Melbourne Knights Deputy Vice-Captain Tomislav Uskok says he is aware of how significant the 2015 season is, as the Club looks to make back-to-back FFA Cup appearances and defend its Dockerty Cup title.
Uskok, the 2014 Knights Player of the Year, also said he’s wary of how his teammates are ‘there to be shot at’ after taking out the 2014 Victoria knockout cup.
“Of course [the Dockerty Cup] is always going to have significance,” Uskok said. “We’ll always be pushing to get our names on the winners lists.
“We’re defending the cup and we’ll have people chasing us this time and wanting to knock us off, so it’s obviously going to be pretty important.
“And like I said last year, those kind of tournaments and cups are always important for the Club because the Club wants success, whether that be in the Dockerty Cup, in the FFA Cup or in the league.”
Speaking to melbourneknights.com.au after re-signing with the Club for the new season, the midfielder also said he’s set goals for the national FFA Cup and doesn’t believe that it’s a target that too far away to plan for.
“Nah, I don’t think it’s too distant – I touched on it in pre-season last year that I said to the boys that we wanted to achieve certain things and to qualify for the FFA Cup was one of them, so I guess that’s going to be on the agenda again.
“It’s going to be on the list of achievements and goals we want to accomplish, so obviously pushing into qualifying and pushing further from there, beyond the round of 32, is definitely on our radar.”
Looking back at the 2014 season where he earned his Player of the Year award, Uskok said he was happy with the standard he maintained throughout the campaign but said he was still looking to improve.
“I was pretty happy overall, I guess,” Uskok said.
“I thought I was pretty consistent – I was happy to keep consistent for most of the year and not have any up-and-down games.
“Obviously I was happy scoring all those goals and achieving goals that I had set out for myself and for the team. I said I wanted to do certain things and we did them, so I was really happy with that.
“And scoring those goals to sort of achieve those accomplishments was pretty special as well. In the new year, I just want to keep striving, keep winning as many games as I can and just try and contribute as another player in the team and really try to lead on the park.
“And probably finish more goals off that I didn’t get to finish last year!” he joked.