

Posted by

Steve Bottjer ,

August 7, 2015 Email

Steve Bottjer

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With the Ottawa Fury currently on a red hot run of form, the club has seen a number of its core players raise their games to even higher levels in recent weeks.



One player who has been vital to Ottawa’s current 11 game unbeaten run while playing a new but familiar role is Canadian defender Mason Trafford.



After having a standout season and leading all Fury FC players in minutes played in 2014 while competing as a central defender, the 28 year old Canadian International has now seen his switch to playing as a left fullback coincide with a genuine upturn in Ottawa’s results.



According to Trafford, his state of being with the club has very interestingly mirrored the fortunes of the Ottawa Fury in 2015.



“The season started off not so great for me,” Trafford told RedNation. “I thought I was preparing for a big year and it turned out that Marc (Dos Santos) had different plans and he had brought in two new players and told me before we even started that I would be starting on the outside looking in. I kind of put my head down and told him I wasn’t happy about that and I worked hard and got myself back into the team again. Since then it has gone really well for both me personally and for the team as a whole. Every week it just keeps better and better and we are top of the league right now.”



Having reasserted himself as a key player in the starting eleven as a left back, Trafford now finds himself providing a key ingredient for a club that looks like it has finally put it all together. The 6 foot 2 defender is yet to experience defeat while plying his trade at a position he had not played for a significant period of time.



“We’ve built from the ground up and it is slowly getting better and with a lot of hard work have got ourselves to the point where we are now in first place,” Trafford explained. “The timing does seem rather fortuitous for me, but I’m sure there are other factors that are involved with the team doing well. For me personally it has felt good and with every game I have grown and felt more comfortable in the position.”



“It’s not my first time playing there, but it does take some time to adjust between playing centre back and left back,” Trafford added. “They are different positions and it is different on your body with a lot more running on the outside, as well as different sorts of players that you are up against. The back line has really gelled as a back four and it has been pretty much the same four in every game since we have gone unbeaten. It feels really good and secure at the moment.”



Trafford previously played at left fullback when he played in Europe with Finnish club IFK Mariehamn from 2010-2012. As a left footed defender, he is quick to admit that he is now enjoying the experience, especially the opportunity to get further up the pitch and join the attack.



“The first few games it was more about staying at home and really working on the spacing and the new tactical assignments that come with playing a new position,” Trafford said. “Now that I’m feeling more comfortable, I am starting to get forward a bit more and Marc is allowing me to go forward a bit more. It is fun to find yourself in the offensive third, hitting crosses and joining the attack and being an outlet when we switch the play. It’s definitely different but it is a lot of fun. Most people would probably consider me to be a pretty big left back, so I do get to go up on corners. Against Jacksonville I went up for a corner and we won a second ball that fell to me and I finished it off.”



With his second year with the Fury now approaching its horizon, Trafford believes he is in a good place with regard to his playing career, his club and his lifestyle, with the opportunity to live and play in Canada something he has really appreciated.



“Right now I’m just focusing on this year,” Trafford said. “We haven’t really accomplished anything yet. We are first at the moment but it is only midseason. We still have half a season to keep first place and there is a lot of work to be done. I try not to get too far ahead of myself. At the same time, it is a very exciting time for the Ottawa Fury.”



“What Marc Dos Santos and the coaching staff have built here is something special and I hope we can continue that on,” he continued. “I’m happy here and I have a fiancé and she is happy in Ottawa. We like it here and, if everything continues on, I’d like to stay and just go from there. At the moment, we’ll just focus on our job on the field and let that stuff take care of itself.”



“I feel like I am in my prime and entering the best period of my career where I feel good physically and I feel confident and really good about my game,” Trafford added. “I have had the chances to play in some pretty unique places and to be back home in Canada now feels really good and like a new chapter. I wouldn’t take anything away from the career that I have had. Now I’m excited about what the next few months could hold with the Ottawa Fury and what we can do with this team.”



With the Fury on a special run of form at the moment, Trafford is intent on seeing the Ottawa Fury maintain the lofty heights they have achieved towards realizing a genuine breakthrough campaign for the second year NASL club.



In Trafford’s estimation, most fundamental thing for the Fury going forward will be to continue to do all of the things that have lead to the club’s unbeaten run, as well as finding a way to kick their performances up into an even higher gear.



“I think it is all about the mentality and the one that we have as a club,” Trafford said. “We can’t get complacent because we haven’t really accomplished anything. We have to have the mentality that we have to work hard every single day and cannot rest on what we have done so far because teams are going to start preparing differently knowing they are going to be in a real fight whenever they play us.”



“I think we have to better every day and better in every game than we were in the previous one and keep doing the little things,” he concluded. “Hopefully by the end of the year we will find ourselves in one of those four playoff spots. And then anything can happen.”