Turner, speaking after yesterday's 4-2 grand final win over league champions Sutherland, said next year's Wollongong FC side could be even better than the 2008 model.

"I think we'll build on this," Turner said.

"With a couple of new faces and a couple that are going, we're not going to go from hero to zero.

"We've got the respect of the league now - they will approach us a lot differently next year; the pressure will be on every week."

One of the departing faces, skipper Ben Blake - the only on-field link to the Wolves back-to-back grand final wins in 2000 and 2001 - retired after the victory at CUA Stadium.

He said the latest triumph contrasted to the NSL titles.

"It was a little bit different, you know what to expect - I was very nervous when I was younger, but I went into today a lot calmer," Blake said. "I'm finishing up and I'm very settled in my decision."

Another of the Wolves' confirmed departures, right back Tynan Diaz - who will move to Canada next month - labelled yesterday's triumph the best day of his life.

"This is the ultimate for me so far," Diaz said.

"To date, this is the best day of my life, to win it with this bunch of guys and from where we've come is just unbelievable.

Diaz said his first-half goal had been helped by some earlier crosses from the same part of the field.

"I hit a couple of crosses over to the back stick (earlier in the game) and I saw he (Sutherland keeper Phil Zabaks) was expecting the same thing again," Diaz said.

"I thought I would mix it up ... I was hitting them quite well at training during the week and what better day to score.

"It's been such a long year and a hard year; we had our troubles with training pitches but we've come through that and now we're champions and no-one can take that away from us."

One Wolf whose future isn't certain is man-of-the-match Steve Hayes, who is weighing up his options for next year after commuting from Canberra all season.