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Phoenix players celebrate. - Source: Photosport -
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A weekend away in Australia is much better when one of our codes is performing, in recent times we've had the Breakers win and the Warriors reach the finals series though never truly had our club football team hit the headlines across the ditch.
My Waitangi weekend was spent in Melbourne, the Phoenix are a big talking point throughout the strong football community over there and it's all positive which makes a nice change.
It doesn't come much better than to hear an Aussie talk about how good the New Zealanders playing in the competition are doing.
Comments ranged from 'Tim Brown scores a load of goals from midfield doesn't he' to 'those Kiwi lads play great football don't they'.
These are the sort of comments reserved for the likes of Benji Marshall or Dan Carter, not often do the Aussies give the round ball code much praise in New Zealand's direction.
It was great to lap it up and mention not only are they performing to such a high level but they had to come through some pretty uncertain times in the lead up to this season.
There would be no one in the country that would have predicted the Phoenix to be to be in second place at this stage of the season after such a disrupted pre season.
It's not like there has been any major signings that gave high hope of the achievements to date and yet they have been such a strong unit.
There seems to be a genuine friendship throughout the squad, each man gives his all for himself and an extra 10% on top of that for the team.
This has been evident in the way the Phoenix have battled right to the end looking fitter than their opponents and like they want it more.
So often in sport you hear the phrase 'I guess they just wanted it more'.
This season it does appear that the Phoenix want it more and won't let it slip, making it very difficult for any side to break them down in the closing stages of every game.
There is no better test than this weekend against their closet rival on the table Brisbane Roar, a victory would give some breathing space in the lead up to the business end of the season.
For now I enjoy having one over all but one of our neighbours in the A-league, hopefully we can all play our part and get along to support the boys.
The bigger the crowd the closer we will come to supporting a team in the final and having our Aussie neighbours continue to sing their praises.
Do you agree with Noah? What do you make of the Phoenix's run of form? Add your comment below.
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