Western United will begin its Isuzu UTE A-League Men Championship defence against Melbourne City on Friday, and left-back Ben Garuccio is chasing more success this season.
With the Club’s first piece of silverware secured, Garuccio said he and his teammates will be chasing every title in the new campaign.
“I want everything. I’m a winner, I’m never happy at training if I don’t win,” he said.
“I want to win every game and I hope that we’ll be up there and I’m confident that we can be if we play to our potential.”
Heading into the new campaign as Champions, Garuccio said that hasn’t changed anything about United’s approach with the squad relishing becoming the ‘hunted’.
“Everyone always wants to beat you, I don’t think it matters if you’re Champions or not. You’re never going to get an easy game,” he said.
“Whether that’s added for other teams we’ll wait and see, but for us it’s been about improving no matter what. The coaches for us have been fantastic in pre-season, pushing us again to get to that next level,” he said.
Much of that improvement is expected to come with the ball, Garuccio explained, after United emerged as one of the league’s most stubborn defences last term.
The 27-year-old hinted that pre-season work has been geared towards helping United dominate games with the ball more often.
“We know our defensive structures, but we’ve been able to go to that next level now and hopefully now with the ball it becomes easier because I think last year we didn’t really hit our straps for a while, we were sort of finding our feet and what works for us,” he said.
“This year it’s sort of been ‘this worked for us last year, how can we improve that’, and hopefully we can dominate games even more this year and stay as strong at the back as well.
“The more we’ve got the ball, that means we’ve got more time to set up defensively. That’s going to be really important for our game this year.”
On a personal level, it could hardly get much better for Garuccio who had a standout 2021/22 campaign, winning United’s Player of the Season award.
But with a new deal signed until 2025 and the FIFA World Cup a matter of weeks away, the No.17 is simply looking to keep improving in each moment.
“The defensive side of my game, which I think came a long way last year, I hope to keep improving on that front, and I’ve been working closely with Foxey in the pre-season to find ways that I can do that,” he said.
“Then obviously at the other end, I’m going for some goals and assists and help those forward boys as much as I can.”
Garuccio will line up against his former side on Friday and hope to pick up right from where he left off as Western United aims to start the new season with a big three points.
