Santalab loving life at Wanderers

Santalab has just returned from the Wanderers' pre-season tour. John Fotiadis. Source: John Fotiadis / News Limited

IT has taken no time at all for Brendon Santalab to settle into life at Western Sydney Wanderers.

The veteran striker has already scored four goals during the pre-season, including two against Asian opposition on the club's recent trip to China and Japan.

The Wanderers broke up the long pre-season with a two-week, three-match tour of Asia and Santalab said each player would have gained valuable experience - especially with their participation in the Asian Champions League coming up.

"It's good preparation for the ACL and great experience for the young boys," Santalab said. "We got a taste of what it's going to be like playing and travelling there.

"It was quite full-on. A lot of travelling, with games and training in between all of that. It's always good to change up the pre-season because it is long and it does drag on a little bit, so the trip was good for the team."

Santalab, 31, is familiar with playing conditions in Asia, having spent four years in the Chinese Super League before returning to Sydney.

The Wanderers came away from their tour with a draw, a win and a defeat, and Santalab said they did well to adjust to the testing conditions. 

"I think it was about in the mid-30s in China and also in Tokyo, so we got a taste of the heat over in Asia, which again was good for our preparation," he said. "The J-League sides especially are quite good and I think the Chinese level probably isn't as good as the Japanese. But it doesn't matter, when the ACL comes all the games are going to be tough."

Finding the back of the net has come naturally to Santalab, but adjusting to Tony Popovic's notoriously tough training regime hasn't.

He said it took a couple of weeks for him to get used to it, but he was now starting to see the benefits.

"Training has definitely been a shock to the system for me because I've never trained at that kind of intensity before," he said. "But now I'm in the groove and I'm really enjoying it."

Santalab is hoping he can carry his goal-scoring momentum into the A-League season.

"It doesn't matter where I'm playing, either up front or on the wings, I want to score goals," he said.

"For me it's just about scoring goals this year and helping the team get that goal tally up. It's a good pressure to have."

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