A total of 11 new players have joined the Queensland-based club in the off-season but the arrivals have gelled quickly and Gold Coast have gone through their busy pre-season schedule undefeated.
Moss is hoping the winning streak continues into the Phoenix clash and the months that follow.
“We have so many new faces that the pre-season couldn’t have been long enough for us,” he says.
“The results and the performances have been very good. Now it’s just a matter of taking that form into the start of the season.”
The New Zealand-born custodian will turn 29 at the start of next year and has a handful of A-League campaigns under his belt, as well as a spell overseas with Romanian club FC Dinamo Bucuresti.
He admits he is now regarded as a senior player and is looking forward to stepping up to the role.
“With all the young players I have to be a bit more of a leader,” he says. “That is something I’m going to try to work on and improve.”
Moss and his team mates will come up against a Phoenix side that has also been added to over the winter in the form of five fresh faces.
Goalkeeper Tony Warner, defenders Jimmy Downey and Nikolas Tsattalios, midfielder Dani Sanchez and striker Lucas Pantelis have all come to the New Zealand capital as coach Ricki Herbert looks to improve on last season’s sixth-place showing.
Moss had two seasons with the Phoenix from 2007 and played over 30 matches under Herbert before moving on to Melbourne Victory. But he spent only one season at the Victory before signing a two-year deal with Gold Coast, for whom he has performed well and re-established his reputation as one of the most accomplished shot-stoppers in the league.
He was included in the All Whites squad to compete in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa but was suspended for the opening two group matches – due to swearing at the referee in a qualification match against Fiji – and was not used in New Zealand’s third and final pool game against Paraguay.

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