"I don't think, to be honest, we've actually had a player like him at Victory who's just a pure goal getter. He just wants to score, he demands so much more of players - we've all lifted so much since he's been here."

With only a month to go before the kickoff of the season, local fans got a chance to see Muscat's new 4-2-3-1 formation at an intra-club match at AAMI Park.

Berisha missed the match as his wife had just given birth, but his influence on the team's formation was clear with both "blue" and "white" teams building their play around a central forward, rather than the interchangeable forward line that Muscat implemented last season.

Muscat had his teams press high up the pitch, with keepers Lawrence Thomas and Nathan Coe getting well off their lines to play as sweepers.

Kosta Barbarouses and new signing Fahid Ben Khalfallah were deployed as "blue" team wingers outside centre-forward Thompson, with both given licence to cut into the box. Barbarouses was particularly impressive, while Ben Khalfallah looked a touch off the pace but a pinpoint 30-yard-pass, to pick out the run of his striker, showed his class.