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After huge success in the National Soccer League, Glory has underperformed for the most part since the current format was introduced in 2005, with one Grand Final appearance the highlight over the course of nine seasons.
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“Finals for this team is the minimum, we’ve got a good enough squad that can go out and just play and be good enough to make the finals,” Griffiths said.
“Amongst ourselves, we want to be pushing for the home final; we want to be up there at the top because, like I say, with the squad we’ve got we should be strong enough to do that.”
Andy Keogh, Richard Garcia, Mitch Nichols, Ruben Zadkovich, Diogo Ferreira and Youssouf Hersi have all joined, while Griffiths and Nebojsa Marinkovic only got on board in January, so it will be a very different looking Glory side running out against Wellington Phoenix on Sunday compared to 12 months ago.
“I think [depth] is something we didn’t have last season, we didn’t have competition in every single spot,” said Griffiths, who has also played for North Queensland Fury, Central Coast Mariners and Guangzhou R&F amongst others.
“This season we’ve brought in at least two players in every position so the boys know that if they miss a game or they’re out and not fit then they’ve got someone that can step in and fill their shoes.
"Everybody’s been doing the right things on and off the pitch.”
A niggling knee injury that required a minor cleanup kept Griffiths sidelined for a chunk of the preseason but the 26-year-old says that he is playing at about 85% and is now only missing regular game time to get where he wants to be.
Glory’s preparations for the 10th A-League season have included a number of trips over east and Griffiths says they have used their FFA Cup and friendly excursions to work on how they should approach long journeys during the season in terms of when to eat, sleep and train.
“Last season I think we picked up maybe four points on the road which is obviously not good enough so if we can turn a few of those into draws and a few more wins, we’ll be easily in the six and ready for finals,” he said.
The decision to appoint Kenny Lowe as the club’s head coach on a full-time basis has split opinion across the country but Griffiths believes that it has brought stability and helped the playing group focus on the task at hand.
“From the coach’s point of view and from the player’s point of view, we know Kenny is going to be here and that was obviously a bit of uncertainty from last season.
“The depth obviously [helps], good players brought in, but also the club has been doing the right things in the background.
“We’ve brought in people to do different roles to give us that extra support that we didn’t have in seasons past and everything has just been run a little bit more professionally this season. As a player, you just want that ‘no excuse’ environment and that’s something that we’ve had so far.”
This weekend’s trip to Wellington will go a long way to setting the tone for the season, and Glory will be hoping to go better than the two draws they recorded at the Cake Tin last season.
“Wellington’s always a hard place to go, especially for us; it’s obviously our furthest trip,” Griffiths said.
“One thing you do expect no matter if they can play football or not is that they are a physical side, they like to win their battles and that’s something that we’ve got to do first and foremost.
“Ernie Merrick is obviously a good footballing coach as well so he’s brought in some good players that I used to play with and I know the danger men we’ve got to watch out for.”
Glory have been largely written off as title contenders this season, something which hasn’t fazed Griffiths, who was faced with something similar while at the Mariners, and it’s a challenge he relishes.
“I like to be the underdog, and I’m pretty confident we’ll surprise people."