LEIGH Broxham said the "eerie" atmosphere in Newcastle was one reason why Melbourne Victory have consistently struggled to win points in the Hunter.
Victory head off this afternoon for a clash with the Jets hoping the momentum after last weekend's stunning 3- 2 win over Gold Coast continues.
But the Hunter seaside town has been a graveyard over the years for the Melbourne boys and Broxham struggled to even understand it himself.
"I remember one of my first games up there and we lost 4-0," he said. "I don't know. It is a bit of an eerie place, a bit of a different place to go. I don't know how to describe it. Just eerie is the word.
"The feel of the place, generally it's hot, it's usually a Sunday at 5pm kick off. So maybe a Saturday night will help.
"We've had some good results there too but it's not one of the better places we've had. So this week would be a good statement to back up a good result last week."
Victory spent a good deal of Friday's final training session working on defending and attacking at corners.
And with the Jets experimenting with a 3-4-3 formation, Broxham is ready for an onslaught in midfield even if the Jets have a few injury concerns of their own.
"We don't change the way we play - 80 percent is what we're going to do on the weekend," he said.
In team news, talented Petar Franjic is set to come in for suspended Roddy Vargas in the only change for Victory's clash at Ausgrid stadium on Saturday.
Vargas was needlessly red-carded last week but it gives Franjic another chance to shine after his eye-catching display earlier this season against Melbourne Heart.
That is set to be the only change to the starting XI, said coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Striker Jean Carlos Solorzano set to play in the youth team but central forward Danny Allsopp will travel with the squad to the Hunter.
Broxham joked when he was quizzed on Harry Kewell and what he had learnt from the Socceroo talisman.
"I don't know," he said. "Just give him the ball and I'll do the tackling."
Broxham was reluctant to be drawn on the hot-button issue of A-League salaries following the Smith report recommendations into the game.
While he didn't want to comment fully on the report, he did feel that it was a bit harsh for players to be paid less when savings could be made at the FFA corporate level.
"I had a look at it. Brendan [Schwab] from the PFA spoke to us about it," he said. "I don't really know a lot about it but you feel the game is growing and it wouldn't be exactly the best thing to do.
"The quality of the league keeps growing each year and better players are coming in. That'd kinda put a stop to it."
Asked whether it would prompt him to move overseas, the 23-year Victory man added: "Maybe. if someone would take me. Life's pretty good here."
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