Perth Glory captain Brandon O'Neill has opened up about the mental toll of the club's extended stint on the road and hopes their return home will spark a surge up the table.
The Glory will play their first home match since November 20 when they host Adelaide at HBF Park on Sunday.
Perth's road campaign became a stop-start affair after the squad was heavily hit by COVID-19 and quarantine requirements.
Spending such a long time away from family and friends was a constant strain for Glory players and staff, and the team fought valiantly to stay within touching distance of the top six.
"I could chat for about 48 days about what we've been through," O'Neill said.
"It's horrible as a player trying to do your best and you don't know if you're coming or going - you're in limbo land.
"I wouldn't necessarily say there were people who were depressed on the trip, but we were well on our way to mentally being affected just as a human being."
Glory currently sit in ninth spot with just 12 points from 12 games, but with a large number of home games from this point on O'Neill is bullish about what the team can achieve.
They play five of their next six games at home, including the next three on the bounce.
O'Neill says merely scraping into finals isn't a high enough goal.
"We're not eyeing off (finishing in) the bottom end of the top six," he said. "We're at home now, we feel like this is the start of our season. Every single home game we expect to win.
"If we're playing at HBF Park, we expect three points and that's our main goal until the end of the season.
"And come the end of the season we want to put ourselves in the picture where we can be as high up on the table as possible, and then from there have a big finals series."
Glory will again be without star striker Daniel Sturridge, who will miss several more weeks with a groin injury.
"It will be how he progresses through rehab and through the things he has to hit," Glory coach Richard Garcia said about Sturridge's return date.
"He has to hit a bit of high speed, change of direction, things like that. We have to make sure we do the right thing by him."
Fourth-placed Adelaide made up for their 4-1 loss to Macarthur with a 2-1 win over Central Coast last week.
