Neither side has indicated that there are deep fissures in the relationship and Sydney-born Kewell, who has brought his family to live in Melbourne after spending the past 15 years overseas, has said he is happy in the Victorian capital. But the storm of media over Kewell's reported plans to bring in former Argentinian international Abel Balbo as his personal coach, regarded in some quarters as a gesture that could undermine the authority of the current coaching staff, has put the star player's relationship with the club under deeper scrutiny than before. Headlines over the ending of his partnership with his long-time manager, Bernie Mandic, and accompanying speculation over disagreements within the board over the way the club dealt with Mandic and his high-profile client have also made this, in Australian soccer at least, a rather unusual and potentially volatile partnership. Kewell has played six games for Victory and scored his first goal - from the penalty spot - in Sunday's gritty 3-2 triumph over cellar-dweller Gold Coast United, a win that lifted Victory into third spot. But his three months back in Australian soccer (he arrived in mid-September) have not gone according to plan. Kewell has struggled to make much of an impact in his six games as the coaching staff have juggled the line-up to find the best position in which to accommodate him.

He played for an hour on Sunday before being substituted out of the game, television cameras picking up Kewell appearing to deliver an expletive as he walked off. Coach Mehmet Durakovic, who said earlier in the season that Kewell would not come off when he wanted him to during a match, explained Sunday's spat as the player expressing his dissatisfaction with one of the match officials. The weight of expectation on the most high-profile player to have returned to this country is enormous. Advertising guru Harold Mitchell said that the return of Kewell and his Socceroo teammate Brett Emerton, who signed for Sydney, would deliver the A-League a $20 million revenue boost in terms of media interest, sponsorship, marketing and leverage for the sport. Kewell has always said that he is not worried about pressure from off-field sources and is happiest when he is out on the pitch being a footballer. His teammate, goalkeeper Ante Covic, yesterday gave his backing to his big-name teammate, declaring that the rest of the players had no issues with Kewell teaming up with an outside coach if he wanted to.

(There have been some reports that Kewell may no longer be going ahead with the initiative, although no-one at Victory could confirm or deny that yesterday, as they did not know). ''Harry's been the same person that he has been since day one,'' Covic said after a recovery session yesterday. ''He is a professional guy, he trains hard, he works hard, he does all the right things and everything that's written in the papers, you wouldn't see it on his face. Loading ''In terms of in the dressing room, there hasn't been any issues, no question marks brought up at all.

''What he does off the field is his personal thing, but as long as he comes to the dressing room with the same attitude day in, day out it's not a problem and it hasn't affected us one bit,'' Covic added.