View from the top with David Zdrilic (Part 1)

He said he thought a club like United ought to be fighting it out very seriously for the Premiership and making the Grand Final when, perhaps, other coach?s were more guarded in their words and aspirations for the campaign ahead although Zdrilic never once gave the impression that either he nor his side had a God given right to reach the heights but more the thoughts of where he wanted the team to head and his unshakeable desire and belief in what he felt was achievable with the squad he had at his disposal.
?I thought I was probably the more honest in the pre-season launch and not conservative in what I was saying and I stand by that,? states Zdrilic, ?And I still believe we are capable of doing it as nothing has changed my thoughts about it.?
Those words are said without arrogance but quite matter of fact as he is quick to praise his backroom staff for their assistance; ?I was given the opportunity to coach the team and was always something I thought about as being a direction I would like to try after finishing my playing career and also working within the game in some capacity such as in the media (we will look as this in Part 2) and with these commitments it can get quite hectic at times but thanks to the background guys who rarely get a mention we have been able to progress.
?I know if I have a media commitment or whatever I can trust the guys to do what needs to be done and that takes a lot of worry off my shoulders.?
On the football side of things United have lost two matches in the first half of the season (Bonnyrigg and Blacktown) but is this the matter that does worry the likeable coach the most?
?Obviously no-one likes to lose but it is the draws against West Sydney Berries and South Coast Wolves that annoy me the most.
?We had enough chances to win both games comfortably, not to take anything away from those teams, and it was the attitude of the players in respect of not playing for the full 90-minutes and allowing a winning position to be compromised that hurts.
??We sit 3-points off the top (at time of writing) but had we picked up the four points we dropped in those matches we would be up there and the players know we need to keep going to the final whistle regardless of the score line.
?Given where we were in those matches we have to kill off sides which we didn?t do so I was not happy with the attitude displayed.?
It has to be said the side have played some scintillating football both last season and this and the neutrals among us would have to say a Grand Final win would be just reward for the efforts but as always there are a number of teams who would dispute that which brings us back to the age old statement of having to earn the right to such a privilege and why in this article we go to great pains to assert there was never any hint of arrogance or divine right in the words of David Zdrilic, just those of a driven man who has a passion and drive to be a winner.
In part 2 we will take a closer look at his other duties within the game and as always it was revealing, intelligent, witty and an absolute pleasure to have caught up with lad.  
-By Micky Brock