In this week’s edition of Jets Insider, Ben Kantarovski is answering questions asked by the Club’s fans.
This interview was exclusive to Jets Insider subscribers. Each week the Jets Insider will be sent to your inbox but you need to first register to ensure you get the news as it is sent. To sign up, simply CLICK HERE.
In this week-s edition of Jets Insider, Ben Kantarovski is answering questions asked by the Club-s Members and supporters.
The midfielder speaks about competition for places in the Jets squad, his ambition to play overseas and his interests outside of football.
David Bliss asks via email: What are the team-s ambitions for this season?
Ben Kantarovski (BK): We want to play finals football, but it-s not only about getting the results, it-s also about how you do it. We want to play an attractive, up-tempo style of football with a short passing game and hopefully that will bring us the results week-in, week-out.
Christopher Lewis asks via email: There seems to be a lot of competition for places in the Jets midfield, does that help the players to push themselves more?
BK: I think you need that competition within every team. If you look at the top Clubs in Europe, I think every team has maybe three or four players for each position who are capable of playing there.
It makes training a lot more competitive and a lot more exciting every session. You never know what-s going to happen and you have to be at your best day-in, day-out. You have to be able to perform at your peak otherwise someone is going to be knocking on the door for your spot.
Michael Phillipe asks via email: In the past you-ve played in a number of different positions in midfield and defence, is holding midfield where you would like to see yourself playing for the rest of your career?
BK: I really enjoy playing in that holding midfield role. I-ve sort of played across the whole backline and even across the whole midfield, but I think that number six role in the middle of the park is where I feel quite comfortable.
I like being able to help control the game and testing my passing range and everything that comes with it. Even playing higher up as a number eight sometimes, it-s good to be able to make forward runs and become more attacking.
Peter Andrews asks via email: With the Olympics starting soon, is it going to be hard to watch it on TV given the Olyroos failed to qualify?
BK: It-s probably going to be a bit depressing and a bit hard to watch. It was obviously very disappointing that we didn-t qualify for the Olympics, but it makes you want to try even hard and improve I guess.
Obviously we were lacking in a few areas and that-s why we didn-t qualify, so it-s a matter of being able to see where we went wrong and try and improve that. The next stage for us is being able to improve enough to be selected in the Socceroos and I-m sure that-s what a lot of us are aiming for.
Steve Hamilton asks via email: Even though you-re only 20, you-ve been in the A-League for a while now. Do you think you-re still developing/improving as a player?
BK: I-m still as young as some of the boys who have just come out of the Australian Institute of Sport and other academies, so it-s a matter of working day-in, day-out at training to improve certain aspects of my game that maybe if I did go to the AIS I would have had to work on there.
Juan Garcia asks via email: Do you hope to play football overseas one day?
BK: It was definitely one of my ambitions before my knee injury to go overseas and that desire is definitely still there.
But to do that I have to make sure I-m playing good, consistent football and earning a starting spot in the Jets side for the upcoming season.
Alexia Conway asks via email How have you compared this pre-season to ones you-ve had in the past?
BK: It-s been a really hard and intense pre-season. It-s not so much that we-re training longer, but the intensity of the sessions is higher.
It has made it much more enjoyable and I think we-re a much closer, tight-knit group of players with the longer pre-season that we-ve had this year.
Tom Sammut asks via email: Have you noticed any changes in Gary-s coaching style and philosophy since he was last here?
BK: He-s developed as a coach the same as players develop and I think he-s learned a lot from his travels with the AIS and Australian youth teams and what not.
He-s come back and implemented some of those ideas here at the Jets and there are plenty of things he-s taught us about the technical and tactical aspects of the game.
Sandra Cole asks via email: Who is the most talented footballer in the Kantarovski family?
BK: I-d probably have to say my youngest brother, Michael, but Alex is in the youth team at the Jets as well so you can-t rule either of them out, that-s for sure.
Aaron Stashynsky asks via email: What are your interests besides football?
BK: I like to go fishing and hang out with my mates. I also go to University where I-m studying psychology, so there-s always a bit of studying to be done and what not.
For next week-s Jets Insider interview, forward James Virgili will answer YOUR questions. Simply tweet your question using the #JetsInsider hashtag or send your question to communications@huntersportsgroup.com by COB Wednesday. Then check back in Jets Insider next week to see if your question is answered.
This interview was exclusive to Jets Insider subscribers. Each week the Jets Insider will be sent to your inbox but you need to first register to ensure you get the news as it is sent. To sign up, simply CLICK HERE.
