Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque has welcomed a likely enforced rest in coming weeks despite being in arguably the best form of his distinguished career.
A 35-year-old Brosque put on a goalscoring clinic when he recorded his first A-League hat-trick in Friday's 5-2 win over Central Coast, including a deft chip for his third.
"Honestly, I ran out of legs there and I thought whoever was on me was going to catch me, so I thought I better get rid of it, have a shot and then get it over with," Brosque said.
"In the end, it lobbed in nicely and helped us on our way."
The three goals improved his season tally to six in 11 matches, surpassing last year's total and keeping him on track to top a career-high 11 from their championship season in 2016-17.
However, the veteran striker is expected to be put on ice by coach Steve Corica as soon as this week as the Sky Blues attempt to navigate through a gruelling schedule.
Sydney FC have trips to Perth, Wellington (twice) and Melbourne over the next two months before beginning an arduous Asian Champions League campaign.
But while buoyed by his rich vein of form, Brosque will embrace a breather.
"In my head after the last game (the previous week), I was thinking about resting myself regardless of what Corica said," Brosque said.
"I'll definitely be available (against Perth on Wednesday).
"I feel okay, I came off with about 15 to go (against the Mariners). The last 15 minutes tends to make it really hard on the body so I feel okay after this one.
"I think it's a good period and real testing one when we've got the Champions League coming up and it'll show us what we're up for with all the travel."
Pencilled in to come off the bench this season, Brosque has been a critical part of the club's strong start to the season that has them equal first on the ladder.
He credited the club's coaching staff for helping to manage his body over the opening 11 rounds.
"It is difficult, to be fair, trying to keep it going because my mind was set on retiring at the end of last season," Brosque said.
"I realise that teams like this only come around once in your career possibly. Certainly for me, I've never played with a team like this. So I wanted to hang around."
Australian Associated Press
