Sasa Ognenovski and yourself looked accomplished at the back but is that pairing a long-term solution considering where both of you are in your careers?
It is as long-term a pairing as it is allowed to be! Sasa has come into the team late in his career, but looks like he’s been playing there for years. I certainly struck off an instant understanding with him. But as much as we’re trying to hold onto our own spots, we have equally been trying to offer experience to those coming through too. Nobody is going to get my spot in a hurry, I’m simply not willing to give it up and I’m sure Sasa will say the same.

So the Brazil 2014 World Cup is still very much a target for you?
100 per cent! With the year I’ve had, with the Asian Cup I had and the physical conditioning I’ve put myself through this season – I know I can play three or four more years. Both Harry [Kewell] and I have worked very hard on our fitness and game, which was evident in the way we both played in the Asian Cup in January. It really paid off and we’re ready to extend our careers by as long as possible.

Who can you see emerging in that centre-back position for Australia to either play alongside you or compete for your position?
There’s so many. It’s unfair to name anyone. I don’t want to put them under pressure. It is just getting them out there and playing regularly and performing.

Onto domestic matters. It was not a great season for Galatasaray...That’s being polite – it was a horrible season!
I went to Istanbul and joined one of Europe’s bigger teams and while you can’t assume you will finish in the top three every year, it is expected and usually achieved. It is hard to put your finger on it. Possibly the chemistry of the team wasn’t right; the attitude was all wrong going in. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong! Including key players getting injured, such as our captain and Milan Baros up front which cost us goals.

They are a demanding bunch at Gala. What has the fan reaction been like?
They have been more accepting of it than they probably should have been. I share their frustration and it is sad because a club with 25 million fans deserves so much more, and they’re still willing to come out every week to support their team. They deserve glory, they deserve to be playing for trophies and we’re nowhere near that, which is sad. But the fact that my name still gets sung in terraces in a bad season makes me feel proud, proud that I’m still putting in a shift and giving 100 per cent.

What about on a personal level, how have you been playing?
I’ve had one of my better years and it’s just coincided with the team having one of their worst, which doesn’t make any sense. I suppose the only way you can judge me is when people got to see me in the Asian Cup and that was how I was playing all year. Granted at Gala I was playing defensive midfield, right-back, centre-back and always having to fill in for the team wherever necessary as a result of players always being injured and certain things happening. It was a season that builds character and it’s never too late in your career to do that, but it’s not why I went there. I went there to try and challenge for trophies and titles. The team is going to need to rebuild now and I’m really not at a time in my life where I want to be in a team that rebuilds.

How has it been playing with Harry Kewell there too?
That’s been the only thing that has kept us both going. Plus having an Australian physio called David Joyce with us, who has done extra work and made us work for ourselves to become better and fitter. That’s been a saving grace really. To have each other there and to keep things a little bit Australian, keep things English and to make sure no matter how down it got, we never got down on each other and put a smile on each other’s faces.

You recently ruled out a move to Australia, for “a few things I’ve heard over the last day or two”. Can you expand on that?
That was because people were saying in Turkey and Australia I’m back to talk about my future, and categorically I’m back to have an operation and there’s absolutely no desire to play here yet simply because I’ve still got way too much to offer in Europe. There are too many challenges and goals that I want to achieve in Europe.

People are only suggesting that as they are excited about the prospect of you returning. Surely it is a compliment? 
Yes, it’s good but I think it’s more a case of people trying to put one and one together and coming up with me returning based on very little. One day though, one day… 

Lucas was speaking to us as an ambassador for Optus Small Sided Football Awards. Nominations for the awards are open until August 31. Head to www.optus.com.au/football for further details

This article appeared in the August 2011 issue of Australian FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.

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