Adelaide United coach Marco Kurz says he has fallen in love with his players.
The Reds climbed to fourth on the A-League table with a 2-1 home win against Perth on Saturday night.
"The performance from the boys, they give in every game whatever they have," Kurz said.
"I am very proud about the boys and I love the boys."
Kurz, in his first season at Adelaide, has positioned the Reds perfectly for a finals campaign -- they're nine points clear of sixth-placed Brisbane ahead of Sunday's matches.
But the German boss wasn't yet willing to cast his eyes towards the playoffs.
"Now we are nine points in front and plus the goal difference and that is very important," Kurz said.
"We stay in a good position but we know that we need a lot of points to get to finals.
"And every game, it's very close and we fight so hard for points.
"I hope we have the power to the end, to get there in the finals."
Kurz said he would continue to train his players hard during an extended break -- they don't play again until another home game, against Central Coast, on Feb. 17.
But whether defender Ersan Gulum will be available is yet to be seen -- he suffered an ankle injury on Friday night and hobbled off.
His central defensive partner Jordan Elsey was also substituted when he was concussed in a heavy fall, though he avoided serious injury, Kurz said.