Western Sydney Wanderers defender Anthony Pantazopoulos admits an elimination final grudge has been at the front of his mind as he aims to win the club's first A-League premiership.
At the A-League season launch on Tuesday, the defender revealed his side was still lamenting their 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory in the first week of last season's finals.
The loss meant the Wanderers had a longer than desired wait for a new campaign to roll around.
But that didn't mean it wasn't the talk of the pre-season.
Now that the A-League is one week away, the club is focusing on reaching and winning their first grand final in nine years.
"I don't think I'll ever leave it behind," Pantazopoulos said.
"We are still hurting from that, because we felt like we were right there, ready to create something really special.
"That's going to drive us this year.
"It gets brought up in conversation, maybe once a week, once every two weeks, so it's constant."
The Wanderers, however, have a different-looking outfit from last season, with some of their star players such as Nicolas Milanovic and Zac Sapsford having moved to Europe.
However, they've been replaced by experienced heads such as Kiwi international Kosta Barbarouses, championship winner Steven Ugarkovic and Western United's 2024/2025 player of the season Angus Thurgate.
"It's coming together extremely well. We've got winners now. We've got people who have won the league and got championships," Pantazopoulos said.
"Us younger ones are going to lean on them in those big moments."
Sydney FC's new marquee defender Marcel Tisserand is also looking to lace up after touching down from Saudi Arabia.
The former Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Saudi Pro-League player said he was surprised by the level of physicality in the Sky Blues' pre-season.
He said he'd also spoken about the A-League with some of football's biggest names, like Kylian Mbappe and James Rodríguez, after playing with them in Europe, adding with a laugh that he'd told them "to come here as soon as possible".
"The first game I watched and the first game played, it was really physical," Tisserand said.
"I need to learn as fast as possible, and try to be ready."
Tisserand will be racing against the clock to play against Adelaide United in the season opener on October 17 after sustaining a minor injury.
