Western Sydney Wanderers' Michael Beauchamp craves extra time before final whistle No Wanderlust: Wanderers skipper Michael Beauchamp (left) wants to stay at the club for another season. It's barely in the rear-view mirror that Michael Beauchamp was the toast of the Western Sydney Wanderers last season. The captain, the local boy made good, the scorer of the deciding goal in the derby. It is not so much that his life or football career has come crashing down since, more that the wheels of fate have turned against this very talented defender. But Beauchamp - or "Meggsy" as he is known - is adept at handling setbacks. His career seems littered with false starts. There have been nine clubs in 10 years, making a transfer every year from 2007 to 2012. That's not to say he's not been hugely successful. You don't play two seasons in the Bundesliga, make two World Cup squads and be captain of a start-up A-League club and be deemed a failure. Yet here he is again, aged 32, and fighting for his career once more. That's after coming off a brilliant first season with the Wanderers, pairing superbly with Nikolai Topor-Stanley and forming a teak-tough defensive partnership. As new signing Matthew Spiranovic gained fitness, Beauchamp was demoted to the bench more often than not and sometimes out of the squad altogether. His story is evidence that you can't ever relax as a footballer, even when you're doing nothing wrong. Even when you have the armband. "This season has obviously been a challenge for me," Beauchamp says. Every week you're never really sure whether you're playing or not. If nothing else it keeps you on your toes. I suppose you just have to enjoy it when you do get a run. That's my mindset - or at least the one I'm trying to have. I've been around long enough to know you can't take anything for granted. The uncomfortable reality of not playing means you're also a candidate to be cut, especially when you're out of contract and in your twilight years. For all his desire to stay with the Wanderers, Beauchamp must be open to offers from elsewhere. Just as he'd settled back into Sydney life. I'm out of contract in May, and I haven't had too much contact from the club at all. There's been no inkling on what they want to do with me," he says. I know they've made offers to others already but I can't worry about it at this point in time. There's still a few months to go. I really do want to stay - obviously - but if there's no deal then you have to keep your ear to the ground about moving elsewhere. I still believe I've got a lot to give, and my priority is to stay. That said, Beauchamp has crept into contention a little more in the new calendar year, and even played last week against Perth in defence while Spiranovic pushed up into defensive midfield. "If you're out for a few games, you can lose the flow a bit with the guys around you," he says. As a central defender, you ideally need to build on that partnership on the player right next to you. But at training, we're always chopping and changing our line-up, so you're pretty well drilled. It's not like you're going out there on game day with no idea of what the other guy will do. Is it tough not to resent coach Tony Popovic for fiddling with things from last season? It happens everywhere in football. I just think it gets a lot of extra attention because I'm the captain," Beauchamp acknowledges. Of course you get frustrated when you're sitting in the grandstand. I want to play. But I've never let that change my outlook. Even when the boss told me I wouldn't be in the squad that weekend, I'd still give everything in training that day. He's told me his plans to build squad depth and I completely respect his decision. There's no certainty Beauchamp will start against Newcastle on Saturday night, despite his excellent display against the Glory. "The first half, the way we attacked and pushed the ball around, was first class and it showed what we can do if we put it all together on the day," he says. We still went at them in the second half as well and never really gave Perth a sniff of victory. It was a pretty complete performance. The Wanderers took similar form to the Hunter earlier this season, claiming a deserved 1-0 win, and finished last season there in sensational style, grabbing the league title with a 3-0 thumping in the final round.