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Speaking at Roar’s A-League finals media launch at Westfield Garden City yesterday, the effervescent midfielder described hearing the news of the Mariners’ win in Wellington, which secured them the A-League Premiership.

“I was following the game on Twitter,” he told au.foufourtwo.com.

"I like my Twitter, it gives me all the info I need and unfortunately it gave me bad news on the weekend when I was on the bus going to the Gold Coast game.

“That really broke my heart to be honest.

“I thought we deserved to win it, but I guess when you lose five games in a row, you probably don’t deserve to win.

“We accept that wasn’t good enough this year. We’ll take second for now and use it as motivation to try and rectify those things.”

Rectifying things can mean many things but for many of Roar’s players, they said it was their willingness to eschew comfort zones under the culture driven by coach Ange Postecoglou.

And Murdocca, who joined the Brisbane club when he was 20, was brutally honest about where his head was at earlier in his career.

“In previous years what I lacked and other boys lacked was we were just happy to cruise into the finals, have a good year, maybe fall one step short and say, ‘Oh well, it’s bad luck’," he admitted.

“Whereas these days if you lose it’s your fault. You should’ve done something about it. That’s the mentality we’ve got each week."

The mindset brings pressure and expectation.

“But it’s what Ange has made us accept,” the27-year old former South Melbourne player added.

“He doesn’t want us to be happy with seconds, he wants us to be disappointed. He wants us to be the best.

“We don’t want to be comfortable anymore. We want to get out of our comfort zone. The only way you can grow is to get out of your comfort zone.”

Murdocca explained that last year’s triumphant double-winning year for the Orange Army was a watershed in his career.

He was faced with a fork in the road and he took the more arduous option.

“I could’ve said, ‘You know, this is too hard for me, I’m getting a bit older, I’d rather just go back to Melbourne, I’m sure someone would take me there," he said.

“I’d have my family there and could’ve taken the easy road. But I’ve taken the hard road. I want to stay here, succeed and improve as a player.

“To make that decision was tough but now I’ve taken that decision I want the club to grow even more.

“To do that me and the rest of the players try and improve each week and each year.”

And that improvement in Murdocca’s game can be linked to a happy family life. Once an avid gamer, it’s now nappies and child care for the new father.

“The days of me playing video games is all finished,” he said. “It’s all about the little one now and being committed to making sure everything’s perfect for her.

“And that’s the same with the way I play now… I want to make sure everything’s perfect on the field, too.”

Roar’s finals campaign kicks off this Saturday night against Central Coast at Suncorp Stadium.

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