The Sky Blues looked like they might make an unlikely comeback after Emily Sonnett coolly converted a penalty on the 80th minute, but Sydney’s surge didn’t last long – Toby struck with a header four minutes later to put the result beyond doubt.

Sydney looked shaky at times without star new signing Lisa De Vanna, but Brisbane can take a lot of momentum from a comprehensive result in the hot heart of Sydney.

A relieved, and exhausted looking Toby was pleased with the result.

“I’m a happy girl," she said. (For the third goal) "I just jumped and hoped for the best, but we’ve had a long pre-season and hopefully we can go one better this year.”

Roar coach Melissa Andreatta admitted her side had a bit of luck, but thought that they deserved it.

“It’s great that we’ve executed the plan," she said. "We know Sydney, they’re renowned for their ability in the front third.

“We had to be great defensively and we worked on that – it’s an area that we’re trying to improve on – but today we did really well, and we had some luck as well.”