Makarounas has played eight games for the Reds this season after 36 appearances for the Victory between 2013-2016.

The Darwin-born midfielder began his career with Perth Glory in 2011 where he only managed four games in two years.

He shares similar stories with former teammates Connor Pain (Central Coast Mariners), Scott Galloway (Mariners), Andrew Nabbout (Newcastle Jets) and Joey Katebian (Brisbane Roar) who all left Victory to further their careers.

“I enjoyed over three years at Victory, I enjoyed my time a lot but for me on a personal level I wanted to try and move away and get some more game time,” Makarounas told FourFourTwo.

“That’s football, you have to move to where you think is going to be the best place for yourself so that was the decision I went with.

“From the club’s perspective - I learned so much while I was there and I’m sure a lot of other boys did as well. From my perspective I think the youth part of it has a pretty good development system.

“When I went to Victory there was a lot of us young boys who were coming through from other clubs and it’s hard.

“Victory’s such a big club and they always have great foreign and Australian players as well so I guess it makes it hard to break into regular game time there.”

The 22-year-old feels he had matured as a player in Adelaide and is content with making six starts so far in season 2016/17.

Makarounas faces his former club for the second time this season at home on Saturday night. Victory sit second on the table with a game in hand while the defending champions are adrift in last place.

“It’s always good to win against your old team and especially here in Adelaide… it’s such a big rivalry," he said.

"I think with the run they're on at the moment getting a win over them will be that much sweeter..

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot since I came down playing some games and I’m enjoying myself. I feel good down here.

“I’ve settled into the team well and all the boys are well, the club’s good and I’m enjoying myself.

“Life-wise it’s good but football-wise it could be better if the team had the results but I’m enjoying it here.

“We’re down the bottom and we need to pick up as many points as we can. Not so much to disrupt their form but to get ourselves on a roll, it’ll be a really big game in that respect.”