The Wellington Phoenix are ‘genuine title contenders’ according to Fox Football expert Mark Bosnich, and a large reason for that is the man management skills of coach Mark Rudan.

Rudan has taken just six months to pull off a stunning turnaround with the wooden spooners, with the Nix sitting 5th at the halfway point in the campaign.

“Coaching is a broad brush,” Bosnich said on Fox Sports’ A-League Hour.

“The one thing that really does come under that especially at the top level, is man

management. And that is man management. If a manager can come in, regardless of who he is and Mark Rudan has done this… he trusts them.

And that then filters throughout the whole team in the end and they trust him. It’s a two way street with a manager and he’s done that. It’s taken a lot of bravery for him to do his first job in the A-League. And we know from the previous, how difficult it has been with Wellington, with the travelling and this that and the other and he’s done an absolutely fantastic job.

“And these are just some of the by-products, you mentioned Alex Rufer but there’s a whole host of others as well that we could go through.

Alex Rufer's stats have massively improved under Mark Rudan Source: FOX SPORTS

And remember in any team, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, so the team has got to be like a chain or else one of those links breaks and the whole chain can break down.

“And he’s done an absolutely fantastic job Rufer this season, but more so Mark Rudan. Let’s hope for Mark’s sake and for Wellington they can continue it, I genuinely believe after their record and watching them against the top teams this season that they are title contenders.”

The Phoenix welcome Sydney FC as their season continues this weekend.