Adam Griffiths has been officially appointed as Perth Glory coach, but the man who is a self-dubbed lion only has until the end of the A-League Men season to prove he's worthy of a long-term deal.
Griffiths has been the club's caretaker coach since David Zdrilic was sacked following the 4-0 loss to Melbourne City in round two.
The Glory initially wanted to appoint an experienced coach like John Aloisi or Patrick Kisnorbo, but Griffiths' success with the team over the past six games simply became irresistible.
After starting with two hard-fought losses, Griffiths led the team to three wins on the trot, marking the first time the club had achieved the feat since 2021.
Their 1-0 win over Western Sydney two weeks ago - when playing with 10 men from the 40th minute - proved to be the result that sealed the deal for Griffiths.
But the 46-year-old will be under pressure from the get-go given his gig is only guaranteed until the end of the season, with the club holding an option to hand him a longer contract.
Glory owner Ross Pelligra believes Griffiths is the right man to take the club forward.
"This is a decision we have not taken lightly and one that we have deliberately taken our time with, keeping all our options open and canvassing many highly-qualified applicants," Pelligra said in a statement.
"Adam, however, has proven himself to be an outstanding candidate with undoubted talent and potential and someone that we want to back in 100 per cent.
"Results are very important, but culture is more so.
"We feel very confident that Adam has the ability to build a strong club culture with players and staff of good character that will ultimately deliver the club sustained success."
Griffiths has already become known for his quirky press conferences, with one of his analogies involving mountain goats before he turned the script and referred to himself as a lion.
The club have been having a field day with it ever since, using shirts with lions on it to promote last week's game against Sydney FC, and also taking to social media to superimpose a photo of a lion next to Griffiths.
Prior to joining Perth, Griffiths was named 2022 NPL NSW coach of the year, having guided Manly United to the grand final.
Griffiths got further experience as an assistant coach at both Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix, before landing at the Glory at the start of this season.
During a 17-year professional playing career, Griffiths won an A-League Championship with Newcastle Jets, and also plied his trade in Belgium, England, Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia and was capped by the Socceroos.
Perth will be back in action on Saturday night when they host Adelaide United at HBF Park.
Adam Taggart (groin) and Jaiden Kucharski (hamstring) are in doubt after picking up injuries in the 1-0 loss to Sydney, while Sebastian Despotovski (calf) will miss at least one more game.
