MELBOURNE Victory is set to sanction Carlos Hernandez for making an unauthorised appearance for a local club on Thursday night.

Hernandez turned out for Brimbank Stallions, a side in the provisional league third division or Victorian seventh division, in a friendly against Laverton Park in Sunshine only 48 hours before Victory's final match of the season tonight, away to Perth Glory.

The Costa Rican agreed to an appearance where he signed autographs and posed for photos before pulling on the shirt of Brimbank, an Italian-backed club with a strong Latin flavour.

A Brimbank official said Hernandez had hardly been exerting himself.

Victory officials learnt of Hernandez's appearance yesterday afternoon, just before the squad boarded a flight for Perth, with the midfielder among the travelling party.

Hernandez, who has scored nine goals this season, is out of contract and Victory submitted an offer this week.

Interim coach Jim Magilton fumed when he was told of Hernandez's unendorsed appearance.

"No one at the football club was aware of Carlos's involvement in the game. We are happy for him to be involved in the community but we wouldn't have allowed him to play," a Victory spokesperson said.

"We deem it unacceptable on many levels and we will now manage this issue direct with him."

Speaking before learning of Hernandez's appearance, Magilton - whose permanent appointment is expected to be ratified next week - said his and the midfielder's future would be sorted soon.

"Next week, decisions will be made both on my future and on Carlos's future and the club will go forward as they see fit," Magilton said.

"Hernandez has been here for so long and he is a fan favourite and is obviously a very talented footballer and you don't want to lose talented footballers. That will be discussed at board level next week and we'll see where the land lies with him.

"Carlos has big decisions to make. He is approaching 30, he has got family responsibilities, he's going to make those decisions in the best interests of Carlos and his family.

"Carlos has played a lot of games for me and he has done well in most of them and I don't have a problem with him."

Magilton said it was pointless keeping Hernandez if he wasn't fully committed to the club.

"You want total commitment and if you don't have total commitment, you don't really want them at your football club," he said.

"You want people here who want to be here and who want to take part in whatever is going to happen."

Victory, which made only one change to the squad that beat Wellington 3-0, with Danny Allsopp coming in for Marco Rojas (broken jaw), will fancy its chances against a depleted Glory side.

Glory coach Ian Ferguson is without Jacob Burns, Liam Miller, Josh Mitchell (injured), Dean Heffernan (suspended) while Adam Hughes recently joined Mile Sterjovski in departing for China.

Defender Bas van den Brink is also in doubt.

Originally published as Victory to sanction Hernandez