Source: Radio New Zealand
Auckland FC have had Jake Brimmer, Hiroki Sakai and Francis de Vries all take the captain’s armband this season. Photosport
The captain’s armband has been on high rotation at Auckland FC this season.
Hiroki Sakai, Jake Brimmer and Francis de Vries have been captain at kick-off in different A-League matches. The trio have also all had been hit by injury of varying degrees.
Club captain Sakai will not play in Saturday’s home game against Central Coast Mariners as he returns to fitness from a hamstring injury.
Earlier this season Sakai injured a hamstring and spent the longest period of his professional career sidelined when he missed four matches spread across 41 days.
He then came off the bench in three games, started in three more before he once again succumbed to what coach Steve Corica said was a “slight strain, low grade” injury to that same hamstring.
“It’s more precautionary this week, it probably would have been pushing him as well, he’s an older player obviously we don’t want to force him we don’t want him to come back and do it again and be out for a longer period of time.”
Hiroki Sakai leaves the field in November with his first hamstring injury. Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Sakai could also miss next week’s away game against Perth Glory while the club weighed up taking the 36-year-old on the long journey.
Brimmer, who is Sakai’s first deputy, started as skipper three times this season but he has also dealt with two different injuries.
He started off the bench last week and got 19 minutes as he worked to get back into the starting lineup.
“I’ve had some upsets throughout the year, I did my shoulder and then my hamstring a couple of days before the Sydney game got cancelled so just trying to find my feet again and get to full fitness,” Brimmer said.
“I’m back full training now which is good and hopefully get more minutes in the legs this week.”
While Brimmer wanted to be playing he praised those who had filled in for him and other injured players this season.
“You look at the depth we have this year it’s pretty outrageous to be fair, you look at the bench and they could almost play in any other team in the league and it just shows the recruitment.”
Brimmer also felt the leadership duties could be spread among the squad members.
“You could put any one of the boys in our team as captain. It shows the spirit we have here as a team and how [close] as a group we are.”
Defender de Vries twice started a game as captain, once in November and again on New Year’s day, and has taken the armband during games when the other two players weren’t on the field, including early in last round’s loss against Melbourne City when Sakai went down.
Going into Auckland’s first home game after three on the road, de Vries is still sporting the wounds of a clash that he said he was “lucky” did not do more damage.
de Vries got blindsided in a tangle of bodies against City and ended up getting his head bandaged, an egg under his eye and a cut near his temple glued back together.
He played on despite taking the knock. It was the kind of resilience and leading by example that saw him given the captain’s armband.
“With the way football how it’s going now days more players within the squads are leaders and it’s a shared model without one person telling everyone else what to do, at least that’s how it feels in our changing room,” de Vries said.
“It’s nice to see different guys stepping up in different games in different ways because obviously guys have different roles on the field and they can lead in their different areas.”
Corica agreed with de Vries’ assessment of captaincy.
“For me it’s not really about who wears the armband, we’ve got a lot of senior players there they can all take responsibility and lead by example,” Corica said.
Corica believed some players had stepped up their leadership.
“It’s important that they grow as footballers, last year they probably didn’t do that, there is opportunity for them to do it now and take more responsibility on the field be more verbal, get a bit louder as well, and that will help them with their game as well.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
