The FC players were watched by former Sydney-based champion Kostya Tszyu at their Friday training session and he later enjoyed a chat with numerous members of the squad including John Aloisi. Mark Bosnich also took time out to speak to him.

Kosmina was delighted to see him.

"I think you can always draw from other sports, especially the individual sports where it requires a lot of dedication and sacrifice," he said. "In his case probably a lot of pain as well."

Despite Sydney's season being effectively over, Friday's session was high tempo despite the heat.

Kosmina senses his squad want to end with a bang rather than a whimper.

"I think we're probably still smarting about what we've tossed away," Kosmina said. "It hurts, it does hurt and I think there's a bit of a point to prove from everybody's point of view.

"There's a few guys leaving and there's a few guys who've next year to look forward to and maybe more years at the club."

As for the season as a whole, Kosmina said everyone was left to reflect on chances not taken to reach the final four.

He said: "It has been frustrating because we have a number of opportunities. Had we beaten Perth a few weeks back we could have been second on the ladder."

Kosmina said he believes finishing fifth is a lot better than sixth but admits the club will now reflect on just what has gone wrong.

He said: "I'll look at lots of different reasons why things happen.

"I look at things I could do differently, I think of how I could manage players differently, look at selections - maybe I took a couple of risks that I shouldn't have at particular times and look at how we can manage the injury toll we've had this year."

Kosmina himself has had to endure stick from several quarters.

"At the end of the day it has been a long, hard season and probably a lot of nerves are a little bit raw," he admitted.

"People say things that they might think twice about a bit later on but it's over and done with now and you have to think of the positive side.

"We've got a game on Sunday and it's a good opportunity to say goodbye to the fans for this season at least on a positive note and then we look at what we do with all these good kids that we've signed for next season."

As for the final game of the season against the Jets, injury will deprive Robbie Middleby of a chance to say goodbye to the squad while Zach Cairncross is suspended.

Once Sunday's game is over, the players will continue to train for a spell and the club could yet make a trip to China in the coming weeks.

Kosmina added: "It's a possibility that we'll have some trips.

"We'll just keep players ticking over, have a day off here and there and do some PR. It's a busy month for community work. You get out and spread the word."

He admitted he'd be happy to draw a line under the current campaign, but Kosmina added: "We don't have a choice. I wish I did but we don't."

Departing defender Iain Fyfe revealed he was sorry to have missed out on a place in Pim Verbeek's squad for the Asian Cup qualifier next week.

"I was a little bit disappointed but that's purely down to Pim Verbeek and his coaching team," he said.

"No problem, you just get on with it and play as best you can."