The likes of Sasa Ognenovski, Jade North, Mark Milligan and Joel Griffiths have all been tempted away from Australia but Muscat is not too concerned.

He takes heart from the fact that for those who do leave, a system is in place to develop new stars to take their place.

The Victory captain, now preparing to lead his team in a second grand final,  told au.fourfourtwo.com: "It depends if you want to look at the situation as a glass half full or empty.

"The A-League is established and a lot of the Asian teams are paying big money. It's inevitable that good players are going to draw some attention.

"But I'm confident enough the majority of players getting mentioned will stay in Australia."

When Australian talent headed abroad in the past, the question was where the next generation would come from, but Muscat believes the A-League's young guns are proof that the production line is now working effectively.

He said: "Over the last three years you can reel off the names of 15 or 20 kids who have come through (into the A-League) and there's probably another 15 or 20 waiting in the wings.

"So if players do venture off to Asia then where one door shuts, another one opens.

"The National Youth League was something that needed to be done and it needed to be done right. I think it has been an outstanding success.

"You can go and watch the young boys playing with confience at a decent level."

As for the established players, Muscat is firmly against the A-League simply throwing off the financial shackles in order to try and keep players here.

That means retaining a salary cap and tight controls on spending. He said: "In my opinion I  think the way the structure is is spot on. An indication of that was going to the last round of competition and how tight it was."