NG: Last season the Cosmos finished 9th of 12, but were the best of the regional teams. Looking back, how do you think the team performed in their inaugural A-League season?

ML: In the first half of the season we seemed to get ourselves into a position to win the game and then throw it away. I think a lot of that went down to inexperience. A lot of it went down to the fact that most of our players had not trained four nights a week before. Our players had not travelled to Adelaide before and then get the 4am flight back before playing another game on the Wednesday night, as what happened when we played Marconi.

The art of professionalism is turning off and turning on and getting yourself right. I thought it was a big ordeal for a lot of our players who have not been used to this, the workload of four nights a week. We need a level of fitness to be up with the rest. Hopefully, we have gained a lot from this. We've been in the league and we've gained benefit from the experience, although we seem to be a lot younger this year.

NG: What were the highlights and lowlights of this first season?

ML: First of all, getting us onto the park in the first place. Probably at home it was when we beat Morwell by 5 and when we went to Melbourne Knights, who were the champions, and beat them 3-1. I think that showed that we can compete with the big boys.

I thought some of the highlights were made through some of the young players. Danny Milosevic in goal, although he did get injured early in the season. Michael Garcia, Michael Musitano and Alex Castro, although Garcia was also injured through most of the season.

Musitano and Castro have gone off to different clubs and higher wages. Hopefully we've helped them to go on to establishing their careers and maybe one day they can be internationals with a lot of hard work.

Probably the worst low light was when we got beaten by Melbourne Knights away. We weren't really in that match at all. Other than that there weren't really any matches when we weren't al least competitive, even the thrashing in Adelaide. I just think we had the potential to do a lot better than we did. A lot of people were surprised that we did as well as we did. In terms of resources I think it is fair to say that we have lesss resources than any team in the league in terms of cash and things like that. I think we've built up a good team spirit.

NG: How do you see the experience of this first season to help the team do better in the coming summer?

ML: We've been in the league and we know what it's all about. I think it will stand us in good stead. With saying that we have a lot of young players who haven't played in the league, so we'll see if it works that way.

NG: The leaving of Michael Musitano and Alex Castro has been seen by many as a loss to the team. What are your thoughts about them?

ML: These two players caught the eye of the public. Musitano exploded. He was on the front page of the Australian soccer magazine. He sometimes disappointed me because he tended to fade in some games, but he was the one who allowed the luxury in our team. Musitano was our luxury. He was like the Barnes of Liverpool, the Kevin Sheedy of Everton, the player who can win the game for you by hmself. I think in every team you can afford to have one of them.
I think when you have more of them it becomes a problem, but then again you need one.

Alex didn't come 'til late on the scene as he was injured. When he came, he burst onto the scene. He's done very well. He's very strong. I think the big question for the two of them is how they adapt from here. I said t both of them that they can go all the way bit have they got the temperament, the attitude to go and do it and that is one of the things that they have got to learn to deal with. Alex is a very quiet lad. He needs to come out more of himself. He has tremendous energy, a great burst of speed and good ability.