WAGGA City Wanderers co-captain Carl Pideski will hang up his boots at the end of the season but hopes that moment does not come this weekend.
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The Wanderers' NPL Two finals hopes will go down to the wire and be decided by Saturday's final round, plus a couple of catch up games.
The Wanderers head into the final weekend in fourth spot, with only one goal the difference between them and fifth-placed O'Connor Knights.
The Knights take on sixth-placed ANU, while the Wanderers travel to Canberra to take on the winless Narrabundah. Wagga City then expect they will have to play a rescheduled game against third-placed Canberra White Eagles on Sunday to close the home and away season.
The prospect of two games in two days is not something the 37-year-old Pideski is overly looking forward to.
"I'll be no good. Come Monday morning at work I'll be shot, I'll be absolutely shot. I'll get over it, but it won't be easy," Pideski said with a laugh.
"If that's the case it's going to be very tough. Babs is going to have to manage his players and times. How many minutes people play.
"I dare say it will come down to Sunday's game against White Eagles, if it goes ahead. It may come down to goal difference. There's a lot of variables. It's a bit of a wait and see."
Both the Wanderers and Pideski hope their season can be extended beyond this weekend and push into finals.
For Pideski, the curtain is closing on a fine career.
He enjoyed a month trialing overseas as a 15-year-old, before returning to Australia and playing in the National Youth League, where he enjoyed a couple of titles.
After some time spent in Canberra, Pideski has returned home to Wagga, where after plenty of success in the local competition, he is now trying to offer some guidance to the city's next generation in one final season at the Wanderers.
"At the end of the day, I don't want to be taking a spot of a younger fella coming through," he said.
"It was more about Matty (Menser) and myself helping out some of these young fellas this season, so that will do me and I'm pretty sure Matt's in the same boat.
"Just the body, it's just too much for me. I'll go back to what I've been doing, working hard and that's about it.
"I've enjoyed my time. It's been great. No regrets. I've had a lot of fun."
Pideski has enjoyed the season at the Wanderers.
"It has been good. With Matty Menser and Babs, there is good coaching staff around the club. The youngsters coming through have potential, it's more between the ears I think. They've got the skills," he said.
"It's good that I can give back while I still can. I'm not as sharp as I used to be, I know that. Just to give some guidance to the younger fellas. Hopefully they take that with them and can progress to higher levels.
"At the end of the day, that's what the Wanderers want to do. We want to be a breeding ground for some of these younger fellas to go through if they want to do that."
Pideski believes back-to-back losses over the last fortnight have been a valuable learning curve for the Wanderers.
"The boys are trying but I think they understand the level that you've got to get to. Yoogali and Queanbeyan, they're a different level and their intensity is higher," he said.
"It's a bit of an eye opener for the younger fellas. If they want to progress, they know where they've got to get to. It's up to them, if they want to get to that higher level, they've got to be a bit more intense as a player. It's a bit different to just playing in your Wagga local league."
Pideski believes the Wanderers can go all the way should they make finals.
"I think we can. The boys know what we have to do and what we're up against," he said.
"I did say to the boys, especially when we lost to Queanbeyan here at home, that's the loss that we needed to have because I think some of the boys were getting a little bit complacent and a little bit cruisey.
"When you come across a hot team, and they beat us, it's just wow, it shocks the system. If we do make it, I think we can. The boys will be switched on and pretty focused."
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