Socceroos goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne insists he and his Sydney FC teammates have "completely moved on" from Milos Ninkovic's defection to Western Sydney Wanderers ahead of the harbour city's first derby of the season.
Ninkovic played in three A-League championship wins during seven seasons with the Sky Blues, converting a penalty to secure victory in the first of those.
While at Moore Park, Ninkovic became the first man to win the Johnny Warren Medal representing Sydney FC, and went on to become only the second A-League player to claim the award twice.
The popular midfielder sent ripples through the A-League by joining bitter rivals the Wanderers ahead of the 2022/23 season and on Thursday said he was bracing for a hostile reception at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
But his former teammates will not mirror that animosity, with Redmayne saying Sydney's players had made peace with Ninkovic's controversial exit.
"We don't put any time or effort into that kind of thing," Redmayne said on SEN.
"It is what it is. He's made his decision.
"As a playing group, we've completely moved on."
The derby comes just a day after Ninkovic was approved for Australian citizenship.
Western Sydney confirmed on Friday the Belgrade-born 37-year-old will officially become an Australian in the coming weeks.
Sydney FC sit just inside the top six heading into the league's World Cup break and Redmayne said memories of missing the finals last year would help motivate the side.
"Every time Sydney FC step on the field, we expect to win games, we expect to win trophies," he said.
"It's something within our culture and within our DNA.
"I know for the majority of the playing group that was here last year, (missing the finals) is still a sore point.
"We know what we need to do to rectify that and our full focus is on our performance on Saturday night."
