With the buzz surrounding Western Sydney’s Hyundai A-League clash with Brisbane at Mudgee this weekend building, Wanderers’ community engagement manager Josh Hunter says his club is “privileged and honoured” to bring Australia’s top flight to the central west.
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The Wanderers take on the Roar at Glen Willow Sporting Complex on Saturday afternoon and a number of the club’s community and development officers have rolled through the region in the lead-up, with the squad to land at Mudgee on Thursday.
Hunter was on hand at Orange Public on Wednesday to put the school’s potential Matildas through their paces, following a session at Bathurst the day before.
“We’re coming out to schools and engaging the region, building the hype and hopefully driving people to attend the match,” he explained.
“We’re Western Sydney and [the central west] does reach a little further than that area itself, but [coming over the Blue Mountains] is something we’re happy and proud to be able to do, we’ve been very well received from the first time we came out and hopefully (will be) this weekend too.
“It’s a great opportunity. Very rarely has this occurred before and for it to be a full competition game we’re pretty privileged and pretty honoured to be able to bring this out (to the region).
“We had some fun (at OPS on Wednesday). [Hopefully] we’ll see a huge crowd for us to share the kind of football we usually get in metro Sydney (on Saturday).”
Although the eighth-placed Roar sit four places below Wanderers, Hunter said his club’s expecting as tough a clash as its faced through the start of the season, during which results have been mixed.
Western Sydney kicked off their 2018-19 campaign with a 1-all draw against Perth before being beaten 2-nil by cross-city rivals Sydney FC, but bounced back last weekend with their maiden win, a 3-nil victory over Wellington.
“Brisbane Roar are a very good outfit so it’s going to be a very, very good game,” Hunter said.
“The confidence has always been there, we’ve got a very good squad. Results have varied by we’re on the incline which is something the club’s happy to say and we hope it continues this weekend.”
The Wanderers full squad will host a free clinic at Glen Willow on Thursday from 5pm after their open training session, with Saturday’s round four clash kicking off at 5.35pm.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased here.
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