One of the oldest football cliches in the book is 'it's a marathon not a sprint' and it shows no sign of being consigned to the language bin.

Sydney endured a disappointing start to last season but under Kosmina went on a run which saw them lose just one match in the second half of the campaign.

Kosmina said: "It's not just about the first two or three matches.

"It's a 21-game season if you can put long periods of success together during the season then that's more my goal than saying we want to win our first five or six games and then fall in a hole at the end.

"If you look at all the teams last season everyone basically hit a flat spot.

"It's about putting games together and that's what we'll try and do. Once we've got all players available, and hopefully we'll get that by the FIFA weekend then I think we can start to try and live up to this tag of favourites that everyone's placed upon us."

Midfielder Simon Colosimo has echoed the coach's view. He said: "Of course you want to get off to a good start but it's right what they say, it's a marathon not a sprint."