The 46-year-old captivated A-League fans around the country early in his caretaker period with some curious press conference antics, helping himself to two Tim Tams at the end of a presser and going viral globally for quoting an analogy about a mountain goat and a lion to explain his hunger and determination to take on the job long-term.
Griffiths had to take over the club immediately following the shock sacking David Zdrilic just two rounds into the 2025/26 season, signing a short-term contract through to the end of the season after leading the team to three consecutive wins in November-December.
Despite having to contend with long-term injuries to Brandon O'Neill, Tom Lawrence and Jaiden Kucharski, Griffiths took charge of a young squad and produced some entertaining football along the way, seeing them fall three points short of matching what would have been their highest points tally since winning the Premiers Plate in 2018/19.
Finals were not expected from Griffiths from a club that had finished last in three of its prior four campaigns, but top-six football now appears likely in the near future, particularly now that he gets an off-season to tweak his squad to match his values of hard work and unconditional buy-in to the team vision.
Griffiths issued a public ultimatum to existing players on Wednesday, telling them they "have to be onboard or (they) might as well leave".
Griffiths declared in a club statement that his objective "is to make the club great again".
"This club means everything to me and I am hungry to take it where it belongs," Griffiths added.
"We have done a lot of the hard work - built the culture, set the standards and created a belief in this group that wasn't here before.
"Now we go and deliver. Finals football is the expectation and I back this club, this squad and this city to get there.
"One of the things I want to make sure we do is we push the group to another level, both from a physical perspective but also a playing model perspective.
"Bringing in key players and retaining players who fit that playing style helps."