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Western United are one of the oldest teams in the A-League but coach Mark Rudan is confident his side can keep up their intensity throughout the season.
Western United coach Mark Rudan says he's not concerned about how his older squad will hold up throughout the A-League season.
The competition newcomers have four points from their first two games but with a significant proportion of their side over 30, will need to manage their older players throughout the year.
Andrew Durante (37), Alessandro Diamanti (36), Scott McDonald (36), Besart Berisha (34), Dario Jertec (34) and Panagiotis Kone (32) and Ersan Gulum (32) have all been heavily involved early in the season.
"For me its one I play with a straight bat because its irrelevant. You can either do what's asked of you or you can't," Rudan said on Friday.
"As the season goes on I am sure there is going to be times when we have to be smart about using certain players wisely and rotate wisely."
With a new squad at his disposal, Rudan said he expected it to take some time for his squad to really settle and hit their straps.
"Who knows? You might see it this week. But history suggests it takes a bit more time than that," he said.
"So we're confident that we've worked them smartly - we look after them when we need to as well."
United will feature in their first local derby when they host Melbourne City at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.
Former Melbourne Victory marksman Besart Berisha will be chomping at the bit to make an impact against his old rival, but Rudan emphasised the need for patience with the striker, who joined United off the back of a fruitless stint with Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
"He's a winner, he's lifted the bar in terms of the intensity at training as well as he;s fantastic to have around the place too," Rudan said.
"But be mindful of where he's been the last 12 months - we certainly are.
"It's going to take a bit more game time to get going, you won't see the best of yesteryear until he gets a few more 90-minute games under his belt, he's still lacking a little bit of that sharpness.
"But he's a predator in the box and he's worked extremely well this week."