The English born Socceroo spent his whole club career in the UK before deciding to sign with City towards the end of July.

City looks to knock on the door this season, after losing star midfielder Aaron Mooy, the club has compensated for the loss with captures of Kilkenny, Tim Cahill, Bruce Kamau, Luke Brattan and Fernando Brandan.

“I’ve been abroad so long now, I haven’t really experienced the A-League and I’ve always wanted to experience it. I thought it was right now with the ambition of Melbourne City, they want to be a massive club and hopefully we’ll be pushing this season for the league,” Kilkenny said.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on it since it started, but I just wanted a change. Playing in England for so long, the English game is very physical and I wanted to try something new.

“The A-League and Melbourne City with the backing they’ve got, I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully it’ll be a successful season.”

Despite the weight of expectation placed on the club, City is yet to win a trophy approaching their sixth A-League season.

The pressure did not bother Kilkenny stating the expectation was necessary to push for success and believed the quality within the squad could mean big things in season 2016-17.

“Good players play with a lot of pressure, they play with pressure all the time. We have to deal with that situation, hopefully we can gel as a team,” he said.

“We know the club wants to go places, they’re looking to bring quality signings. I feel this season they’ve brought in quite a few decent signings.

“Keeping the striker Bruno (Fornaroli) as well. It’s a massive coup for the club with his record breaking season last season. We’re all looking forward to pushing the club to places it hasn’t been before. We all want to do that, we’re very ambitious players and a club as well to prove how good we are and hopefully win the league.”

Striker Bruno Fornaroli was also feeling the strength within the squad and had a light-hearted view on the club’s chances this season.

The Uruguayan also expressed his relief after he resigned with the club at the beginning of August until the end of 2019.

“If I don’t feel this (championship contending), I’ll take my bag and go home, this is the first thing for me,” Fornaroli joked.

“When I play I want to win every time, you have players like Tim, Neil, (Anthony) Caceres, too many players to name, so I want this, I want the league and I want to win the championship for this club.

“I’m relaxed now, after you sign on you fix everything, I feel better, I’m happy of course and I like this, staying close to the fans with the fight to win the league.”