The Liverpool legend has guided the team from the bottom of the table into the top six in a little over a month with three wins and two draws, including a late 1-0 victory over Central Coast on Saturday.

The win put Roar within the top six, but further emphasised the development in the team Fowler says has been evident all season.

"We've always said we're not a million miles from where we want to be," he said.

"We still want a bit more, we always do but luckily the lads will put in a shift now, but it's only what we've been working on.

"We are a new club, we've got essentially a new team. It's not going to be an overnight success ... I think any manager or any team will find it tough, but we're getting good results now and we knew that would always be the case."

New recruit Scott McDonald made his first start for the Roar against the Mariners at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday night.

Fowler said he has been impressed with the former Socceroo following a difficult stint at Western United.

"You can see at times when he has the ball he's a classy player, and I think the levels he's played at, you can see that on the pitch," he said.

"He probably needs a few more minutes, the way things have been at Western United where he's been sort of in and out and certainly the last month where he's been on the periphery of the squad.

"Scotty's performance was good and he'll get better the more training sessions he does with us and the more game time he has, so I'm really happy with him."

The Roar now have their second away game in a row when they face A-League champions Sydney FC at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Friday night.

They last met in early December, with Sydney FC thumping Roar 5-1 in their biggest loss for the season.

"Sydney are a good team and they've proven time and time again how good they are. We'll go away, we'll work on what we need to work on," Fowler said.

"That's all we can ask from the lads, to go there and give us everything that they've got and they'll do that."

Australian Associated Press