Jacob Tratt believes that Glory’s training camp on the Gold Coast has left them well prepared for Tuesday’s Surf City Cup clash with Newcastle Jets at the Croatian Sports Centre in Carrara (kick off at 6.30pm local time, 4.30pm WST).
The central defender has featured on a regular basis throughout the club’s pre-season campaign thus far and he’s adamant that the playing group is shaping up well both physically and mentally.
“The training camp has been very productive,” he said.
“It’s been a tough week-and-a-bit, but I think you can see the progress that we’ve made and it’s prepping us for the season ahead.
“The mentality that everyone has shown to get through it at such a high quality has been quite good.
“It’s been tough, but I’m enjoying it and I think we’re in a good place in terms of preparation for the season.”
Glory will head into the Jets game looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brisbane Roar last Friday, but Tratt felt that they were very unfortunate not to at least claim a share of the spoils against Robbie Fowler’s men.
“As a team we were actually very strong, but maybe just lacked that final pass or execution,” he said.
“Overall, the performance was quite solid and we dominated large parts of the game.
“Individually, I was quite happy with my performance. Obviously there were little moments that I need to improve, but I’m always looking to do that through training and in every game.”
In terms of Glory’s second Surf City Cup outing, Tratt confirmed that the team will be very much focusing upon themselves.
“I’ve worked under [Jets Head Coach] Ernie Merrick and he loves a bit of attacking flair,” he said.
“But for us, it’s more about sticking to our structures and keeping our discipline defensively to minimise their opportunities and then just playing our type of football to break them down.
“So it’s more focusing on us and being good in the areas that we need to control.”
And on a personal note, is the man who has popped up with several goals already in pre-season backing himself to get on the scoresheet again?
“I’m always trying to score from a set-piece,” he said, “so hopefully Killa [Neil Kilkenny] can put another one right on my head!”
Newcastle, meanwhile, also lost their Surf City Cup opener to the Roar on Sunday and could be without experienced defensive duo Nikolai Topor-Stanely and Nigel Boogaard through injury.
New recruits Wes Hoolahan and Abdiel Arroyo may feature, however, along with former Glory ‘keeper, Lewis Italiano.
You can follow live coverage of the game via Glory’s Twitter page HERE.
#OneGlory
