Greenacre was thrust into the hot seat following last month’s resignation of mentor and long-time coach Ricki Herbert.

And he said making the transition from player to assistant and now boss, has meant readjusting his relationship with the squad.

The 35-year-old had only moved from a player/coaching role to assistant in July last year before Herbert’s shock decision to quit the club catapulted him into unfamiliar territory.

But he won’t be shirking the tough decisions as the team tries to salvage something from a disappointing season.

“Last year I took maybe half the sessions so the players were kind of used to doing a little bit with me,” Greenacre said.

“But obviously you’ve got some of your best friends in that dressing room and suddenly you’ve kind of got to make decisions around your best mates.

“The players have been fantastic and really good to me and they’ve really understood what I’ve had to do. They’ve taken on board what I’ve said in the training sessions.

“At times I have had to shout a bit and all that sort of stuff to try and get my point across and they’ve just accepted it and moved on. It is difficult but it comes with the territory I’m afraid. It’s just a process of trying to slowly back away from the playing group to the other side.

“It’s been a gentle transition and something I think I’ll just get further and further away from them as more difficult decisions are made.”

Phoenix have two tough road trips ahead to league leaders Western Sydney Wanderers and fellow strugglers Perth Glory before facing a title-chasing Melbourne Victory at home.

But the players are buoyed by last week’s dominant 1-0 win over Melbourne Heart, which turned around a four-game winless streak, responding positively to Greenacre’s “nothing to lose” message.

With the team struggling under the burden of poor performances and a critical media the former Phoenix striker took the unusual step of dismissing their finals hopes after their recent home loss to Newcastle Jets.

“Mathematically it may have been possible (to make the finals) but I just wanted to protect the players as much as I could and that was about confidence in a roundabout way,” Greenacre added.

“I wanted to get out to the players, rightly or wrongly, the idea of, look, what have we got to lose? What’s the worst thing that could happen? You’ll be bottom of the league – well, you’re already bottom of the league so we might as well look forward.”

Having rediscovered their love of the game under their former team-mate, Phoenix could prove a tricky proposition for Tony Popovic’s men at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday.

Whatever the outcome, Greenacre admits the loss of Herbert and his sudden elevation to head coach 10 years earlier than he expected has resulted in a roller coaster of emotions.

While he hasn’t ruled out a more permanent tilt at the top job, now is not the time to start ruminating on his career options.

“Maybe at the end of the season I’ll have a look at the last six weeks or whatever it may be and I may have a little more direction then,” he said.

“For now it’s just about honesty. I spoke to the (playing) group after Ricki left the club and said look for however long I’m in charge I’ll be working as hard as I possibly can to help the team.

“And while I’m in charge for the next four or five weeks all I want you to do is eat, breathe and sleep the football club. If you do that for me I can’t ask any more of you.”