Melbourne Heart FC defender Patrick Kisnorbo believes retiring Club Captain Harry Kewell is one of the most successful sports persons he has ever played with.
Melbourne Heart FC defender Patrick Kisnorbo believes retiring Club Captain Harry Kewell is one of the most successful sports persons he has ever played with.
Kewell, 35, will play his last professional football match this Saturday when Heart face the Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park.
Kisnorbo is a close friend of Kewell-s and believes his send-off this weekend will be a bitter sweet occasion.
“It-s a difficult one,” Kisnorbo said. “You never think that the day-s gonna come.
“It-s going to be hard that he-s retiring, but it-s going to be a privilege knowing that you-ve played with him in his last game.
“Personally I wish him nothing but the best in the future and hopefully he can make an impact off the pitch like he did on the pitch.
“He-s probably one of the most successful sports people that I-ve played with.
“Especially as a young kid and getting to play with him you learn a lot because he-s played at the highest level. You think, if I can be a third of what he-s done, I-ll be alright.”
Kisnorbo also expressed his delight after yesterday signing a one-year contract extension that will keep him at the Club until the end of the 2014-15 A-League season.
“It-s nice to know that a club like Melbourne Heart wants you,” Kisnorbo said.
“We-ve got a lot of exciting things happening at the club and I want to be a part of that.
“I-m a Melbourne boy through and through and it-s great to be at a Melbourne club and especially a club like Melbourne Heart. I can-t wait for next season.”
This campaign has been a difficult one for Heart on the pitch, but Kisnorbo admits things are looking bright as the Club already begins preparing itself for next season.
“I would have loved if as a team we were higher on the table but such is football,” Kisnorbo said.
“All we can do is learn from this and bring what we learn in to next season and cut out some simple errors. We are working hard already for next year.”
But despite some of the attention already turned to next season, Kisnorbo says there is no less motivation to go out and defeat the Wanderers on Saturday.
“The motivation is that you want to win,” Kisnorbo said. “Even personally for myself, if we have a training game I always want to win.
“It-s another game, whether it-s the last game of the season or not, it doesn-t matter.
“We want to go out there as a team and get the three points and hopefully we can do that.”
