"It helps because of the gap between the two seasons," Sermanni said. " If the gap between the season was only 10 weeks, or even 12 weeks, then you might say, 'Look, ya know, take that time to rest and recover, etc.' But the gap is about five months, so I think for players — unless it's maybe a national team player who's had an Olympic campaign, a World Cup campaign over the last two years and played year round — for players who are outside national team structures, I think it's generally a good thing to go and play in the offseason."