‘You don’t play derbies, you win them’ – Jakoliš’ clear message ahead of Macarthur’s final game

Macarthur’s final game of the 2024/25 season will see them host the Western Sydney Wanderers at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night.

The rivalry with the Wanderers has led to some iconic moments both on and off-the-field in its short history. For Macarthur forward Marin Jakoliš, only one thing matters when it comes to the game. Winning.

“For a derby, you don’t need extra motivation, even if it’s the first or last game [of a season], it doesn’t matter which one, you always want to win,” Jakoliš said.

“You don’t play derbies, you win derbies, so whatever it takes to win the game, you have to do it.

“It doesn’t need to be the prettiest, it doesn’t need to be the best, you just need to win the derby.”

When asked whether he personally would take a hat-trick but a loss, or no goals, he said that he’ll happily not touch the ball for 90 minutes if it means a derby win, reiterating the fixtures importance for the players.

It has been an up and down season for Macarthur, with the highs of winning the Australia Cup, guaranteeing the side an ACL 2 spot, but the lows of missing finals, having dropped a lot of points where they probably should have won them.

Jakoliš said that he doesn’t know if they were offered the Cup win but missing finals at the start of the season if they would have taken that, because they wanted to make finals and perform well.

Ultimately, a task like that becomes difficult when you lose multiple players mid-season to transfers and having to spend a month without crucial members of the squad because they’re winning an Asian Cup.

It is one that he’ll be hoping to make amends for next season, despite having one of the best seasons in terms of assists in A-League Men history with 12 (he also has the most combined goal contributions for the season at 21, including his nine goals), as he revealed that he is close to an agreement to extend his time at the club.

“I think we are pretty close to [an] agreement. I love it here. I love living in Sydney. I love the people in [the] club,” Jakoliš said.

“I think the club is a very healthy environment for every player and I think I just found myself here with the boys inside the dressing room, outside of the dressing room as well. I love it here.”