Roar’s oldies are still goldies
HAVING overcome the serious knee injury that cut short his 2016-17 A-League season, Michael Theo had no intention of allowing a tight calf stop him from starting his eighth season with Brisbane tonight.
The most decorated player in the A-League in terms of success, Theo will be the Roar’s custodian against Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
He sat out the club’s internal trial last Friday with a calf problem and given his bad luck with injuries in recent seasons there were fears he would miss tonight’s game.
However, the 36-year-old proved his fitness with a solid week on the training paddock.
“The calf has pulled up well – there are no dramas,” said Theo, who suffered medial ligament damage in last season’s finals series.
“With my medial it was bad timing injuring it in the semifinal, but in saying that, I had the off-season to get it right.
“Once the boys started back for pre-season training in July, I was ready from day one.”
A five-time A-League championship winner, Theo is confident this season’s Roar squad is good enough to challenge despite many already writing off the John Aloisicoached team as being “too old” to contend for the title.
“That’s just outside noise. We know we’ve got a good team and we’ve got an experienced team,” he said.
“I look around our changeroom and there are a lot of winners … whether you’re an older player or a younger player, if you’re good enough you’re going to be there.”
Aloisi dismissed the “Dad’s Army” talk, saying the 34year-old skipper Matt McKay was the Roar’s fittest player.
“We’ve also got some good young players. We’ve got a good balance in our squad,” the Roar coach said.
“People are always going to have opinions … but we believe in what we’re doing and we know that the players are winners. We’re happy with the squad we’ve assembled.”
Aloisi will err on the side of caution by leaving former Socceroos star Brett Holman (calf) out of tonight’s Roar squad.
Holman is expected to return next Friday when the Roar host Adelaide United at Suncorp Stadium.
Holman’s absence is set to open the door for youngster Nick D’Agostino to play in an attacking midfield role behind Italian marquee striker, 38year-old Massimo Maccarone.
“Hopefully pre-season has shown we can expect quite a bit from (Maccarone),” Aloisi said.