Speaking after an intense training session on Thursday the central defender admitted last week’s first win of the season in Wellington had released some of the pressure building on Victory.

And with Brisbane Roar widely regarded as the best club side in Australia and  title favourites again, Leijer was happy to heap the pressure on Ange Postecoglou’s men ahead of the big game. 

“Yeah, I’d say we’re the underdogs,” said Leijer. “We’re playing a team that’s been unbeaten for 32 games. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be underdogs.”

It’s a scenario Victory aren’t accustomed to with a squad generally regarded as good as any team in the league – including Roar.

And while this might just work to Victory’s advantage on Saturday against a Roar side with a 100 percent record after four games, Leijer wants his teammates to remember what Victory means as a club.

“We’re a big club, we’re proud of our club and proud of our history and we want to get back to the top,” said the 25-year-old and recent Socceroo train on squad member.

“We need to be able to match Brisbane Roar … and to get back to the top we’ll need to improve as well and we want to be challenging at the end of the year.”

Victory boss Mehmet Durakovic used an 11 v 11 game to tinker with his side at training on Thursday.

Veteran Tom Pondeljak was deployed on the right side of a narrow midfield diamond with  Broxham as the holding midfielder.

Harry Kewell was used on  the left and Carlos Hernandez placed central behind Archie Thompson and Jean Carlos Solorzano – a former Roar star – upfront as a central two.

The Victory boss also used striker Danny Allsopp in a central striking role while the coaching staff worked hard on ways to combat Roar's movement.