McKay already has Socceroo appearances to his credit and a well-deserved reputation for his work-ethic and ability, but Postecoglou sees more and says McKay is only now beginning to scratch the surface of his potential as a footballer.

The 2010/11 Hyundai A-League season is shaping as a defining season. In six games so far, McKay has had a hand in everything, making 335 successful passes, the most of any player in the competition at the seventh highest efficiency rate.

And while distribution and midfield control is his speciality, he is also one of only three goal scorers for Brisbane and has the side's only goal assist.

Publicly appreciative of his skippers' efforts already this season, ahead of the Roar's clash with Melbourne Heart, Ange Postecoglou again spoke of McKay's tremendous A-League potential player and the regard in which the club hold their skipper.

"I think he's been fantastic. He's got to become one of the elite players in the game, he's got the ability to and I think people are starting to see that now," Postecoglou said.

"I'm not worried about the work-load, he'll thrive on it.

"He's taken to the captaincy well and he's leading from the front on the pitch.

"I even think he could have had a couple more goals for us, that's still the area I'm pushing him in because I think it's in him - he can get better.

"I've made a concerted effort to push him this year and he's taken it on board, he loves a challenge and as I said I think there's more to come from him.

"I want Matty to have his best year ever. We want our players to reach their absolute potential.

"Matty knows how highly we rate him here, how high I rate him."

McKay's long term future with the club has been a point of discussion already this season with speculation the Roar might struggle to retain their captain's services in the face of international competition, but there's no doubting his immediate focus is on the Melbourne Heart.

"They've got some extremely experienced players," he said.

"It's hard to find the kind of experience the Heart have- right from the keeper Clint Bolton to John Aloisi up the front.

"We'll try to exploit some of the weaknesses we think they have, but we'll wait and see how it unfolds on the day.

"We want to play with intensity and the goals will come."