IN an industry where players take the field for a variety of different reasons, John Hutchinson today made his intentions clear regarding what it is that motivates him every time he crosses the white line.
IN an industry where players take the field for a variety of different reasons, John Hutchinson today made his intentions clear regarding what it is that motivates him every time he crosses the white line.
Speaking at the Central Coast Mariners- official pre-match press conference ahead of the Club-s 2013 AFC Champions League matchday 3 meeting with China-s Guizhou Renhe, Hutchinson said: “I play football to win football games … I play for success and I play to win.”
On the back of more than 200 competitive appearances for the Mariners, three Hyundai A-League grand finals and two first place league finishes, Hutchinson-s aim to succeed with the Club has been achieved more often than not.
However the AFC Champions League is another story with the Mariners never quite being able to progress further than the group stage of the tournament.
“We have been very successful over the seasons in the A-League and we want to transfer that into the ACL,” the Mariners- skipper said.
“We want to get out of the group stage, we want to be successful and if we can do that and start performing in the ACL and get the victories we need at home then I can-t see why we can-t give it [the tournament] a little shake.”
This is the first AFC Champions League that Hutchinson has spearheaded as captain after taking over from club stalwart Alex Wilkinson – now with Korea Republic-s Jeonbuk Hyundai.
Hutchinson bleeds yellow and navy and with him at the helm the Mariners have a big chance to register their first win of this season-s version of Asia-s premier Club competition at home on Wednesday evening against Gong Lei-s Guizhou.
Their Chinese counterparts sit level on one point with them in the group with both sides picking up a draw and a loss from their opening two games.
Hutchinson-s desire for success played a major role in his appointment of club captain this year and coach Graham Arnold knows how important a win for his side is tomorrow night.
“Last year I thought we had a successful campaign,” Arnold said. “We were right in it until the last game and this year we want to be in the same position.”
“Tomorrow night is our third game out of six and it-s a game that we want to win.”
Hutchinson is confident the Mariners possess the personnel needed to advance from Group H, with the combination of an experienced coach and skipper assorted with the skillful and youthful Mariners- lineup.
“We-ve got McGlinchey, a current Kiwi International who I feel is the best player in the A-League and we have young talent running around us that makes us older guys excited to play football,” he said.
“Zac Anderson, Trent Sainsbury, Bernie Ibini, Mat Ryan, the list goes on at our club and they give us the energy to perform week in week out.”
The Mariners go into Wednesday night-s clash with no major injury concerns and Arnold will be playing his best line-up possible after resting eight players in the weekend win against Melbourne Heart.
2013 AFC Champions League Matchday 3 – Central Coast Mariners (AUS) vs. Guizhou Renhe (CHN)
Wednesday 3 April, 2013
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 7:00pm
Tickets: Please CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the match!
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter. The official hash-tag is #CCMvGR
