The Victorians had been beaten by Newcastle Jets and North Queensland in their last two outings and had slipped to third before kick-off on Saturday evening.

But Victory were brilliant from the first minute against Perth, with a wonderful opening-half display were Melbourne scored four goals including a Robbie Kruse hat-trick.

Merrick revealed he could sense his side was keen to return to the winners list.

" I felt from that first five minutes everyone was really switched on and everyone stuck to their jobs," he said.

"When we get in that mood of inter-passing we just look like something's going to happen."

He added: "I always felt it was the sort of team we were really going to attack and attack in numbers and take risks at the back. We've conceded two through that, but that's our style of football. We just keep going at teams."

Kruse's first-half hat-trick was a highlight of the evening and Merrick believes the former Brisbane Roar man's development will be boosted by the breakthrough performance.

"Robbie just seems to get better every week. He really did come of age as a striker tonight and it was terrific to see," he said.

Kruse, himself, acknowledged it was great evening for Melbourne, who return to second spot ahead of Gold Coast who face leaders Sydney FC on Sunday.

"Straight from the whistle, in the first five minutes I knew that we were going to put in a good performance," Kruse said.

"Our defenders were getting in front of their strikers winning balls and our midfielders were playing with Carlos. And me and Archie were making forward runs and that's what Melbourne Victory is all about."