John Wilkinson shares his thoughts about taking on a leadership role, his tips to younger players, and his hobby - oil painting.

Q: You were named vice-captain and you've been wearing the armband for a few games this season. How does it feel?

John Wilkinson (JW): I take over the armband when Shahril (Jantan)'s injured. It doesn't really feel any different. I'm one of the senior players anyway and whether you're the captain or not, you're expected to lead the players. And I usually do the leading on the pitch anyway as the vice-captain because Shahril's at the back, he's not really in the thick of the action and he can't talk to the referee at times.

I enjoy wearing the armband, I enjoy the responsibility, to help the new players and younger ones, guide them a little bit. More off the pitch than on it because football's such an automatic thing when you get to a professional level.

Q: How do you feel about our season so far?

JW: We've definitely not been as consistent. Because of the experience we had last year, when we're playing badly, we can still get a point or even three. I think that makes the difference.

This year, we have so many new players. It's difficult to get them to integrate. It takes time. (It's a) disappointing season but we can't carry on forever, we have to have bad seasons to know where we stand. I think we'll probably learn more this season about ourselves than the previous four.

We'll learn more about how to play in this league. South-east Asia is all about mobility and consistency, because it's a marathon and not a sprint.

Having (Ivan) Jerkovic come in is good. He's played in Indonesia, Malaysia and here before, and you can tell he's played here.

It actually takes a long time to adapt. Many players think it's easy but it isn't because of the humidity, the pace of the game, and the surfaces we've been playing on.

Q: What do you tell the younger or newer players?

JW: More about what they should do off the pitch, it's so important. Recovery is just so important in this climate, to get the fluids in constantly, especially with the number of games we have. Sometimes you play like three games a week, which is crazy, in any league, in any weather.

A lot of the boys think that all you have to do after training and games is rest all the time. Well, that's no good for you. You really have to keep your body in a state of activity all the time.

I sometimes talk to the younger boys about not having more than one day off. If you get two days off, take the two days but do something on the second day, go swimming, do some stretching, it's called active recovery. It helps your body to get ready for the next session, otherwise you'll get lethargic.

It also helps you to stay clear of injuries because when you get two days off and on the third, you get dynamic training, you run the risk of getting injured if your body isn't ready.

Q: What do you think of our final stretch of the season?

JW: Our new goal is to finish in the top three, which gives us a good chance to play in the AFC Cup. We're being realistic here, as we're quite far off from Etoile. But finishing behind them, we can still qualify for the AFC tournaments.

Q: What do you do to relax off the field?

JW: I like furniture design and contemporary oil paintings.

I do a thing called free painting in which you have no pre-conceived plans. The colours are just there and you just start with nothing planned. But it's not easy to paint when you have two kids living with you and the apartment's so small.

You need to actually get away and find time to paint because once you start, it takes pretty much the whole day.

So first, I must have a day off and make sure that the kids are taken care of.

If not, Bella would be banging on the door and she would want to come in and the oil paint would get everywhere and you won't get your deposit back.

Q: Maybe one day, we will see your works in an exhibition?

JW: Probably not!