Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert has heaped praise on his players after their brilliant season came to an end on Saturday night.

The New Zealand club were knocked out of the finals by Sydney FC, ending a dream run for the Phoenix, but Herbert was upbeat and positive about what his men showed throughout the season.

"I can only thank everyone in this room. It's a mark of where the club has got to and we've got a lot of great people and players surrounding it supporting it," Herbert said.

"I've kind of sat here with professional football in New Zealand and it was really, really difficult.

"We hope that the future of the club is very, very solid. It's been a great year. Personally I couldn't ask for anything more. And there's still some things to go yet. So on behalf of the club thank you."

The 2009/10 season was the first time the Phoenix had made the A-League play-offs and skipper Andrew Durante was very grateful for all of the support the team received in recent times.

"It's been such a great journey. The fans, the sellout crowds in the recent weeks has been such a great thing," he said.

"Like Ricki said before a lot of people picked us to come nowhere and to have such a good team and I can't speak highly enough of the club and Ricki, it's been a great year.

"We don't want to sour that with tonight's game. It's been such a great journey."