Olympic ‘not worried about the results’ according to Burgess
Despite the highly-fancied Sydney Olympic lingering in the middle of the table, ace midfielder Darcy Burgess believes the team are on the right track in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s.
When the reigning premiers announced they were adding to their already stacked squad with the likes of former A-League Men’s stars Ziggy Gordan and Nick Fitzgerald, expectations were high.
However, the results haven’t followed as the former NSL giants’ title defence sees them 13 points off the summit after 15 rounds.
It got off to the right start with three wins in their first three matches, but the side have won just three games since. They’ve copped big losses to Blacktown City and APIA Leichhardt while also struggling to claim points against teams towards the bottom of the table.
Burgess said he feels the side have not been getting the results they deserve so far.
“I think we’ve been a bit unlucky, to be honest. I think there have been games where we’ve drawn where we could’ve come away with wins,” Burgess said.
“We’re not worried about the results; we’re worried about the performances.
“Obviously we would like to be higher up the table, but I think that it’s just a process of us coming together as a team and there’s a lot of fresh faces.”
The club brought in ex-ALM player Labinot Haliti as coach this season and Burgess said irrespective of the results on the pitch, he’s learning a lot from the former attacker. Burgess praised the professionalism instilled by Haliti and said the spirit within the camp is great.
He remains confident the team will turn their fortunes around in the second half of 2023.
“It’s been a really enjoyable first few months with him [Haliti],” Burgess said.
“We’re building something and that takes time.
“We want to play with the ball, we want to play attacking football and we’re working towards that.
“We know that by focussing on that process, the results will come.”
The playmaker explained that the philosophy being implemented at Olympic will deliver success stating that he has not given up lifting the premiership this campaign. Burgess’ Olympic claimed the title last season following some final-day drama finishing at the top competition on goal difference.
“There’s always certain amounts of pressure in football but I think that we’re not feeling that,” Burgess said.
“We take it game by game and definitely that’s [the title] the target.”
Sydney Olympic travel to take on Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw this weekend in an exciting game between two possession-based outfits.
Feature by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_
