THERE was no way I was ever missing the plane to Riyadh for the second leg of the Asian Champions League final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
No injury, regardless of how painful, was going to stop me from trying to step on the pitch on Saturday.
This game is everything to me. Without question, it is the biggest in my career.
And if that means playing with a little bit of pain to be part of it, so be it.
The shoulder? Yeah, it's sore. But the coaching staff are happy to give me every chance to play a role against Al-Hilal and I have been working around the clock to get fit for the clash.
We have headed over with bucketloads of confidence after securing the win in front of a sensational crowd at home.
With the 1-0 lead, we expect a hostile atmosphere in Saudi Arabia.
They will do everything in their power to make life uncomfortable for us.
But our trip to Guangzhou Evergrande in the quarter-final stages taught us how to prepare for such an onslaught.
We copped everything from hotel wake-up calls to laser pointers against the Chinese club and we were able to defy the odds to come away with the win over the two legs.
It gives us plenty of belief that we are well prepared for another difficult away trip.
They'll have a monster crowd of 65,000 at the match and are sure to come out of the blocks fast again.
They had us under fire for most of the first 30 minutes last weekend, but our defence stood tall under pressure.
It has been the key to us getting this far. It was a huge mental boost for us to know they threw everything at us but still couldn't score.
If we can absorb their early pressure again on Saturday, it will go along way in our cause to create history.
Weather-wise, the conditions shouldn't be an issue.
We spent some time in Dubai training early this preparation, which was much hotter than what we are expecting come game time.
Our fitness shone through in the second half last week and will play a crucial role again in Saudi Arabia.
We learnt some valuable lessons about Al-Hilal in the second half last weekend and will be much better prepared to deal with them this time around.
It is definitely not lost on the players how big this could be for Australian football and sport.
If we can win, I think it would be the biggest achievement of any sports club in this country.
For such a young football club, to win Asia's most prestigious club tournament would be a remarkable achievement.
It has taken some time but people have started to believe we can make history.
It's a belief we have always had ourselves at the Wanderers and one we will carry into the match again this weekend.
We are under no illusions. This is going to be one of the most difficult tests in our football careers.
But come 4.30am Sunday (AEDT), I am sure football fans in this country will be urging us over the finish line.
We hope we can do every one of them proud.