, obviously we are excited by the squad. It’s gonna be a big challenge for us this year (competing) on many fronts. Obviously, we are looking to extend on the performances and the success of the group last year, but also a new challenge in terms of competing on multiple fronts.”
Question: How was the standard for day one of pre-season?
Mark Milligan: “We warned them beforehand that we were going to hit the ground running, and obviously the core of the group had a good understanding of that from last pre-season. I think the new boys realised quite quickly that we are going to be true to our word on that.”
Question: What’s the key focus for the group over the coming weeks?
Mark Milligan: “We want to really drive home the way that we want to play, the way that we want to do things and obviously like I said we have some new faces and we have to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. We have a cup game (on July 21st) so there’s not a big turn-around from now until then. The expectation from me is that our fans see an extension of last season and the intent that we are going to carry into this season so we’re straight into the football. There’s going to be a slight shift in terms of the few that we do a few things and it has to start from now.”
Question: We’ve had some changes to the squad. How have the new players settled in?
Mark Milligan: “It’s only day one, so we need to make sure that they’re as comfortable as possible from the beginning, because there’s not a lot of time to blood them. I think the good thing is the core of the group have a good understanding of what we want and the players that have come in all fit the bill of who we want to be going forward.”
Question: What’re your thoughts on the Australia Cup draw?
Mark Milligan: “We’re coming up against a good team with a lot of history behind them. I think everybody has seen scenes from previous years in terms of the Cup and what their fans bring and what we have to expect at their home ground. Again, we should be excited by the challenge, it’s a big challenge. They’ve been doing very well. We know their coach (Zoran Markovski), he’s done a fantastic job and he’s done it at a number of places as well. Like I said, it’s going to be a good challenge for us, but my expectation is that we put our best foot forward and you see from the very beginning who we are and the direction we want to head in.”
