Glory ALM Head Coach Adam Griffiths is anticipating a bruising battle with Brisbane Roar in Friday’s Round 2 showdown at Suncorp Stadium (kick-off at 5pm WST, watch live on Paramount+).
Click HERE to watch his full pre-match media conference.
The men in purple will be looking to bounce back from an unfortunate 2-1 opening day defeat against Macarthur FC in which they led until the 86th minute.
But Roar were among the most physical sides in the competition last year and Griffiths believes that his charges need to be ready for a similarly robust encounter this Friday.
“We have a sense of how they’re going to play and the mentality of how they’re going to play,” he said.
“They’re at home, so we expect them to come out with some intensity and physicality, no different to last year.
“I don’t think they’ll change the way they play in terms of their mentality, so we’re expecting a fight and we’re expecting to have to match their physicality.”
Despite the disappointment of conceding two late goals to the Bulls last time out, the Head Coach reported that spirits remain high among the squad who have spent the week in Brisbane after flying up directly from Sydney.
“The mood in the camp is positive,” he said.
“I think after the result against Macarthur, we knew that we did some really positive things in that game but were disappointed that we didn’t get the points.
“Overall I thought it was a good performance and we’ll grow in confidence from it.
“We need to move on and we know we can perform, so the boys have just got on with it.
“It [the Macarthur FC game] is water under the bridge now; let’s go.”
Griffiths went on to provide an injury update in which he confirmed that Henry Hore (hamstring) may be forced to miss the clash with his former club and that fellow-midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof will definitely miss out due to a similar issue.
Defensive trio Matt Dench (foot), Charbel Shamoon (foot) and Brian Kaltak (knee), meanwhile, remain unavailable.
As for Brisbane, they will be hoping to replicate their strong start to last season when they lost just one of their opening eight games
Head Coach Michael Valkanis has reshaped his squad during the off-season and in particular his defence, with Tom Aldred returning from a spell in the Indian Super League, Joel King arriving from Sydney FC and former Western Sydney Wanderers and Western United man Tate Russell also coming in.
Other names to look out for in the Roar squad include experienced South Korean international midfielder Nam Tae-hee, lively German winger Marko Ilic and robust Moldovan target-man Virgiliu Postolachi.
Friday will mark Glory’s 24th ALM visit to Suncorp Stadium where they have won on five occasions and the last seven overall meetings between the two sides have yielded an even split of three wins apiece and one draw.
The top scorers in this fixture are Glory’s Andy Keogh (10), Adam Taggart (8) who represented both sides and Roar’s Henrique (8).
Match Details
A-League 2026/27 Season Round 2
Brisbane Roar v Perth Glory
Suncorp Stadium
Friday 23 October 2026
Kick-off: 5pm WST
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Preview: Glory braced for bruising Brisbane battle
