Roar will be without some key personnel for the visit of Melbourne with Danny Tiatto ruled out for another week with a groin strain, reliable defender Josh McCloughan suspended and flying winger Michael Zullo away with the Olyroos.

Victory are also missing some regular starters and Farina says this game is shaping as a good test for the depth of both squads.

“We’ve continually spoken about depth and I’m very happy with the squad that we’ve got," said Farina.

"The two boys who are away with the Under 20s [Mitch Nichols & Tahj Minniecon] don’t get back till tomorrow as well so there’s five out of our 21-man squad.

"It will certainly be tested but I have every faith in the players that will take to the park and start on the bench.”

The current landscape for Roar is vastly different to when Farina took the reins 12 months ago with the club now aiming for a finals place for the first time.

Having reshaped the squad, the Roar boss says he’s more than happy with the progress the club is making.

“This was the period of time that I walked into the job last year and ironically my first game in charge was Melbourne at home," he said.

"It’s different now and I’m happy with where it’s at from my perspective as the coach.

"I don’t want to comment on previous sesaons because I wasn’t here, but since I’ve been at the club I’ve been very pleased with progress on and off the field.

He added: “It’s a long way to go to the finals and it’s certainly not over.

"The top four will be really tight this season, but if we continue on the way we’re going at the moment, hopefully we’ll be there.

"It’s been my goal both seasons to make the four, but there are seven other coaches out there with the same ambition.”

Farina is likely to name Andrew Packer as McCloughan’s replacement with Brazilian playmaker Marcinho, who made such an impact when coming on as a substitute last week, tipped to fill in for Zullo.

Farina said: ”Marcinho’s an option to play in Zullo’s role; he’s a very adaptable player – a different player from Michael – but I just feel in this situation someone like Marcinho can do some a good job for us.

“He’ll play it according to the structure of the team, but he gives us a different option out there. We can change our formation if we want to, but at this stage we’ll stick to what we’re doing.”

Much has been made of Melbourne’s form dip this term but Roar skipper Craig Moore says his side are wary of the threat posed by the potent strike-force at the disposal of Coach Ernie Merrick.

“Melbourne are a good side; Kevin Muscat is suspended and he’d be a loss to any team and hopefully we can take advantage of that," said Moore.

"It’s a home game for us and hopefully we’ll get a good crowd given the results we’ve had lately. We’d like to start winning our home games on a more regular basis.

“Archie Thompson’s one of the better players in Australia and has a fantastic goalscoring record.

"It’ll be great catching up with him again and hopefully I’ll be the one smiling at the end of the game and Archie will go away back down to Melbourne unhappy."

He added: “Melbourne’s forward line is strong though and they’ve got a few new inclusions from last season.

"But basically Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson won the league single-handedly last season with their goals. I think they got something like 24 goals between them and that’s massive in Australia.”