Theo tells TWG:
- What he's done with his five A-League champions' medals and jumpers
- Why Matty McKay makes the A-League's Angry XI
- What Thomas Broich is really like
- Why he believes he's got at least another five years in him at this level
- How he would love to attend a World Cup final above any other event
- Why his attempt to get square for a dirty trick got him red-carded
Does anyone still call you Michael Theoklitos by mistake? Or deliberately, just to annoy you?
Actually, "Dazzles", our old kit-man, still calls me Mr Theoklitos after two-and-a-half years, so I have to correct him every time and he always apologises.
Where do you keep those five A-League championship-winning medals of yours?
I've framed three of my jerseys - my first Melbourne Victory one and my first and third Brisbane Roar ones, with my medals in there as well - and two I've still got loose. I've got to get those framed as well. None of them are hanging at the moment, though, they're stuck away collecting dust. I'm waiting to get a pool-room! My wife, Victoria, and I live in an apartment, so there's nowhere really suitable to hang them. I'm going to have to wait until we get a bigger place.
You had one of the great angry men at the Roar in Besart Berisha, but you've still got Matty McKay. He'd make the A-League Angry XI, wouldn't he?
Yes, definitely. He's an angry little man, Matty McKay. He just has to give you the look and you know you're in trouble.
You had an embarrassing moment in your first game back from injury recently, when Wellington's Kenny Cunningham snuck up on you, pinched the ball and scored. Were you a bit rusty that night?
It was my first game back from a long lay-off. The ball got stuck under my feet and I took a couple of steps back and he was on top of me before I knew it. To his credit, he charged me down and it ricocheted in. It was a first for me to concede a goal like that, but the boys bailed me out of jail by scoring an injury-time winner. I felt a lot better after that - otherwise there would have been a few sleepless nights.
You're of Greek ancestry. Do you like a good Greek restaurant or do you go for the other cuisines when you're out for a meal?
My wife and I like Greek food, but I can't say we've got too many Greek restaurants to pick from in Brisbane. We love Japanese food as well, so when we do dine out it's more Japanese, or seafood, but on the odd occasion we don't mind a good Greek spread.
Ante Covic is 39 and he's still one of the best goalkeepers going around. You've just turned 34. Do you feel like you've still got another five years or more at this level?
Oh, definitely. Ante looks after himself and I'm no different in that regard. Particularly in terms of my rehab and looking after my body. I don't drink alcohol, so I've got a pretty strict regime and there's no reason why you can't keep playing if your mind and body feel good. Mark Schwarzer is another great role model to look up to when it comes to achieving longevity in the game and maintaining a high standard over a long period.
If you could go anywhere in the world to see any event, be it sport or entertainment, with the best seats in the house and all expenses paid, what would it be?
I haven't been to a World Cup, so I'd have to say a World Cup final. I went to see a couple of European Championship games in Austria in 2008 with Kevin Muscat and a few other guys while I was at Victory. It was during our off-season and that was a great experience, so to take that step up to the World Cup would be fantastic, I'm sure.
You've had four coaches at Brisbane in just a few years - Ange Postecoglou, Rado Vidosic, Mike Mulvey and Frans Thijssen. That's a very different cross-section of people. How has it been?
This is my fifth year at the club and to have four coaches during that time is quite high, considering the success we've had. Normally you're not turning over coaches when you're winning. Ange was fantastic, he changed the way the game is played in this country and now he's the successful Socceroos coach. All the coaches I've had have been enjoyable to work under and I suppose that's part of our industry - you're always going to have new coaches and new teammates and it's about getting the best out of each other.
Do head coaches tend to leave the goalkeepers and the goalkeeping coach to their own devices as long as everything's going OK?
Yeah, they do. I've been pretty fortunate, I've got a great goalkeeping coach here in Jason Kearton and we've got our own union, if you like. We pretty much work away from the group and we join in when the guys need us. It's like a team within a team. You work with the same two or three guys throughout the year and you obviously become pretty close. It's good that way.
What is Thomas Broich really like? Does he crack jokes or is he a straight-up-and-down individual?
I'll tell you what, when Thomas first came out to Australia he wanted a change of lifestyle more than anything. He wasn't happy with the way things were going for him in Germany. He has spent five years in Australia, he's learnt the Australian culture and way of life and he's super impressive. He loves his football, he's always talking about the game and he's fantastic for the young guys. He's always there to give them advice. He always wants to get better as an individual and the team to get better and I can't speak highly enough of him.
What's the dirtiest trick an opponent has played on you when everyone is jammed into the six-yard box for a corner?
I got sent off because of that! It was a long time ago, when I was at Victory. Sasho Petrovski was at Central Coast at the time and they had a corner and he was stepping on my toes, the cheeky bugger. Anyway, there was another corner and he tried it again and I thought I'd pay him back and try to step on his toes and the referee spotted it and sent me off. So that one backfired on me. I got two weeks for that, which I thought was a bit harsh.
Three wins from three games for Brisbane coming out of the Asian Cup break, the only team with a 100 per cent record during that period. Is Roar back? Are you going to make some noise at the business end of the season?
Look, I'd like to think so. For us, it's a matter of getting that continuity back and improving as the season goes on. In the middle of the season we had the coach moving on and a lot of injuries and changes to the team. We've since strengthened well in January and we've got a lot of players back from injury as well, so I think there's a lot of improvement left in us. We're getting the confidence back. Three wins from three is a great start to the second half of the year. We know there's still a lot of football and hard work ahead of us, but it's encouraging and exciting to get those results. If you can get on a roll in this league and string a few results together you can climb quite quickly and we believe we can cause plenty of problems for the other teams going forward.
