Sydney FC entered the new campaign still groaning under the weight of last season’s unfulfilled promise, and a Round 1 loss to Adelaide United was a disappointing start for a side that had endeavoured to begin afresh.

Drifting through last season on the vague feeling they’d put it all together when it mattered, they instead crumbled at the juncture; needing just a point from their last two league matches to play finals, they lost both; in Asia, they lost their ACL II semi-final to the much less-fancied Lion City Sailors.

Last week’s 2-0 win over Central Coast Mariners calmed the horses, but Saturday’s 4-1 hammering of the Newcastle Jets was in equal parts as surprising as it was explosive, and quickly re-framed expectations for what could now be achieved.

‘After a couple of good wins on the trot now, it’s starting to feel like we’re getting on a bit of a run. After a defeat in the first round, to come home and win a couple in a row is only positive, so onwards and upwards,’ captain Rhyan Grant told Box2Box.

‘We saw what Newcastle did in the Australia Cup, and how they dismantled Victory [5-2 the week prior]. They’re playing some great football, and it’s always difficult going to Newcastle to play at five o’clock at the start of summer. But we prepared like we always do, a bit of analysis to see where we could get them, and I think the boys executed really well.’

Executed well, indeed. Newly signed striker Al Hassan Toure has returned to the A-League after a difficult, injury-laden two years across Turkey, France and the USA. At 25, he’s entering his prime years having not yet fulfilled his talent; for what it’s worth, his younger brother Mo looks headed to the World Cup with the Socceroos at season’s end.

But Toure senior reminded Australian football what he was capable of on Saturday, scoring a hat-trick from six shots at goal. Grant says the game plan was to turn the Jets over and feed the frontline of Toure, Joe Lolley and Victor Campuzano, pronto, and it proved sound.

‘He’s a very humble, nonchalant sort of guy,’ Grant said of Toure.

‘He came in pre-season and battled trying to get himself right but he’s very professional, going about his business pretty quietly with his rehab. So to see him get through that and start the season the way he has – he had a few chances last week but just couldn’t get that goal.

‘Then this week, he took pretty much all the chances he had, or just about. It’s great to see him get a bit of confidence and really shine, and you could see the way the boys reacted. The whole team gets along with him and really likes him… and yeah, some amazing goals. It sets him up for the rest of the season.’

Grant is a rare example of one-club loyalty in not just Australian football but the sport across the world. He made his debut in 2009, and his 319 national league appearances (370 in all competitions for Sydney) by age 34 has him on track to move into the highest reaches of that list by careers’ end.

He’s won four Championships and an Australia Cup, has watched the league variously boom and struggle, and earned 20 caps for Australia during his pomp, which included every minute of the 2019 Asian Cup campaign.

‘The years have gone on, and I’ve been lucky enough to tick off a few milestones and break a few records. You do sit back and look at what you’ve gone through and the people that have helped you get there, and reflect in a positive sense,’ he said.

‘Then obviously, you get caught up with the week-to-week grind of just trying to back up and do it again next week. It does sort of get lost on me sometimes. I’m very fortunate to have some very good parents and some good coaches through the years and be in the right place, right time a lot of the time, too.

‘But to come from a small country town (Canowindra) where football isn’t a massive sport, to be where I am now, I think it’s my 18th or 19th year in the league. Yeah, it’s pretty cool to look back on it. I’ve got this season to go and I’m contracted for next. Let’s see how far I can push it – I’ll give it a red-hot crack!’