Discover How the Phoenix Football Team Dominates the Field This Season
I still remember the first time I watched the Phoenix Football Team play last season - they showed flashes of brilliance but couldn't quite maintain consistency throughout the full ninety minutes. Fast forward to this season, and what I'm witnessing is nothing short of a transformation that's got everyone talking. As someone who's followed this team through thick and thin, I can confidently say this isn't just a lucky streak - there's something special happening here that deserves closer examination.
The numbers alone tell part of the story. The Phoenix have won 14 of their last 16 matches, scoring an impressive 38 goals while conceding only 9. Their possession statistics have jumped from last season's average of 48% to nearly 62% this season. But what's really caught my eye isn't just these numbers - it's how they're achieving these results. There's a certain mentality that's become their trademark, something coach de Brito captured perfectly when he told reporters, "The mindset is still the same, it's always fight hard because the result will come if you keep on playing hard." This philosophy isn't just coach-speak - I've seen it play out repeatedly in their matches.
Take last month's game against the Titans, for instance. The Phoenix were down 2-0 at halftime, and honestly, I was preparing myself for disappointment. But what happened in that second half was extraordinary. Instead of panicking or playing desperate football, they stuck to their system, maintained their structure, and slowly dismantled their opponents. You could see the belief in every player's eyes - they knew if they kept working, kept fighting, the breakthrough would come. And it did - three unanswered goals in the final thirty minutes that left the opposition completely bewildered.
What makes this team different from previous seasons, in my view, is how they've turned pressure into their ally rather than their enemy. I've noticed they actually play better when behind or when facing tough situations. There's no frantic rushing, no abandoning their principles - just this relentless, methodical approach that gradually wears opponents down. De Brito's words keep echoing in my mind whenever I watch them play: "We're going to improve and we still have a chance so we will fight for this." This isn't just optimism - it's become their operational blueprint.
The transformation in their midfield particularly stands out to me. Last season, they completed around 78% of their passes in the final third - this season, that number has jumped to 87%. But more importantly, it's the timing and purpose behind these passes that's changed. They're not just passing for possession's sake - every movement seems calculated, every run coordinated. When they're building up play from the back, there's this incredible patience that reminds me of watching a chess grandmaster slowly positioning their pieces for the decisive combination.
Their upcoming matches against New Zealand and Kazakhstan will be the real test of their championship credentials. Personally, I think these are exactly the kind of challenges this team needs to prove they're not just regular season wonders. Having watched all their matches this season, I've noticed they tend to raise their game against stronger opposition - almost as if they relish being underestimated. The way they dismantled last year's champions 4-1 in their own stadium showed me this team has the mental fortitude to match their technical ability.
What I find most impressive is how different players have stepped up at crucial moments. It's not just their star striker - though he's scored 18 goals already - but players across the pitch contributing when it matters most. Their goalkeeper made what I consider the save of the season against United FC last week, their captain has been playing through injury without any drop in performance, and their young winger - just 19 years old - has provided 11 assists already. This collective resilience stems directly from that fighting mentality their coach keeps emphasizing.
As someone who's been critical of this team's mental fragility in past seasons, I have to admit I've become a genuine believer in what they're building. There's something authentic about their approach that goes beyond typical sports clichés. When de Brito says they'll "be ready for New Zealand and Kazakhstan," I don't hear empty confidence - I hear a coach who knows his team has put in the work and developed the character to handle whatever comes their way.
The beauty of this Phoenix team isn't just in their winning - it's in how they win. They don't blow teams away with flashy individual plays alone, but through this collective determination that becomes more evident as the game progresses. By the final whistle, opponents aren't just beaten on the scoreboard - they're mentally and physically exhausted from trying to match Phoenix's relentless intensity. Having watched football for over twenty years, I can tell you this kind of dominance isn't accidental - it's built through culture, through belief, and through that simple but powerful idea that if you keep fighting, the results will follow. And this season, the Phoenix aren't just following that philosophy - they're writing the textbook on it.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
