Doyle: I felt helpless

Doyle has played just two games this season and is looking to take part in this weekend’s match against Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Nix are currently undergoing a transitional period following the resignation of coach Ernie Merrick a fortnight ago with interim coach Chris Greenacre filling the big shoes.

The Phoenix’s morale was boosted after a 3-0 win over Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, but Doyle felt his injury was a setback as his team struggled for form prior to the round.

“It did add that extra uncertainty with me coming back and I felt helpless at times, sitting there and not really knowing what was going on too much,” Doyle said.

“I’m back in and I’m looking forward to being part of the team again. We’ve turned over a new leaf, it’s a buzz around camp and hopefully we can keep the results coming.

“We’ve got full faith in the coaches who’ve stepped in – Greeny (Greenacre) and Des (Buckingham) and I think the boys are buzzing to win games.

“We’re so close to the top six now. We said from the start we wanted to be in the top four and it hasn’t changed, we’ve got the belief in the team and we’ll keep pushing through and get results.”

Doyle said the 3-0 win over the Mariners was indicative of the team’s strong mentality as the side took ownership of Merrick’s departure.

He now looks set to compete with Adam Parkhouse for a place in the Nix’s squad.

“It had to come from the players (the leadership), we did have to take responsibility for not performing,” he said.

“We’ve taken that on our shoulders, we know Ernie has taken a lot of the blame, but we’ve had a meeting and realised we’ve got to be responsible for how we’ve been performing.

“You could see on the weekend, the desire to win games and to do that extra couple of yards and that’s what we’ve been working on at training and it comes from the players.

“It’s something the coaches can’t give you and it has to be driven from within, that’s what we’ve been focusing on all week.”