Victory hope third time’s a charm after latest GF loss

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Victory hope third time’s a charm after latest GF loss

Melbourne Victory will pick up the pieces from a second consecutive A-League Men grand final defeat and hope they can keep most of their players around to make another charge.

A year on from a heartbreaking extra-time loss to Central Coast, Victory suffered a 1-0 defeat to Melbourne City in Saturday night’s grand final at AAMI Park.

Coach Arthur Diles was pragmatic about how to move on without carrying the scars of this year.

“Next year’s a new season,” he said.

“We don’t look back. We look forward.”

But goalkeeper Jack Duncan underlined the emotion a talented Victory group with nothing to show for multiple big finals would experience.

“We also lost the Australia Cup as well. So it’s a really tough one to take,” Duncan said.

“All the boys had so much belief going into this game with how we’ve gone over the last few weeks, with the results we’ve been able to pick up and to put ourselves in this position. So it’s never easy.

“I still think about the 2018 grand final that we lost to Melbourne Victory at Newcastle.

“So these moments stay with you forever, because this is what your whole career is for – to win trophies.

“And it will be tough, but I guess we have to take stock in the fact that as a group, we were very close. We had a really good season to be here on the final day, and unfortunately we just fell short.”

Daniel Arzani and Bruno Fornaroli are the biggest names out of contract, with the former keen to test himself in Europe.

Contracted guns Ryan Teague, the injured Nishan Velupillay and Jordi Valadon could also attract attention.

“Fortunately for us, I think the majority will still be here,” Diles said.

“I’d be surprised if we didn’t have 70 to 80 per cent of the squad still next season.

“That’s also pending what happens in off-season in terms of transfers and things like that.

“We’ve had a great season. When you have a successful season like that, there’s normally interest in a lot of your players, whether they’re off-contract or on-contract. So we’ll deal with that over the next month.

“We’ll look at our recruitment as well for next season and make sure that we fill the voids that we have and and try and strengthen this playing group as much as we can to come back even better next year.”

After originally joining on a one-year deal, Duncan is yet to confirm whether he will stick around for next season, which would likely mean playing deputy to Mitch Langerak.

Duncan started the season as No.1, knowing Langerak was coming in.

He said being dropped was a “real low point” before regaining his spot via the former Socceroo’s foot injury.

“I triggered an extension through the number of games I played,” he said.

“So yeah, we’ll see how the off season unfolds. I’ve loved every minute of my time at the club.”

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