EXCLUSIVE: Gold Coast skipper Jason Culina says A-League finals football will see Gold Coast’s big-game players step up when needed for the biggest games of the season.
To see today's finals launch in Sydney...
Aside from Culina, Shane Smeltz, Charlie Miller and Michael Thwaite have all played football at the highest level and revel in the cut-throat atmosphere of do-or-die games.
Like Sydney FC against Melbourne, the sky blues' Johnny Aloisi and Karol Kisel exerted their royal influence on proceedings to pull off a memorable win.
Culina now wants his name players to stand up and be counted.
"I think we've done that all season. Every time we've played Sydney, Melbourne, the expectations have been high and we've stepped up," the Socceroo and Gold Coast midfielder told au.fourfourtwo.com.
"We showed that three times against Sydney and they are the premiers. It just shows, when we need to step up we can. It's just a matter of being consistent."
While Culina pin-points inconsistency against some of the sides lower on the ladder, he stressed the fact that the side was in their first season.
"Twenty two players have been thrown together and we've had to do a job," he said. "To finish third is unbelievable.
"And at times we played the best football by far in the league, by far."
Culina was also quick to hose down talk of this weekend's semi final being a Culina v Culina clash, saying the media hype was nothing to be taken seriously.
He added: "It's exactly what it is, it's all talk. My father and I we don't even talk about it. At the end of the day it's Gold Coast versus Newcastle."
Meanwhile at today's A-League finals launch, FFA CEO Ben Buckley paid tribute to Gold Coast and played down recent tensions between governing body and club.
"We've had our differences from time to time but it's all part of the soap opera," he said while congratulating the club for their efforts.
United coach Miron Bleiberg was also keen to play down comments in the pre-season by Gold Coast owner Clive Palmer that his side would go undefeated throughout the season.
Bleiberg stressed: "I never said that."
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