Western Sydney Wanderers defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley says the "what ifs" of last season'sA-League grand final loss still haunt him.
Canberra product Topor-Stanley will return home for a trial against Canberra FC, which is third in the Capital Premier League, at Deakin Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Wanderers are desperate to bounce back from the heartbreak of back-to-back A-League grand final defeats, the pre-season clash an early step on the journey.
Topor-Stanley suffered a knee injury midway through the second half in the A-League grand final with his side up 1-0. He was forced to watch helplessly from the bench as Brisbane Roar rallied to win in extra time.
Teammates have since said his departure was a turning point, and they did not adapt to the situation as well as they should have.
Asked if he thought about the grand final and if things might have been different if he hadn't been injured, Topor-Stanley said: "Definitely, it definitely felt like we were in control of that game.
"I was gutted I couldn't be on the park and help lead the boys to a victory I felt we were on our way to, that's the hardest part.
"It still hurts talking about it and it will probably stay with me forever.
"But it builds character, those kind of things.''
He said the grand final losses had not provided extra motivation for the Wanderers, who have finished as runners-up in their first two A-League seasons.
Topor-Stanley played 30 minutes in last week's game against Macarthur Rams. He said he was ''feeling good'' after coming back from the medial ligament injury that sidelined him for two months after the grand final.
It is the second straight year the Wanderers have played a pre-season trial in the capital. They clashed with Canberra Olympic last year.
The 29-year-old said Canberra was capable of hosting an occasional A-League regular season game, with the hope of eventually fielding its own side.
"I've been asked this question ever since I've been in the A-League, I've always said Canberra's got some great, passionate football supporters,'' Topor-Stanley said.
"It'd be great to see something where the A-League is involved there in one capacity or another.
"There's plenty of sports teams that already exist down there, so there's the infrastructure.''
The Wanderers are building toward an Asian Champions League quarter-final clash with Chinese heavyweight Guangzhou Evergrande, the first leg at Pirtek Stadium on August 20.
"They've got bucket-loads of money to spend on players, have brought in a World Cup-winning coach [Marcello Lippi] and are the reigning Champions League winners,'' Topor-Stanley said.
"They're a quality team, no doubt about it, but we're also in the quarter-finals on our own merit and we have to take belief into that game.''
WEDNESDAY
Trial match: Canberra FC v Western Sydney Wanderers at Deakin Stadium, 7pm
