He won't be making any bold statements himself, but new Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic says Adam Taggart's ambitious finals target for the club is something that should be embraced.
Glory finished with the wooden spoon last season in a campaign in which they leaked a whopping 69 goals, including late thumpings at the hands of Melbourne City (8-0) and Sydney FC (7-1).
The arrival of Zdrilic as coach and a huge turnover of the playing squad means Glory enter the season as somewhat of an unknown entity.
Despite being widely tipped to finish near the bottom of the ladder again, star striker Taggart is feeling more optimistic, declaring a finals berth as the bare minimum goal.
Zdrilic has been more reserved when talking about his own aims for the team, saying the first important step is to instil a winning mindset and culture.
But he has no qualms with Taggart's bold statements, praising the captain for his leadership and winning mentality.
"I think that's great that he's optimistic. We want our captain to have the belief in what we're doing," Zdrilic said.
"He's one of the guys that's here from last year.
"So to firstly embrace a very big change, and that's the change of ownership, change of all the personnel, coaching staff, players - there's been a big turnaround.
"For your captain to then embrace that and actually make comments of where he feels we can go in the season, I think that's a positive.
"That's a really good buy-in from our captain, which leads the rest of the group."
Glory will be without injured trio Nicholas Pennington, Mustafa Amini and Nathanael Blair for the club's season opener against Macarthur at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
Zdrilic is keeping the make-up of his starting XI close to his chest, but fans can expect to see plenty of new faces given the huge overhaul of the squad during the off-season.
And with players still building their way to full fitness, Zdrilic faces a delicate balancing act.
"There's a lot of players in the squad that just aren't fully fit," Zdrilic said.
"So we need to manage the minutes. That's the challenge for the first couple of rounds - who can play and for how long?
"What role do they play? If they're a starting player, how long will they last?
"We've got a lot of depth in the squad. So when everyone is back and ready to go, it's going to be a very good challenge to have.
"But at the moment, some players are underdone."
Macarthur, who beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 to win the Australia Cup last month, will enter Sunday's match without injured former Glory star Chris Ikonomidis.
