28 Feb 2017

Phoenix trio escape season ending suspension

12:55 pm on 28 February 2017

The Phoenix trio suspended for breaching team standards ahead of last round's win over Brisbane, have escaped suspension for the rest of the season.

Roly Bonevacia

Roly Bonevacia Photo: Photosport

Midfielder Roly Bonevacia and defenders Tom Doyle and Ryan Lowry were stood down indefinitely by coaches Des Buckingham and Chris Greenacre before last week.

However the have now been brought back into the playing squad for this weekend's match against Perth Glory in Auckland.

Coach Des Buckingham says the three players are back to normal duties.

"They've apologised to the playing group, they trained last week and they're training hard this week and are available for selection."

"All three of them have applied themselves back to the professional standards if you like and have got on with the job they should be doing, again we're in the stage of the season with six games left and we need to make sure that everybody's on the same page."

The Phoenix are eighth on the table and battling a number of clubs for a top six play-off berth.

The coaching staff still won't say what the trio did other than it wasn't illegal.

The breach occurred following the Phoenix 5-1 loss to Melbourne City in Wellington earlier this month.

Buckingham says their win last weekend does make selection for this week interesting.