At a glance

At AAMI Park, Melbourne: Western United 1

Wellington Phoenix playing home and away. It will be nice to be able to train in Wellington, sleep in our own beds, get ready for a game at home.’’

A good chunk of the squad is locked in for next season with 15 players contracted for 2022-23 already, giving Talay strong foundations to build on.

Striker Gary Hooper is the only player the Phoenix have confirmed will be leaving while McGarry and Jaushua Sotirio have been strongly linked with a move to Newcastle Jets and goalkeeper Oli Sail and midfielder Reno Piscopo have both attracted interest from clubs in Europe.

Talay said a striker would be top of his shopping list in the offseason as he felt the Phoenix lacked a prolific goalscorer to really challenge for the title.

Hooper was supposed to be that player but his season was hampered by numerous injury setbacks and the Phoenix never saw him at his best.

They will also need to strengthen in the middle of the park with captain Alex Rufer set to miss most of next season with a long-term knee injury.

‘‘We’ve got 14, 15 players signed at the moment and we’ll continue to build,’’ Talay said.

‘‘To get to the next level for us, it’s consistency with the players. We probably lacked a goal-scorer this season. We shared the goals around with a few players but we lacked a real clinical player up front and that’s something we’re looking for.’’

(Aleksandar